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CAST

Rachel Kitts

Judith Shakespeare

Rachel Kitts is a South London based performer and recent graduate of LAMDA, having studied Classical Acting there. Before that, Rachel studied English Literature at the University of Cambridge where she first discovered her love of both acting and Shakespeare. Rachel's first Shakespearean role was Trinculo in a touring productionof the Tempest, in which she was given the slightly horrifying task of 'being funny' in front of hundreds of very judgemental American teenagers. Rachel hopes this particular Shakespearean foray will be a little less daunting. In her spare time Rachel loves to read, cook, and stretch.

Luke Millard

William Shakespeare

Luke Millard trained at Rose Bruford from 2014-2017.

Since then his credits include The Tempest (Young Shakespeare Company), Romeo and Juliet (Action to the Word) at the Stockwell Playhouse and The Great Christmas Feast at the Ugly Duck theatre. Luke also featured in Sticks and Stones on ITV, directed by Julia Ford.

Becky Sanneh

Emilia Lanyer / Susanna Shakespeare

Becky Sanneh is a 2021 Musical Theatre graduate from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

 

 From graduating, she performed as Polly in “The Beggar’s Opera” for SellaDoor Worldwide. Since, she has performed in Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds’ Cinderella as the title role, numerous workshops and children’s theatre. Most recently, Becky appeared at Thursford Christmas Spectacular as a featured vocalist, where she will be returning later this year. You’ll find her in the bar after the show...hers is a Prosecco!

Roddy Lynch

Rev. John Ward & Dr. John Hall

Roddy trained at Rose Bruford College on the BA (Hons) Actor Musicianship course, graduating in 2019.

Theatre credits include: Rapunzel (Watermill Theatre); Kinky Boots (New Wolsey Theatre &Queen’s Theatre Hornchuch); What the Ladybird Heard (The Palace Theatre, West End); A Christmas Carol (The Egg, Theatre Royal Bath); Romeo & Juliet (Box Clever Theatre, UK Tour); Urinetown and American Idiot (Old Joint Stock Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Garden Shakespeare).

 

As a fellow Midlands boy, Roddy is incredibly excited to be performing in Upstart!

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Susannah May

Older Judith

Susannah May hails from Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands which she affectionately calls her “Middle Earth” a mere hour away from Judith Shakespeare’s home town Stratford-upon-Avon! Her acting journey not following drama school protocol, Susannah initially cut her teeth in community theatre productions, and after being spotted playing Margaret Thatcher in Moira Buffini’s “Handbagged”, Susannah was encouraged by stage and film industry creatives to pursue a professional acting career.

Susannah is delighted to be returning to Edinburgh Festival with a wonderful director, cast and creatives in the role of Old Judith. Her initial research, combined with Mary-Jane Schaefer’s intuitive writing, has been a fascinating exploration into the life of William Shakespeare’s lesser known younger daughter with a mind and ‘will’ of her own.

Aisling Groves-McKeown

Anne Hathaway

Aisling trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and has worked professionally on stage and screen across the UK.

She’s had a busy start to 2023, playing the lead in Village Film’s Pub House (dir:Peter Young), finished Voice Over and Motion Capture work on a computer game character with London based Pitstop Productions and worked on a Northern Ireland wide Voice Over campaign with Soundhouse NI.

Aisling is also a mathematics tutor, Spanish speaker and trained in Irish dancing. She enjoys songwriting and is currently working on a project with London-based rock band The Vone and Bossa Nova artist Ze Carlos Meideros.

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Angus Bhattacharya

Tom Quiney

Angus Bhattacharya is an actor, singer and poet from Glasgow. They graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's MA Musical Theatre programme in October 2022. As part of that course they performed in 2 five star productions at last years Edinburgh Fringe. The first as Jesus in Godspell and the other as John Brookes in Little Women, the former also directed by Alexandra Spencer-Jones. Since graduating Angus has performed their own cabaret "Geez Yer Eens" a tribute to Burns Night and Scottishness at the popular venue "Nice n Sleazy's" in Glasgow and are working on several pieces of new writing. They are extremely excited to be back at the Fringe for their professional acting debut.

Oscar Blend

Francis Collins / John Shakespeare

Oscar is a classical theatre actor, alongside working in film and directing.

Oscar’s theatre credits include: Scrub in The Beaux’ Stratagem (Strut & Fret,Tabard/Edinburgh), Serge in Art (Ovo, St. Albans), Hector in The History Boys (Ovo, St.Albans), Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing (Rooftop, St. Albans), Falstaff in Merry Wives of Windsor (Rooftop, St. Albans), Egeus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Action to the Word,Latitude/NT) and Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (Off West End).

Alongside his acting work he has recently directed She Stoops to Conquer, Lysistrata (in Greek) and Absent Friends.

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