Kevin Oakes, born in Johannesburg, South Africa, grew up in a musical family in Hermanus, near Cape Town. His mother a soprano with a beautiful voice taught him to appreciate classical music. Having heard and been inspired by Maria Callas he went to Europe at the age of 18 to study opera. Instead of completing his musical studies he attended the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellender Kunst in Frankfurt, Germany and studied drama. He then performed in State theatres in Frankfurt and Heidelburg, the Bad Hersfeld Festspiele, also in English with the American theater company 'The Company'. He then went on to found the now 'Frankfurt English Theatre', the largest English language theatre on the European Continent, where, after one year under his artistic direction, where he directed 5 plays and starred in 3, the city of Frankfurt agreed to the first subsidy for the theatre. Kevin then moved on to found 'Fragile Theatre' in London, where his first play 'Orestes' was performed, followed by Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Hamburg with his new company. His next 3 plays 'Ut-Chinkaa' (The Journey), 'Too Wilde for Words' on the life of Oscar Wilde and 'Raw Knees' an anti war play were performed throughout Europe and even down to Cape Town's anti apartheid theatre 'The Space'. The theatre piece 'Song of the Sands', based on his short stories with music, dancers and art was performed in the Gallus Theater in Frankfurt in 2019, before COVID. 'Callas and Me' is his latest work.
