Our Manifesto
We are a theatre company creating shows around the life, times and works of William Shakespeare.
We offer a wide range of workshops, because we believe that making Shakespeare accessible to anyone, anywhere, is of the utmost importance. We are based in Kent and tour internationally.
Will & Co aims to create soulful, raucous, embodied, and open-hearted Shakespeare.
We believe in creating places of power and magic through Shakespeare’s words. We believe in finding beauty in the unexpected and speaking individual and collective truths through beauty and storytelling. We believe in spaces of power and possibility, where everything and everyone is welcome.
We believe that Shakespeare is where the common emotional heritage of humanity can be experienced.
And we want to bring you closer to it.
Our Team
Artistic Director
Victoria Gartner
Victoria Gartner is a Swiss-Ukrainian award-winning director and writer whose work has been produced in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. She was recently Associate Director for Lucy Bailey on Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None (Fiery Angel, Royo, UK and China tours). She is the Artistic Director of Will & Co, which she founded in 2015. Her project Bard in the Yard about Shakespeare battling writers’ block during the plague was performed by dozens of actors across the UK to great public and critical acclaim, and had Dame Helen Mirren as a patron. Previous credits as a director include Romeo and Juliet (British Youth Music Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth), Bard in the Yard: The Scottish Play (UK tour), Bard in the Yard: King Leonardo (UK tour), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (LAMDA), Twelfth Night (East15), Anne (Read for the Globe; Pleasance), Will or Eight Lost Years of William Shakespeare’s Life (Rose Playhouse, European tour – nominated for Best Director by the OFFIES), The Merry Wives of Windsor (East15), Verona (Theatre tri-bühne Stuttgart, Germany). Victoria has an MA in English literature with a specialisation in Shakespearean studies as well as a degree in Dramaturgy and Directing.
Executive Producer
Charlie Mackellar
Charlie is an actress and singer from Cornwall, who graduated from University Centre Colchester with a first-class degree in Musical Theatre. During her training she worked on the hospitality management team for Mercury Theatre, Colchester, whilst working Front of House.
She also created and ran a successful online store selling hand-crafted musical theatre prints during this time.
After graduating Charlie became an entertainment host onboard three of Brittany Ferries boats, travelling across Spain, France, Ireland and the UK, and has since performed in Will, or Eight Lost Years of William Shakespeare's Life at both the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and The George Inn, London. She received the Al Hodge award for Musical Excellence and has a post-grade 8 certificate in Musical Theatre Singing (London College of Music). Charlie has produced Bard in the Yard with Will & Co in 2020, to high acclaim. She has received a StageOne Bursary Award for her work, and support for projects in 2021.
Associate Artists
Ruth Hunduma
Beatrice Lawrence
Tim Atkinson
Katherine Moran
Jack Spencer
​