Presence believes the theatre is an art form whose primary strength lies in the power of the actor and the word. We think this must remain the case even, and perhaps especially, when the form of a production is innovative or difficult. We embrace the classical and modern repertoire as well as new plays, with a particular interest in the avant-garde, and furthermore we seek to address the problem of the ever-shrinking repertoire in our mainstream theatres. We broadly seek to heal the divisions which have been imposed between the various forms of theatre (text-based, non text-based and so on) in the last decades and to help to advance the medium in every sphere: art, production, education and community. The openness is all.
The company was founded in 2007, out of a weekly play reading group that began in 2005 and continues today, aiming simply to rediscover and enjoy great works of dramatic literature. In 2009, the company acquired charitable status. In 2014 the company embarks on its most ambitious venture to date: CHORALE – A Sam Shepard Roadshow, which will tour to theatres across Britain and beyond.
The company was founded in 2007, out of a weekly play reading group that began in 2005 and continues today, aiming simply to rediscover and enjoy great works of dramatic literature. In 2009, the company acquired charitable status. In 2014 the company embarks on its most ambitious venture to date: CHORALE – A Sam Shepard Roadshow, which will tour to theatres across Britain and beyond.
THE ARTISTIC TEAM
Simon Usher ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
For Presence Theatre Simon's productions include If So, Then Yes, Warm and as co-director, The War in Heaven.
He has also recently directed Ivy and Joan at The Print Room, The Complaint at Hampstead Theatre and Making the Sound of Loneliness for Actors Touring Company at Latitude Festival. He has also staged major productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court Theatre, the National Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre and in London’s West End. He has been Artistic Director at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry and Associate Director of the Leicester Haymarket.
Further credits include The World’s Biggest Diamond, Herons, Mother Teresa is Dead and Black Milk (Royal Court), King Baby and Tamar’s Revenge (RSC), Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads (National Theatre), Timon of Athens, The Broken Heart, Pericles and The Winter’s Tale (Leicester Haymarket), Pond Life, Not Fade Away, The Mortal Ash and Card Boys (The Bush), Burning Everest and Exquisite Sister (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Mr Puntilla and His Man Matti and Holes in the Skin (Chichester Festival Theatre), Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Waiting for Godot, Hamlet and Whole Lotta Shakin’ (Coventry Belgrade), Great Balls of Fire (Cambridge Theatre, West End), No Man’s Land (English Touring Theatre) and The Wolves (Paines Plough).
For Presence Theatre Simon's productions include If So, Then Yes, Warm and as co-director, The War in Heaven.
He has also recently directed Ivy and Joan at The Print Room, The Complaint at Hampstead Theatre and Making the Sound of Loneliness for Actors Touring Company at Latitude Festival. He has also staged major productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court Theatre, the National Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre and in London’s West End. He has been Artistic Director at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry and Associate Director of the Leicester Haymarket.
Further credits include The World’s Biggest Diamond, Herons, Mother Teresa is Dead and Black Milk (Royal Court), King Baby and Tamar’s Revenge (RSC), Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads (National Theatre), Timon of Athens, The Broken Heart, Pericles and The Winter’s Tale (Leicester Haymarket), Pond Life, Not Fade Away, The Mortal Ash and Card Boys (The Bush), Burning Everest and Exquisite Sister (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Mr Puntilla and His Man Matti and Holes in the Skin (Chichester Festival Theatre), Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Waiting for Godot, Hamlet and Whole Lotta Shakin’ (Coventry Belgrade), Great Balls of Fire (Cambridge Theatre, West End), No Man’s Land (English Touring Theatre) and The Wolves (Paines Plough).
Chris White JOINT ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Chris is a founding member of Presence Theatre and co-directed The War in Heaven for the company.
Other credits include Plan D (Tristan Bates Theatre), Cocoa (Theatre 503), 1984 and Pillars of Salt (Liverpool Everyman and Hampstead Theatre), The Sale (Chapter, Cardiff) Witness (Camden People’s Theatre) and The President of an Empty Room (Crescent Theatre, Birmingham).
Chris was the assistant director on the Spanish Golden Age season at the Royal Shakespeare Company for whom he subsequently directed Trouble and Wonder. He has worked extensively at Teatro Della Contraddizione, Milan where he has directed The Visit, The Fire Raisers and The Suicide and co-directed Le Foreste di Arden. He is also a leading script reader for Hampstead Theatre and an Associate Tutor in Drama at Goldsmiths College, London. Chris is an Associate Practitioner and director for RSC Education, where he has worked on many projects involving young people as writers and performers.
Chris is a founding member of Presence Theatre and co-directed The War in Heaven for the company.
Other credits include Plan D (Tristan Bates Theatre), Cocoa (Theatre 503), 1984 and Pillars of Salt (Liverpool Everyman and Hampstead Theatre), The Sale (Chapter, Cardiff) Witness (Camden People’s Theatre) and The President of an Empty Room (Crescent Theatre, Birmingham).
Chris was the assistant director on the Spanish Golden Age season at the Royal Shakespeare Company for whom he subsequently directed Trouble and Wonder. He has worked extensively at Teatro Della Contraddizione, Milan where he has directed The Visit, The Fire Raisers and The Suicide and co-directed Le Foreste di Arden. He is also a leading script reader for Hampstead Theatre and an Associate Tutor in Drama at Goldsmiths College, London. Chris is an Associate Practitioner and director for RSC Education, where he has worked on many projects involving young people as writers and performers.
Jack Tarlton ARTISTIC ASSOCIATE
Jack conceived and co-created Making the Sound of Loneliness for Actors Touring Company at Latitude Festival in 2012 with Simon Usher.
As an actor his theatre credits include A Doll's House, Rats' Tales and She Stoops to Conquer (Royal Exchange Theatre), Making the Sound of Loneliness, Crave, Illusions and The Golden Dragon (Actors Touring Company), Beasts and Beauties (Hampstead Theatre and Bristol Old Vic), What Every Woman Knows (Finborough Theatre), The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew (Propeller), The Deep Blue Sea (Theatre Royal Bath and Vaudeville Theatre, West End), The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents (The Gate), Coram Boy and Once in a Lifetime (National Theatre), The Man Who (Orange Tree), Gagarin Way (Primecut), Romeo and Juliet (Chichester Festival Theatre), Howie the Rookie (Fourth Road), Afore Night Come (Young Vic), An Inspector Calls (Garrick Theatre, West End) and A Month in the Country and Troilus and Cressida (RSC).
On television he has appeared in Doctors, The Golden Hour, Dead Ringers, Doctor Who, The Genius of Mozart, Swivel on the Tip, Hearts and Bones, Wings of Angels, Life Support and The Cater Street Hangman. Film work includes Nora and The Unscarred.
Jack conceived and co-created Making the Sound of Loneliness for Actors Touring Company at Latitude Festival in 2012 with Simon Usher.
As an actor his theatre credits include A Doll's House, Rats' Tales and She Stoops to Conquer (Royal Exchange Theatre), Making the Sound of Loneliness, Crave, Illusions and The Golden Dragon (Actors Touring Company), Beasts and Beauties (Hampstead Theatre and Bristol Old Vic), What Every Woman Knows (Finborough Theatre), The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew (Propeller), The Deep Blue Sea (Theatre Royal Bath and Vaudeville Theatre, West End), The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents (The Gate), Coram Boy and Once in a Lifetime (National Theatre), The Man Who (Orange Tree), Gagarin Way (Primecut), Romeo and Juliet (Chichester Festival Theatre), Howie the Rookie (Fourth Road), Afore Night Come (Young Vic), An Inspector Calls (Garrick Theatre, West End) and A Month in the Country and Troilus and Cressida (RSC).
On television he has appeared in Doctors, The Golden Hour, Dead Ringers, Doctor Who, The Genius of Mozart, Swivel on the Tip, Hearts and Bones, Wings of Angels, Life Support and The Cater Street Hangman. Film work includes Nora and The Unscarred.
Stephanie Königer PRODUCER
Stephanie is Freelance Project Manager for Theatre Rheo for whom she produced the British tour of Ajax. As an Assistant Producer she is working on a new piece of physical theatre with director Melly Still and conductor Jonathan James, Love Orchestra and Awake Project by Swedish company Awake at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and on the German tour of Showstoppers and The School of Night.
Other credits include Assistant Producer on The Overcoat (Theatre Le Mot Juste), Co-Producer and Head of Marketing for The Second Word of the Story in the Cage (Meet Alice), Office and Site Specific Support Assistant for The Roundabout Season - Sound of Heavy Rain, One Day When We Were Young and Lungs and Intern on Love, Love, Love and Wasted (Paines Plough) and Intern on The Giaour Project and The Golden Dragon (Actors Touring Company).
She graduated with a Magister Artium degree from Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, in Modern German Literature Studies, Theatre Studies and Medieval and Modern Art History in July 2011. In Germany Stephanie has worked for the SPIELART Festival, Volkstheater and Kammerspiele.
Stephanie is Freelance Project Manager for Theatre Rheo for whom she produced the British tour of Ajax. As an Assistant Producer she is working on a new piece of physical theatre with director Melly Still and conductor Jonathan James, Love Orchestra and Awake Project by Swedish company Awake at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and on the German tour of Showstoppers and The School of Night.
Other credits include Assistant Producer on The Overcoat (Theatre Le Mot Juste), Co-Producer and Head of Marketing for The Second Word of the Story in the Cage (Meet Alice), Office and Site Specific Support Assistant for The Roundabout Season - Sound of Heavy Rain, One Day When We Were Young and Lungs and Intern on Love, Love, Love and Wasted (Paines Plough) and Intern on The Giaour Project and The Golden Dragon (Actors Touring Company).
She graduated with a Magister Artium degree from Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, in Modern German Literature Studies, Theatre Studies and Medieval and Modern Art History in July 2011. In Germany Stephanie has worked for the SPIELART Festival, Volkstheater and Kammerspiele.