Stan's Cafe - The Company

The Company

From its inception, Stan's Cafe was a partnership open to outside collaborators. In 1995, Graeme Rose left to form The Resurrectionists with composer Richard Chew. In 1997, James Yarker was joined by part-time administrator, Paulette Terry Brien, who left to form The International 3 gallery in Manchester. Craig Stephens, who joined the company as an associate artist in 1997 to devise and perform in Simple Maths, went on to became a full-time employee of the company, devising and performing in all the company's shows as well as leading on numerous education projects. He is the company's Associate Director. Nick Sweeting, founder member of Improbable, joined as part-time advisory producer in 2003, while Charlotte Martin joined as General Manager in 2005. Graeme Rose returned to the company as a performer of It's Your Film in 1999 and performed in numerous productions thereafter as well working for a spell as part-time Education Officer for the company - job sharing with artist, Ana Rutter. Karen Stafford was taken on as Production Manager to cope with high demand for Of All The People In All The World. She left to take up a job as production manager at the Greenbelt Festival.

Stan's Cafe has a history of long term collaborators. Amanda Hadingue devised and performed with the company in most major productions between 1993 and 2010. Sarah Dawson devised and performed in most major productions between 1994 and 2000 before concentrating full-time working for her own company, Corali.

Heather Burton appeared in The Carrier Frequency revival. She also devised and performed in Lurid and Insane, Framed and Home of the Wriggler as well as touring with Be Proud of Me, It's Your Film and extensively with Of All The People In All The World.

Bernadette Russell devised and performed in Framed, Home of the Wriggler and The Cleansing of Constance Brown as well as being recast into The Just Price of Flowers and guest starring in Tuning Out With Radio Z.

Playwright, novelist and founding member of Talking Birds Theatre Company Nick Walker devised and performed in Simple Maths and Good and True as well as touring with It's Your Film and making a special guest appearance in I See With My Eyes Closed.

Jake Oldershaw first worked with Stan's Cafe having successfully auditioned for Simple Maths, and subsequently appeared in The Carrier Frequency and The Cleansing of Constance Brown before touring extensively with It's Your Film, The Black Maze and The Cleansing of Constance Brown.

Andy Watson, who had previously performed in Large Scale International under the name Andy Walker, was persuaded out of retirement to take the lead in Lurid and Insane. He subsequently performed in It's Your Film on tour and both drove and invigilated The Black Maze on tour. He devised The Cleansing of Constance Brown but was taken ill shortly before the premiere performance. His role in this show has subsequently been taken by Gareth Brierly (of The People Show and White Rabbit), Ray Newe (who had previously devised Bingo in the House of Babel and Voodoo City with the company) and Nick Tigg (of SlotMachine). Most recently, this role has been taken by Jake Oldershaw whose original role has in turn been taken by Jack Trow.

Gerard Bell first appeared for the company devising The Cleansing of Constance Brown. He picked up the role of Van Driver in the recasting of The Just Price of Flowers, appeared in The Voyage, and devised and performed in The Cardinals and The Anatomy of Melancholy.

Chris Dugrenier, Charlotte Gregory, Kerrie Reading and Lucy Nicholls have all performed Of All The People In All The World on numerous occasions, undertaken education work with the company, and appeared in the original production of The Just Price Of Flowers. Gregory was retained for subsequent production of this show and appeared as a replacement performer in The Cleansing of Constance Brown.

Jack Trow first collaborated with Stan's Cafe whilst still at school in Adult Child / Dead Child, as a member of Stage 2. In 2008, he started touring with Of All The People In All The World and went on to pick up roles in The Cleansing of Constance Brown and Just Price of Flowers. He has performed in It's Your Film and regularly conducts education work for the company.

Rochi Rampal also collaborated with Stan's Cafe whilst still at school in No Wall, Just Doors. She devised and performed in The Cardinals, The Voyage and The Anatomy of Melancholy.

Simon Ford has collaborated with the company as graphic designer since 1993. With his company F22 Design, he has also taken on the design of the company's website and CD-ROMs. His most active collaboration with the company has come with The Steps Series where his graphic design is integral to the piece and he collaborates on devising the story alongside Stephens and Yarker. A further key member of the Steps Series team is the visual artist Denise Stanton.

Paul Arvidson was the company's long term lighting designer working on almost every major project requiring lighting between 1994 and 2010. For Tuning Out With Radio Z, he improvised the lighting plot alongside the improvised action.

Richard Chew composed and recorded music for all Stan's Cafe's productions between 1991 and 1995 as well as Still, a side-project with James Yarker commissioned by English National Opera's Baylis program New Visions/New Voices. Still was a 20 minute opera about John Franklin's attempts to discover the North West Passage. Richard’s most involved collaboration with the company came when he devised and performed in Memoirs of an Amnesiac, a piece about the life of an Eric Satie obsessive. Rick also sang live in the swimming pool version of Canute the King. More recently he contributed a short element for The Cardinals that the actors sing live on stage.

Besides working on Pieces for the Radio Volume 1, Jon Ward worked with Richard Chew on the soundtrack for Voodoo City. He composed the soundtrack for Simple Maths and various versions of a self-evolving soundtrack for Of All The People In All The World. He also recorded indents and programmed the message board software for Tuning Out With Radio Z.

Nina West started composing for Stan's Cafe when a track of hers was heard at a party by James Yarker. She was tracked down and, together with Rebecca Jane Webster, recorded the soundtrack for Ocean of Storms. She devised and performed in Lurid and Insane, performed on Comfort Hour, and created the soundtrack for Be Proud of Me and The Cleansing of Constance Brown for which she toured as the only ever-present member of the performing or technical crew, mixing the soundtrack live for every performance. She has provided soundscapes for Spy Steps, Giant Steps, Apollo Steps, Final Steps and Market Steps. Most recently, she has provided the soundtrack for The Anatomy of Melancholy.

Long-time collaborator Ed Dimsdale photographs for every project between 1998 and 2008. He was most closely involved with Be Proud of Me, in which the company formed an integral part of the devising time providing more than a hundred images that help drive the narrative forward when projected behind the action as part of both scenery and the main character's perspective and psychological point of view.

Since 2009, the company's production photographs have all been taken by specialist theatre photographer, Graeme Braidwood.