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New & Ground-Breaking British Plays		About Us NEW YORK GETS NEW BRITISH THEATRE COMPANY SPECIALIZING IN IMPORTS FROM LONDON'S FRINGE. Stiff Upper Lip was formed in June 2003. The company is comprised of British expatriate theatre artists and their American collaborators, the company will introduce New York audiences to highly acclaimed and groundbreaking British plays and productions from London's Fringe. The goal will be to open up a new channel of cultural exchange between London and New York, and to supplement the already well-traveled trans-Atlantic route between Broadway and the West End. The more modestly produced and adventurous productions customarily seen on London's Fringe, which otherwise would not be seen in New York, will give some of England's most innovative, up-and-coming theatre artists a chance both to gain wider recognition for their work, as well as to develop relationships with New York's own diverse theatre community. Stiff Upper Lip's productions will be roughly divided into three categories: transfers of productions essentially intact; New York re-mountings of London productions using a combination of key London personnel and New York-based Brits; and British plays seen previously on the Fringe which will receive new interpretations in New York. The Pitchfork Disney, Philip Ridley's dark comedy, falls into this third category. Stiff Upper Lip's four founding co-artistic directors are Tara Denby, James M. Larmer, Victor Villar-Hauser and Laurence Yates, all New York-based actors.         Tara Denby Tara is enormously satisfied and grateful to be a co-founder of Stiff Upper Lip with Victor Villar-Hauser and James Larmer. She began her career in London after training at The Guildhall and then went on to Italy where she studied and worked with a comedy troupe. Her roles have ranged from Polly, in Jack the Ripper the Musical on the London’s West End to Ginny in Alan Ayckbourne’s Paris production of Relatively Speaking, to her personal favourite, Hayley in Philip Ridley’s The Pitchfork Disney at the Greenwich Street Theatre in NYC. See the reviews. Tara is currently looking for another challenging piece of theatre in which she will be able to work with the guys again… If they’ll have her!         James M. Larmer Born and raised in Papua New Guinea, James M Larmer comes from a background of stage and film in Australia. Recent leading roles in New York include Roy Darwin in Counsellor at Law (Bank Street Theatre), Garry Essendine in Present Laughter (Century Center), Stafford Ellson in The John Wayne Principle (The Ohio Theatre), Detective Leon Zat in an adaptation of Lantana (Horace Mann Theatre), Cosmo Disney in the New York premiere of Phillip Ridley’s Pitchfork Disney (Greenwich Street Theatre), and a slew of characters Hair of the Dog’s the extended run of He Died with a Felafel in His Hand. Other work includes the great roles of Dr Henry Block in Psychopathia Sexualis (Atlantic Theatre Company Studios); John D. Rockefeller in Laurel Vartabedian's epic musical, American Story (42nd Street Workshop) and Hamlet in Mr. Shakespeare and Mr. Porter (The Medicine Show); and Chapin & Friends, Florida Studio Theatre’s tribute to America’s storytellers. James has also landed leading roles in several independent films including Mixing Nia and Gimme Some Lovin and the soon-to-be-released The Pondhoppers and Love From The Machine. click to read reviews click to read resume         Victor Villar-Hauser Victor Villar-Hauser was most recently in The Attendants at Chashama directed by Melanie Armer, Kevin Mandel’s A New Television Arrives, Finally directed by Kevin Kittle and Edward Napier’s The Writing On The Wall directed by Randy Myler at HB Studios Playwright Foundation. Also recently, he was in The Chocolate Factory’s production of Ken Urban’s Two Husbands. He also played Darren in Stiff Upper Lip’s production of Jamie Linley’s Dirty Works at both the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and previous to that it’s New York premiere. Other theatre credits include the lead role of Presley Stray in Stiff Upper Lip’s production of The Pitchfork Disney,  Ray in the Greenwich Street Theatre’s production of Joe Penhall’s Some  Voices,  and the Understudy for the lead role of John Everett Millais in the Off-Broadway production of The Countess at the Lambs Theatre. His training has included the two-year  Meisner program with Maggie Flannigan at The William Esper Studio. He is also the co-founder of Stiff Upper Lip, a British theatre company here in NYC. click to read reviews click to read resume     back to top