Director – Preston Clare
Preston Clare started dancing at the age of 3. In 1974 he left home, at the age of 11, to train full time as a classical ballet dancer at the Hammond School of Ballet in Chester.
In 1982 he joined Irish National Ballet, based in Cork, Southern Ireland where he danced such roles as Black Swan pas de deux and Pas de Trois from Swan Lake, Hippolytus in Chariots of Fire and Shawn Keogh in Playboy of the Western World.
In 1985 he was invited by Peter Darrell to join Scottish Ballet where he became a popular member of the company dancing in all the repertoire over an 18 year period until he retired from the profession in 2003.
He teaches ballet in many schools and colleges and as a director he was invited in 1992 to set a production of Les Sylphides at ‘The Dance Studio’ in Northern Ireland.
In the year 2000 Preston published his own cookery book ‘Dancing Round the World on a Lettuce Leaf?’, which was to encourage young dancers the value of good eating.
However, Preston missed performing and in 2008 he completed a Diploma in ‘Acting and Performing’ at Langside College, Glasgow. He made his acting debut at the Greenwich Theatre, London and went on to perform in productions of Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off (XLC), Oliver Twist (Love&Madness), La Ronde (Love&Madness), The Jungle Book (Image Musical Theatre), A Little Princess (Image Musical Theatre), Cinderella (Partytime Productions) and Stig Of the Dump (Image Musical Theatre). He has also appeared in two Music Videos – Dizzee Rascal’s Dirtee Disco and Plan B’s Prayin.
Using his experiences as a dancer, singer and actor, Preston created Theatre Presto in 2011.
He has written all the productions;
Snow White (2011), The End of Pier Variety Show (2012), Cinderella (2012), The Very Misunderstood Mister Punch (2013), Little Red Riding Hood (2013), McAlister In Wonderland (2014), Aladdin (2014), Whinge and Hackett (2015), Jackie and the Beans…Talk (2015), Oor Boaby, Brooned Aff Abroad (2016) and Nicky-Dicky Whittington and her Cat (2016)
Preston makes all the costumes, props, sets and acts in each production.
Director of Audio Technology – Calum Campbell
Calum is the ‘Music Editor’ for all the ‘Theatre Presto’ productions. He also creates ‘Sound Effects’ and assists the Artistic director as ‘Dramaturge.
Calum is the former Artistic Director of the regional theatre company Mt3. He runs a sports media company and supports youth and emerging talent initiatives as a mentor throughout the UK and has promoted artists at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Acknowledgements
Setting up Theatre Presto was made possible through funding by the Dancers’ Career Development. We would like to thank all DCD staff and Board Members for their help and support.