Telos Theatre Company Founders
Tom McClane Kessel- Williamson
Artistic Director and co- founder
Tom’s training lineage is founded in the work of the revolutionary theatre school- Drama Centre London where he trained as an actor, in its final years under Yat Malmgren and Christopher Fettes. The methodology - particularly its psychological and physical approach - remains central to our work at Telos.
After graduating Tom went on to work with Cheek by Jowl, Owen Horsely, Di Trevis, and Joseph Blatchley.
In preparation for teaching he spent over a year shadowing RADA and Drama Centre's lead acting tutor John Besschizza, before starting his own teaching practice at the Guildford school of acting.
Tom then trained as a director in the MFA programme at Birkbeck College, University of London and was the trainee assistant director in the West Ends Jermyn Street theatre under Tom Littler.
Tom regularly teaches at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama where he was invited to teach the visionary acting technique of the Yat Malmgren/Laban system of movement psychology. Tom was taught by Yat Malgrem and his protege James Kemp.
Tom also is a regular acting tutor at BADA’s transformative theatre training programmes for international students.
Tom’s directing portfolio includes interpretations of Ibsen's masterworks Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, A Doll's House at Guildford School of Acting, and productions of Twelfth Night, The Wild Duck, Three Sisters, Fuente Ovejuna at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. The White Devil at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. At Jermyn Street Theatre, he collaborated with Austin Pendleton on A Woman Before a Glass, and as associate director at the English Theatre Frankfurt and Deutsches Theatre Munich.
Sara Kessel- Williamson
Executive Producer, and co- founder.
Sara background is as an actor and producer working across film and theatre. Her approach blends traditional theatre production with immersive experience design, informed by her expertise in curating bespoke travel and cultural events worldwide. This global perspective underpins her instinct for crafting international work that resonates across audiences and contexts.
Sara’s career includes working with BAFTA-nominated producer Bart Ruspoli, where she gained invaluable insight into high-level film and theatre production. She was also an integral part of the business development team at The Actors Temple, London’s leading Meisner technique institution, supporting the founders’ vision, developing PR and marketing campaigns, and helping oversee operations for over 200 students.
Her expertise in strategic growth and relationship management has consistently delivered results. Collaboration with RADA Business demonstrated her ability to coordinate touring productions, while her work with sovereign family offices and corporate board members through her travel design, showcases a talent for cultivating high-level, long-term partnerships.
Alongside her producing work, she is developing her voice as a co-director, working in close creative dialogue with Tom to shape work that is both emotionally immediate and theatrically bold.
At Telos- Tom and Sara’s vision is to create work that strengthens human interconnection, using the intimate exchange between performer and audience that is at the heart of the theatrical experience, while building international partnerships and foundations necessary for long-term sustainable growth.