Dr. Tom Payne is Co-Director of Doppelgangster, an internationally recognised UK/Australian performance collective founded in 2015 with early support from National Theatre Wales and Wales Lab.

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Doppelgangster creates innovative, research-led performance that engages with global themes such as environmental change, human movement, and evolving cultural narratives. Its productions combine theatrical invention with critical enquiry, and have been developed in partnership with leading cultural organisations including Cape Farewell, Arts House Victoria, Chapter Arts, MKA Theatre, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Off the Shelf, and the Climate Change Commission for Wales.

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Major works include Doppelgangster’s TITANIC (2015), Baby (2016), Everybody Loses (2017), Cold War (2019), Radio Plague (2020) and Atlantis (2022). These projects have been presented across the UK, France, Spain, Greece, Singapore, Latvia, the Czech Republic, and Australia.

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The company is known for performing in distinctive and unconventional settings, from a disused power substation to a Brisbane lawn bowls club, the Grand Palais, and purpose-built digital platforms.

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Doppelgangster also operates DEEP WATER, a mentoring programme supporting emerging and established artists exploring new approaches to socially and ecologically engaged performance.

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"One of the world's leading environmental and political activist theatre companies” 

- The Star (UK)​

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“Putting the Dada into climate danger” 

- Cape Farewell