Way back in 2011, people were rioting on London’s streets. It would be nice to say that it was all about Howard Goodall’s musical The Hired Man at the Landor. But that’d be about as much of a leap as everything else newspaper columnists tried to pin the blame on.
A great show put on during interesting times…
Publicity stills shot for last year’s production of Shakespeare’s King John at the Union Theatre.
Thanks to the whole cast and production team, all of whom mucked in as assistants at various points.
It’s back to the Coliseum for some shots of the English National Opera’s 2012 production of Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann.
Production shots from the English National Opera’s production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. I was thrilled to be commissioned to photograph the 25th-anniversary outing of Jonathan Miller’s staging earlier this year.
Production shots from the spectacularly unsettling 2012 revival of Philip Ridley’s play, The Pitchfork Disney, at the Arcola.
One of several poster images prepared to advertise the revival of Philip Ridley’s play The Pitchfork Disney at the Arcola Theatre.
Shooting actor (and all-round good egg) Nathan Stewart-Jarrett in nothing but a thin, open jacket under a wind-tunnel bridge on a midwinter’s evening presented a number of challenges, not least of which was trying not to freeze him to death. The resulting image is actually a composite with elements from seven different photos (the fluffy clouds of Te Anau, New Zealand give a star turn) and a tiny bit of CGI, making this one of the most technically-complicated shots I’ve ever produced.
Based on an original concept by photographer Annabel Vere.
Production shots for the 2011 production of Paul Webb’s Tarantino-meets-Chaucer play, Four Nights in Knaresborough, at the Southwark Playhouse.
Seb Billings directed with lighting by Howard Hudson and design by Martin Thomas.
Some more from the revival of Lionel Bart’s Fings Aint Wot They Used T’Be earlier this year at the Union Theatre. The pictures speak for themselves, although I took the liberty of expunging the girls-on-their-knees number (use your imagination) to protect more innocent audiences…
Particular thanks to Chris Hornby and Oliver Townsend for their assistance on the publicity shoot.
It’s also only fair to namecheck the unsung heroes (beyond the cast and everyone else involved, of course) who make a key difference to the visuals when photographing the production itself, so here goes: for sumptuous lighting design, Jason Meininger, for sumptuous design of everything else, Oliver Townsend (again), and, as associate designer, Emma Tompkins.
You will need:
Stand Photographer upright, garnish with table mat or chopped-up legal folder (to suit preference). Marinade in Myra Hindley expression. Illuminate to taste.
There are, I suppose, a couple of choices:
So I settled on this: sorry for the gap, I allowed my attention to wander to other things, I’m back now, and if you’re reading this, then I thank you very much.
One of the things to which my attention wandered was, of course, taking pictures. And over the next few posts that’s probably all I’ll be writing about. So steel yourselves: first up are a few highlights from the wonderful, colourful, creative world of London theatre.
Starting with DoubleFalsehood, the play that was controversially admitted to the accepted canon of Shakespeare works in 2010 and carries just a hint of darkness.
Falsehood’s (excellent) first professional production in over 200 years presented a bit of a challenge for the publicity photos. We needed to get across the idea of a rape without (a) showing too much, (b) producing something too literal and just plain unattractive and (c) making it look too campy.
Other images we shot that never made it to press (revealed here in a shock world exclusive) included a suicide attempt and more than a little blood on the dance floor.
A highly successful and entertaining run at the Union Theatre and the New Players Theatre followed, from which some production photos below.
Director Andrew Keates’ Conjugal Rites, at the Courtyard Theatre in Hoxton, starring Alexandra Boyd and Gary Heron, was a very different kind of play: a very funny battle of the sexes set in a couple’s bedroom, I had the privilege of taking the production photos.
And finally, at a top secret gothic location bursting with all things valuable far from central London (ooooh…!), amid health and safety requirements and disclaimers aplenty, I spent a highly entertaining evening shooting for Courtesans, soprano Lizzie Byrne’s three-man extravaganza with actor Paul Hegarty and pianist Stefano Curina that explores the lives of three historical ladies of ill-repute. We left behind not a scratch and the venue’s owners – I can only assume – breathed a sigh of relief as the security gates dropped down behind us.
