I live in Scarborough, a fishing port and holiday town on the Yorkshire coast, where the cultural jewel of the town is a theatre housed in a former art-deco
cinema. It’s named after Stephen Joseph, whose name is synonymous with ‘theatre in the round’ – a stage form where the audience completely
surrounds the stage and actors can get very close indeed! Both the town and the theatre are home to Sir Alan Ayckbourn, a renowned playwright who
premiers his plays at the ‘SJT’ before taking them to London’s west end. The pictures here are the just a few of the tens of thousands of images I shot
during a two year residency, whilst documenting the day to day life of the theatre on both sides of the curtain.
Theatre Production Photography Backgrounder
In professional theatre there is rarely chance to shoot a production ‘live’ since audiences are prohibited from taking their own photographs
and would quite rightly be aggrieved if they saw someone else doing so. For that reason, production photos are usually taken during a dress
rehearsal when all the lighting and costumes are as they would be in a normal performance. Another opportunity is to shoot during early
rehearsals, which are usually conducted in a dedicated room that’s usually well lit. Beware though the dreaded fluorescents which cause
banding and ugly colour shifts. Another downside is that actors are in normal dress and the light will be flat - nowhere near as dramatic as
that seen during the actual show or dress rehearsal. That’s why I prefer to shoot full dress rehearsals, even though the dramatic lighting often
makes things a lot more difficult. Stage lighting can and does change rapidly, and actors moving from lit to unlit areas of the stage present
you with a lot of unpredictable targets. If you attend early rehearsals though you’ll know just where and when the actors will be, and you’ll be
ready for the peak of the ‘action’ just as you might prepare to capture a racing car clipping the apex.
Actors are accustomed to being watched and filmed but as a matter of respect I try not to intrude audibly, visually and especially not
physically whilst they are working. I use the electronic shutter where possible to avoid distraction, wear dark clothing and move around as
quietly as possible, attempting to stay out of sightlines. My metering is set to follow the focus point and because the actors are frequently lit
against a dark background I’ll begin with -1 stop on exposure compensation and adjust as required. If necessary I’ll adjust ISO too, generally
aiming to keep to ISO 400 or less, reluctantly creeping up to ISO 3200 if necessary. On occasions where I’ve been granted permission to
shoot backstage during the performance it was not unusual to have to resort to ISO 12800 under some very challenging conditions.
The lighting backstage is very low, especially near the stage entry points where the audience might otherwise catch sight of the stage crew.
This is why they (and photographers!) dress all in black, frequently with matching gloves and Ninja masks!
