Daniel Craig as you've never seen him before: Photos reveal actors' rare moments of privacy
A major photography exhibition by Simon Annand, which has just opened at The Base - The Half: Photographs of Actors Preparing for the Stage is on tour from the V&A Museum. The Half spans more than 30 years of British theatre and includes portraits of many well-known performers, including Dame Judi Dench, Tom Hardy, Adrian Lester, Daniel Craig, Sophie Okonedo and Dame Helen Mirren.
The Half: Photographs of Actors Preparing for the Stage, at The Base, Greenham, until November 27. Review by LIN WILKINSON
For almost 30 years, Simon Annand has photographed actors in the intense half-hour before curtain-up, preparing themselves mentally and physically for performance.
This excellent touring exhibition, accompanied by a short film, comes from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, a major early player in the curation and collection of photography as an art form.
A roll-call of many of the most famous actors in British theatre, the show comprises black and white and coloured images, all bearing short captions detailing the actor/s, production, theatre and date.
It’s a beautifully printed, accomplished body of work, in both technique and compositional strength.
Annand’s approach is essentially journalistic in his ability to work spontaneously, capturing fleeting moments, yet he has produced resolved images with great creative presence. Paradoxically, such work also requires the photographer to be unobtrusive, so subjects behave naturally and do not perform for the camera.
The photographs have a palpable quietness, with a real sense of the dressing room as a private, hermetic space. As the actors think themselves into their roles, their concentration and necessary self-absorption are plain. So, too, is their vulnerability.
Most images place the subjects in context, within cluttered, cramped dressing rooms, with lighted mirrors and the detritus of theatrical make-up; the back stage reality – and seedy charm – of old theatres.
Alison Steadman sits between toilet and basin, text in hand. Richard Wilson, pre-panto, is a study in deep, focused thought. A costumed Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart share a private moment before the celebrated 2009 production of Waiting for Godot, Stewart’s hand on McKellen’s shoulder.
Lindsay Duncan at the Royal Court in 2007 is a fragile, beautifully-lit figure set against the angles and hardness of the built environment. The print is almost monochrome with hints of colour, the whole with a metallic sheen.
Annand has used differential focus in the image of Carey Mulligan and Mary Rose, the stairs the major compositional element. A contemplative Cate Blanchett, cigarette in hand, and Kristin Scott Thomas, knees fiercely drawn up, prove that the first shot of a session is often the best.
Some images are closely cropped portraits with little or no context, and in most cases the actors do not face the camera.
Annand focuses on the white of Rufus Sewell’s eyes, and on the dramatic contrast between Rachel Weiss’s scarlet dress and lips, and her black hair. Ralph Fiennes is photographed with shaving cream on his half-lit face, the effect almost one of solarisation.
Several images use a favourite photographic trope, in which the subject is seen in a mirror. Judi Dench is reflected in the famous 1720 mirror in dressing room no 9 at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, her face half-obscured by congratulatory cards. Sophie Okonedo turns her head grudgingly towards the photographer.
There’s also light-heartedness. Relaxed young actors at the National Theatre play cards before curtain-up; a row of actors do up each other’s buttons. Fiona Shaw and Simon Russell Beale roar with laughter, Shaw’s preparation for her imminent performance a choc-ice.
The exhibition runs until Sunday, November 27 (Wed-Sun 10am-5pm; last entry 4pm). £8 (with concessions). Book a time slot. https://thebasegreenham.co.uk
- Talk by Simon Annand on Preparing for the Stage: Saturday October 15, 6pm; and Thursday November 10, 1.30pm. Tickets required.
