The Half: Photographs of Actors Preparing for the Stage by Simon Annand – September 22 to November 9

For 25 years, actors have given Simon Annand unprecedented access to photograph them during the thirty minutes before curtain-up, known as ‘the half’. These rare images show the many ways actors focus for their performance and offer a dazzling gallery of our most celebrated actors, including Jude Law, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Hopkins, Ralph Fiennes and Jeremy Irons. A lavish book accompanies the exhibition.

Dame Judi Dench described Annand as “One of the most amazing photographers I have had the pleasure of working with in the theatre… He is an individualist with an eye for the unusual.”   

Press Release from The National Theatre

What Annand had to say about Jeremy and the photograph:

Jeremy Irons
The Rover by Aphra Behn
Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1986

“He was already a film star, but here he was part of an RSC ensemble piece. It was intriguing to see how the RSC Company could accommodate that kind of presence and also how he handled it. He’s a very amiable person, but he looked like he needed some space, just to be with me on his own. There is a sort of vulnerability and intimacy that he allowed me to see here.”
Times online UK Sept. 2008

Read more about the exhibit and the book at The National Theatre!

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