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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Exhibition - Scene/Unseen: A celebration of London's West End Theatres
Verdict: Opulent delight of secret images, sensually shot
London - St Martin's Court - November 02
Free Open-Air Exhibition 8 Oct - 16 Nov 02
St Martin's Court, off Charing Cross Road, London WC2
Scene/Unseen features the electrifying camera-work of Derek Kendall. He's in the guts of the prettiest theatres in London, from thunder-sheets ('Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of Essex') and bored stage-door girls, to rococo architectural delights from the age when, my dear, you went to the theatre to see and be seen.
You can see just a few of the images, shot by Kendall and curated by Susie Barson and Joanna Smith, on the English Heritage website. But you'll miss the big scale of Kendall's gorgeously hand-printed photographs, stuck on the outside walls of the West End's Wyndhams and Albery Theatres.
English Heritage and their co-sponsors deserve enormous credit for putting together this astounding exhibition. And for doing it in the right place - the heart of London's theatre-land. And making it free of charge. It's an opulent delight of secret images, sensually shot.
St Martin's Lane's a back passage (Ooh! Matron!) from 2 sides of the Wyndhams Theatre, on Charing Cross Road (very near Leicester Square tube), alongside the Albery to St Martin's Lane. It's the shape of an 'h'. We list the shots below:
St Martin's Court: Alongside The Albery, starting from St Martin's Lane:
'Many people go to the theatre to see and be seen' (James George Buckle 1884): photographs concentrating on magnificent interior architecture:
1 - Victoria Palace Theatre: Inlaid panelling viewed through bevelled glass in the entrance.
2 - Wyndhams Theatre: Box Office.
3 - Westminster Theatre (closed 2002): Box Office.
4 - Soho Theatre and Writers Centre: New directions: Entrance to Auditorium.
5 - Queens Theatre: Geomorphic patterned pillars, Bar.
6 - Whitehall Theatre: Jazzy ceiling, Foyer.
7 - Whitehall Theatre: Jazzy ceiling, passage.
8 - Prince Edward Theatre: Art Deco statuette, Dress Circle staircase.
9 - Piccadilly Theatre: Pressed-glass figure of Eros, Stalls passage.
10 - Palace Theatre: Grand staircase.
11 - Drury Lane Theatre Royal: The Rotunda en-route to the Auditorium.
12 - London Palladium: Edwardian Baroque splendour: Foyer.
13 - Albery Theatre: Stairs.
14 - Albery Theatre: Royal Retiring Room.
15 - Phoenix Theatre: Head of the Stalls stairs.
16 - Phoenix Theatre: Inter-War Classicism: Passage ceiling.
17 - Fortune Theatre: Brass plaque in Foyer.
18 - Fortune Theatre: Upper Circle Bar.
19 - Donmar Warehouse: Entrance.
20 - Donmar Warehouse: From industry to theatre.
21 - Players Theatre: Underneath the arches below Charing Cross Station: Foyer.
22 - Apollo Theatre: The 'Late-Comers Window'.
23 - Dominion Theatre: 'Please take your seats': Stalls.
St Martin's Court: continuing round the back wall of The Albery (big poster-size prints):
24 - New London Theatre: Stage, set and seating (set design by John Napier).
25 - Duke of York's Theatre: An actor's view from the stage.
26 - St Martin's Theatre: The Upper Circle.
27 - Shaftesbury Theatre: Edwardian exhuberance.
28 - Windmill Theatre: From theatre to night-club.
29-37 - Looking up, there are 9 photos in the blank windows of the theatre wall.
St Martin's Court: Alongside the north side of Wyndam's Theatre, starting from Charing Cross Road:
'Backstage are the workshops, painting rooms, scene docks and wardrobe. The moment the curtain falls, men are rushing to and fro' (James George Buckle 1884): photographs concentrating on the amazing machinery concealed back-stage:
38 - Drury Lane Theatre Royal: Hydraulic rams for lifting sections of the stage.
39 - Gielgud Theatre: Suspended set ready to 'fly' from the 'fly floor' or gallery above the stage.
40 - Duke of York's Theatre: A rare survival: A 'Grand Master' lighting control, backstage.
41 - Cochrane Theatre: Spattered paint-frame in the scene-painting workshop.
42 - Vaudeville Theatre: Early sound effects: Thunder-sheet, backstage (with graffiti unsuitable for a family publication).
43 - Royal Opera House: Stage and side-stage framed by a set.
44 - Royal Opera House: State-of-the-art technology on the new 'grid'.
45 - Ambassador's Theatre: Gallery with ropes for raising scenery and 'cloths' by hand, backstage.
46 - Comedy Theatre: Victorian drums and shafts, for lifting heavy props, on the 'grid'.
St Martin's Court: Alongside the south side of Wyndam's Theatre, starting from Charing Cross Road:
'One becomes curiously fond of the bare bricks, dimly-lit corridors and creaking floorboards of these old building. It is the fallibility of the textures, the realness of the old theatres, that makes them loveable' (Simon Callow 2001). Photographs concentrating on the theatre at work:
47 - London Palladium - Stage Door.
48 - Bloomsbury Theatre - Final adjustments, under-stage Rehearsal Room.
49 - Palace Theatre - Messages on the back of the set.
50 - Apollo Victoria Theatre - Chorus Dressing Room.
51 - Adelphi Theatre - Costumes and props, backstage.
52 - Aldwych Theatre - a 'set' stage.
53 - Arts Theatre - behind the set.
St Martin's Court: continuing round the back wall of Wyndhams Theatre (big poster-size prints):
54 - Arcola Theatre: Box fronts.
55 - Haymarket Theatre Royal: Edwardian Auditorium ceiling and balcony fronts.
Credits: Derek Kendall (Photographer). Susie Barson (English Heritage: Historian, Historical Analysis and Research Team). Joanna Smith (English Heritage: Architectural Investigation, London). Producers: English Heritage, Ambassador Theatre Group, Sky Photographic.
END
John Park
reviewed Thursday 7 November / St Martin's Court exterior.
related site - English Heritage
related site - Ambassador Theatre Group
related site - Sky Photographic
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
