Dress Rehearsal

Backstage, 10th Feb 2009, dress rehearsal night for ‘Left Right Madness’ at the Seymour Centre downstairs theatre. Richard helps Amir with final touches to his makeup. Canon 20D at 1600 ISO.

Left Right Madness

I took this photo in 1998 or ’99. It was a dress rehearsal for the theatre piece ‘Left Right Madness’ by Richard Hayes-Marshall. The film was Kodak T400CN rated at 1600 and pushed 2.5 stops in the processing. Camera was my Canon EOS 5 with 28-70 lens, both of which I still own. Here I climbed a few rungs up a ladder to get a more interesting view point.

I’m still photographing the same actors and they are currently rehearsing this piece to present at the Seymour Centre this week as part of the Short & Sweet theatre event. The actors in the above shot are Loren Gaston & Amir El Abbassy. They were the only performers in the original presentation however the 2009 piece will feature Ralph Andrews and Bainia Masquelier as chorus, with Loren & Amir reprising their original roles. Left Right Madness is about the bipolar condition, with the two main characters representing the manic & depressive states as well as the effects of medication in its various forms.

Amir

Amir is one of the actors I’ve been documenting over the past 10 years. The above photo was made with a Polaroid SLR 680 using 600 type film. The camera made a good job of balancing the fill flash with the ambient light. I think this was taken late 2005.

Below photo was taken mid 2008 outside the Yeeros shop below the rehearsal space. Neopan 1600 in Diafine. These are both candid portraits, between rehearsals.

Second Personage

Nikon 28ti, Agfa Precisa cross processed

Two frames made at the Randwick Literary Institute in 2000. Details of student actors during a course in personage run by TheatrElan director Richard Hayes-Marshall. The students in these shots were displaying their second personages. Second is a character that is outrageous, extroverted, dynamic. The opposite is first personage, a character that is neurotic, fearful & lonely. The students find these elements within themselves & then produce them as characters with a name, hisory & costume. More info at TheatrElan.

Actors 2

Two more from the rehearsal space Royal Hall, Marrickville. Top was taken mid 2007 & shows Johanna & Baina developing their closh characters. There are clothes spread all over the floor so they can keep trying things on until they get the correct selection. I think this was early in the process but Baina has her character Bessie pretty complete, including Stratford the drum. Shot below was taken early ’08 a Summer evening with end of the day sun blasting through a small window. John, Amir, Baina & Ralph were deciding where to put tape lines on the floor to mark out the space they would have on the theatre stage.

Both photos are Leica M6, Fuji Neopan 1600 in Diafine, a good combination.

Actors 1

Marrickville, 2007    Fuji Neopan 1600 in Diafine

I’ve been photographing a group of actors for about 10 years on & off. Above are Johanna & Chris on a break in rehearsal, late 2007. Below are Baina & Ralph being interviewed as part of the process of developing their second personages Vixen & Jonty. More info can be found by clicking the link to TheatrElan in the links section.