I took some photographs of the rehearsals for the Christmas Show at the Theatre on Cromer Pier and accidentally caught images that show the world of Popular Entertainment has a strange, thought provoking side to it, something that the public never see.

I’m a fine art/reportage photographer and was looking to capture some images for art galleries and international photographic competitions, but the rehearsals were nothing like I expected.

The technicians were experimenting with the lighting which led to brief, but often fabulous and enigmatic compositions.


I worked between shifting scenes, hurried stage directions and bolts of lighting, the dancers were caught off guard, displaced in impenetrable darkness only their immediate world illuminated.
It felt very Edward Hopper; who knows what was lurking in the dark places; 
a world of faces deep in shadow, or faces hardly visible at all?

What was revealed to me in this place of Popular Entertainment was something altogether different from the bright lights of any stage show.
Here was a world depicting the fragility of life and the human condition. 
A place of sudden truths causing the viewer to pause and reflect on the enigma of our existence.

You could read anything you wanted into what was happening in front of your eyes… and I did!

It seemed appropriate to use lines from the Theatre to describe a scene, which gave the images even more resonance.

So, for me there was an unexpected story here, and I think perhaps for the Art world too.
The world of Popular Entertainment has a serious side to it, something that no one as far as I know has seen an opportunity to use before.

I’ve just finished making a print of Olly Day, the Pier’s famous Compere, he spent the time trying to make me laugh, but I managed to capture his serious side.
The ancient quote on his image is relevant to the nature of comedy and life in particular.


The feedback I’ve had so far shows viewers are as interested in the quotations as they are the images.

Prints will be for sale either with or without the quotations. Some people prefer to put their own interpretation on what they perceive to be happening in front of their eyes, which I think is an interesting development. To accommodate this I will artwork the quotes into the image.
The only stipulation being that any quote must be out of copyright which is mostly 70 years after its creation.
It will be interesting to see what people come up with.
All quotation attributions are at the bottom of this page.