Originally built as an iron foundry, it was opened as a Variety Theatre in 1892 by Mr John Walters. It later became a picture palace and then a bingo hall before reopening as The Empire Theatre. The Orchestral Stalls were designed to house 60 musicians with further seating for an audience of 1000. There was also an upper circle and a gallery as well as seating in the lower tier. There was also a temperance bar and smoking saloon. In 1948 the upper tier was removed leaving seating for an audience of approximately 500.
I decided to ask if there was any chance that I could photograph the theatre as many local theatres have been modernised and having a particular penchant for older architecture, I wanted to try to capture the essence of the place. I also want to practise different lighting skills as I feel this is an area that I might improve on. The challenge of photographing the interior is very appealing as I would be using their lighting for the project. I also talked to a new tutor at the university, John Murray, who specialises in lighting and when I told him of the potential project he suggested that I look up a photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto and also suggested several options available to me including one when I set the camera up on a tripod and using a very long exposure, run round the theatre using different lighting sources in different areas to create a wonderful effect.
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| © Hiroshi Sugimoto |
I will endeavour to find as much information on this method of lighting and weigh up if it will in fact be possible given time restrictions and workload. If I don’t manage to use it on this visit, it might be something that I would consider for the future.
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