Digital photo exhibition capturing theatres during lockdown released
Photo credit: Helen Murray
A powerful new digital photo exhibition, capturing 22 empty theatres, has been released by photographer Helen Murray.
The ‘Our Empty Theatres’ series was created during lockdown, with photos taken in theatres across the UK adhering to government guidelines. Murray also collected quotes from 100+ members of the arts community.
Murray said: “Over the course of lockdown I set myself a challenge, to create a photo series that captured this moment in history but that also told a story of its own. I kept coming back to our empty theatres – these spaces that were now without life, without people and without stories.
“I visited and captured a total of 22 theatre spaces in London, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. Shooting this series has been sobering. Going back to into these spaces that I know so well and being met with total silence. No background noise, no chitter chatter, no infectious laughs bellowing out of a rehearsal room, just complete silence. The stark opposite of what they should be. In the forefront of my mind throughout shooting was what are these buildings are without all the glorious, wonderful, different kinds of people that inhabit them, from the army of freelancers to the permanent staff, to the ushers, box office, bookshop, stage door, café & bar staff, volunteers, community & audience members? I wanted to contact these people to ask them what do our empty theatres mean to you?
“As the theatre sector continues to face uncertainty I hope the series serves as a reminder of why we must fight to fill these buildings with the people that make them thrive and not forget those who have been underrepresented in the past.
“My photos are a love letter to not just the theatres themselves but to the people, artists and communities who give these buildings life. I invite you to share what #OurEmptyTheatres means to you.”
To view the full series, please click here.
