Empire Circus

Dancers warm up on stage before a rehearsal.

The Hackney Empire is a remarkable old theatre close to my home in London. Established in 1901, it is one of the few surviving theatres by Frank Matcham, the Edwardian opera house designer. For the first half of the 20th century the Empire hosted stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and WC Fields, before they found fame on film screens.

Much of my work in the late 1990s involved extensive travel and dealing with traumatic subjects. To provide a counterbalance I was drawn to develop a project documenting the life of this venerable theatre, so close to home, in the years leading up to its 100th anniversary.

The images were published at the time, but were also used extensively as part of a funding campaign to keep the theatre alive.

On the strength of this body of work, I was subsequently commissioned to work with the Circus Space project in London to document the training of 87 young aerial performers for the Millennium Dome show.

This collection brings together images from the Hackney Empire and my time at Circus Space.

Children taking part in the annual pantomime prepare for the performance.

The pantomime fairy godmother goes over her lines backstage.

World famous Russian clown Slava Polunin in his dressing room. His breakthrough, SnowShow, was first seen in the UK at the Hackney Empire.

A pantomime ugly sister makes a call backstage during the interval.

A ballerina has a smoke break backstage.

A violinist warms up in a backstage stairwell.

Actor Lindsay Kemp performs as a birdman in his show, Variété.

The Hackney Empire was one of the last theatres to have its stage curtains opened manually.

Russian clown Slava Polunin surrounded by confetti during the finale of SnowShow.

The audience responds to a shower of snow-like confetti.

An aerial acrobat practices a rope routine at the Circus Space.

Student acrobats practice creative movement in stilt walking.

Student acrobats begin training in stilt walking.

Student acrobats practice formations for the Dome show.

Student acrobats practice for the Dome show.

Student acrobats test out falling routines.

Aerial performers rehearse for the Dome show.

Trampolinist rehearses for the Dome show.