”Realms of the Empire”

The more time spent in The Empire Theatre in Sunderland, the more the building seems to reveal itself to you. At  first you are struck by the grandeur and scale, and then as you move in closer and let your eyes adjust you become aware of the layers of history beneath the theatrical façade, the years of fixtures, of gas lights and electrical cable that creep through and around the plaster work, the golden busts obscured by lighting rigs. Everything in the theatre is not quite real and not quite square. You could spend years photographing and re photographing the spaces at The Empire. I wanted to show some of the details that reveal themselves when the audience have left and the house lights are up.  It is a space of possibility that can transport you to another time or another place. It has a faded decadence, where all its imperfections and years of alterations come in to view. Then, the cleaners work their Brasso magic and the lights are dimmed for the matinee - it is transformed once again for the next performance.