Photographer Sheila Burnett talks about 70s experimental theatre

Charting 12 years of European touring with one of the foremost experimental theatre groups of the time, Offstage: The Pip Simmons Theatre Group is a photographic record with over 200 black and white photos and written testimonials from the people who were there. Photos taken by company member and performer Sheila Burnett before she started her 40-year career in theatre photography, the book is a backstage insight into the productions. Amongst the shows are their 90-minute rock version of The Tempest, an adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and An Die Musik, described by Michael Coveney in Pip Simmons’ Guardian obituary as “one of the finest avant-garde productions of my lifetime, a gruesome, overwhelming masterpiece.” The book has been re-released to coincide with the second anniversary of Pip Simmons’ death on 24 Jan 2024 at the age of 80.

When looked at all together, what picture do you think the book paints of theatre in the 70s and 80s? 

Freedom fun and collaboration, an era of transformation, we called ourselves performers not actors, experimental gritty and political doing everything to avoid the period of theatre that came before (Pinter, Wesker, Osborne, Miller) etc The so called angry young men. We could be angry too but had a colourful pallet of make believe & vaudeville … a long way from the kitchen sink

Do you have a favourite picture in the collection? 

Picking 200 for the book was difficult enough but just for fun I would pick ‘’Lunch in Provence”  where a cat is asleep on a table. We were having an idle morning deciding where to have lunch in one of the wonderful Provence brasseries. We found ourselves in this typical French eatery with an empty table where a kitten lay fast asleep. Without hesitation Rod and Chris made a bee line for the table sat down & picked up a knife and fork whilst the patrons had a good laugh. Its only later you realise the composition is pretty good too

Which production do you remember most fondly, and do you think that’s reflected in the pictures of it? 

Fondest memories are of my favourite show Woyzeck, I played the Idiot who was a minor character. Pip said make it up so I did with abandon, I was a great idiot, no nudity, no words, just an idiot, best thing I ever did. Everyone in that show went to the extreme even the techies, lighting man everyone. We started the show in the foyer dressed as low ranking Napoleonic soldiers larking about, you could say we were hooligans. I looked forward to every show, it worked everywhere in all spaces be it theatre, black box, promenade or site specific.(I didn’t take production photos, we had brilliant production photographers who did that) but our backstage photos are a hoot.

In your career since, what do you look for when photographing theatre companies? 

I look out for the light, the lighting design is most important, still is, you can’t do it otherwise. Analogue was difficult so back in those b/w days shooting on negative. I attended the press photo call when the lighting rig was full on.…Then digital happened ! My digital crossover took 4 years and when I finally became confident, production photography as we knew it changed. Digital cameras are capable of working with the most challenging of lighting designs making it easier to concentrate on the production and following the actors, finding the flow and going with it.

For those who never encountered Pip Simmons, what do you hope that they’ll take from the book?

I hope whoever reads ‘Offstage’ can imagine what it was like to live in a non-digital world and enjoy the hundreds of photos taken as and when we travelled without much thought of the future. It's quite possible without the photos this era of life on the road would be long forgotten and with it Pip Simmons and his troop. I didn't keep a diary, the text is taken from postcards sent back home to my family, theatre reviews and old letters. After 50 years photos are considered a historical archive which this has become. I hope whoever reads this book recognises it as such an ‘Analogue’ era created in the ‘Digital' era and hope they enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Offstage: The Pip Simmons Theatre Group by Sheila Burnett can be purchased on Amazon: amzn.eu/d/3YGpov5

Or a signed copy from: offstage-book.co.uk