HIGHLIGHTS & FOOTLIGHTS

Respected photographer Bob Martin produces splendid publication filled with superb images of actors, dancers and musicians. (Review by Caroline Smart)

Photographer Bob Martin calls himself a theatre-mad aficionado. He has led a fascinating life, which has seen him working as a naval cadet, a ballet dancer, an actor, a tourism photographer and working as a 'scene of crime' photographer as a reservist with the Kenya Police during the Mau Mau emergency, to name a few of his activities. However, it is his photographic skill that prompted him to produce the splendid Highlights & Footlights published by Double Storey, the cover of which has a delightful picture of Tobie Cronje and Michael McCabe as the two Ugly Sisters in PACT’s 1978 production of Cinderella.

The move to publish was thanks in no small part to his eldest daughter Lyn (formerly married to Ron Smerczak) who nagged him to make better use of all his precious favourite photographs stored in an old cardboard box in the garage of his home in Villiersdorp where he is now retired. The images – “little bits of my soul” he called them - were captured during his time as a freelance photographer and, later, as a fulltime in-house theatre photographer for the then Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal (PACT). He notes that it was in the theatre – “surrounded by the allure and absolute genius of dance, drama and music that I found my true calling.”

Flipping through this high-quality publication, one is left in no doubt that his sentiments are spot-on – I mean, this is someone who has worked with the legendary Karsh of Ottawa. The black and white photographs are superb, including portraits of some of South Africa’s finest artistic talent where he sensitively captures both essence and mood.

While colour photographs can offer the richness of many hues, black and white photography is a powerful medium that can seize a moment with breathtaking dramatic clarity. Bob Martin notes that “theatre photography requires specialist demands and a highly interpersonal modus operandi.” He also bemoans the fact that the theatre is an “impossibly dark” place in which to take pictures. However, he learned by trial and error - no “schools of photography” being available at the time - and conquered the challenges to great effect, as the book proves.

Barry Ronge’s frontispiece states, Highlights & Footlights is a "record of the immense wealth of artistic activity in South Africa”. It features photographs from the early 1960’s across the subsequent 40 or so years. He goes on to acknowledge that Bob Martin “allows us a rare glimpse into a bygone era of glamour, creativity and inspiration.”

This is so true. In KwaZulu-Natal, the performing arts scene is still battling to climb out of the chasm caused when the performing arts councils were forced to dissolve their in-house production companies. A recent event in KZN where colleagues and friends of the late John Moss gathered for the opening night of KickstArt’s Cinderella reminded me of the extensive industry once created by NAPAC/Playhouse Company as well as the high professional standard of the plays and musicals produced.

However, back to Highlights & Footlights … In her foreword, actress Sandra Prinsloo (and what a stunning pic of her!) pays tribute to Bob Martin’s humour and dedication to his craft. She also acknowledges his capacity, from his own experience, to understand the psyche of the performing artist and to be able to cajole a tired and oft-times dispirited cast to give him the photograph he was after.

International figures feature alongside our South African personalities. My favourite images are those of Clair Stopford, Gaynor Young, Clark (Clakkie) McCay, Juliet Prowse and Jana Cilliers. The most amusing – and at the same time poignant – story is that of Eartha Kitt who suffered indignity at the hands of the then apartheid government but rose above it all with sheer guts and humour. He has a beautiful image of Margot Fonteyn and a very arresting one of conductor Brian Priestman.

On settling down to take more time to go through the book, the reader is taken on a fascinating journey as Bob Martin gives his personal anecdotes or experiences of photographing his subject. These are written with refreshing candour and much humour but the text could have done with some editing as there are repetitions, which can cause confusion. I would also have liked to have seen the inclusion of images more representative of a wider artistic community.

That said, this is a fascinating and interesting publication – both from an artistic and an information viewpoint. Anyone remotely interested in South African theatre, music, dance or film – and their individual histories - should have this book on their shelves.

Highlights and Footlights is published in hard cover with a dust jacket. Price R295 - ISBN: 978 070 217 3837– Caroline Smart