#Theatresindanger
YOU may remember Bill Ward as the evil Charlie Stubbs in Coronation Street and/or the not very pleasant James Barton in Emmerdale.
As far as I am aware Bill is the only actor to play murdered characters in two different soaps!
You may have caught Bill Ward at Rochdale’s 2015 Literature and Ideas Festival exhibiting and talking about his photography or even last month on the stage at the Coliseum in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Recently I caught up with Bill to share what we were both up to and discovered that he was, quite rightly, proud to have announced the reprint of his #Theatresindanger
Theatre Photography Book.
The first print run sold out in eight weeks and has already raised thousands of pounds for the Theatres Trust, the theatrical charity that is doing such vital work in helping theatres all over the UK survive the pandemic.
#Theatresindanger, with a beautiful foreword from Kate Wasserberg, artistic director of Stockroom (formerly Out of Joint), is packed full of photographs that Bill has taken whilst working in theatres up and down the country over the last 10 years.
Although well known for his television work, Bill works extensively in the theatre, and over the last few years has starred in many shows in the West End (Everybody’s Talking
About Jamie, Viva Forever, Million Dollar Quartet and Spamalot!) as well as national tours of The Glee Club, Shakespeare in Love, Legally Blonde, Look Back in Anger, and Not Dead Enough.
Alongside the book, Bill is also selling limited edition prints of over 50 additional theatre photographs, making just under 100 photographs in the project in total.
The 30 or so theatres taking part range from the extraordinary Grand Opera House Belfast to the glorious Kings Theatres in Edinburgh and Glasgow, regional powerhouses like Theatre Royal Bath, the Mayflower Southampton, Nottingham Theatre Royal and Sunderland Empire, to West End heavy hitters like the Apollo and Noel Coward.
All proceeds from the sale of both the book and the prints go direct to the Theatres Trust.
Bill is an award-winning professional photographer, winning the Adobe Prize at the 2015 UK Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards, and Best Seascape at the 2020 Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards.
His work is frequently commended, shortlisted and nominated in competitions all over the world.
He is proud to be an ambassador for Pentax Cameras. »