Theatre productions in pictures from the GNM Archive

A new look at Crippen. The doctor and his unfortunate wife Cora, played by Kenneth Alan Taylor and Judith Barker, in the play Crippen, at Manchester's Contact Theatre, 11 September 1975
Photograph: Denis Thorpe for the Guardian

Joy Parker as Olga, alongside Gwen Watford and Mia Farrow in Chekhov's Three Sisters at the Greenwich Theatre in January 1973. After a number of years off the stage, Parker made an acclaimed return in this staging of the play directed by Robin Phillips
Photograph: E Hamilton West for the Guardian

Vanessa Redgrave in Antony & Cleopatra, 15 May 1995. Born into a long line of actors, Redgrave made her stage debut in 1957. This was her third portrayal of the Egyptian queen and she also directed the production of the Shakespeare tragedy at the London Riverside Studios
Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

Paul Schofield in Savages at the Royal Court, April 1973. Considered the greatest actor of his generation, Schofield's notable stage roles include his portrayal of Alan West in Christopher Hampton's Savages
Photograph: Peter Johns for the Guardian

Niamh Cusack and Gerard Murphy in a scene from Country Dancing, 3 November 1986. The play, performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Other Place in Stratford, is an interweaving of two stories which explore the world of folk song collector Cecil Sharp
Photograph: Garry Weaser for the Guardian

Jonathan Cullen and his fellow cast members in Dr Faustus at Greenwich Theatre in November 1993. 'The deadly sins ooze[d] from the fixtures and fittings' of the set according to Claire Armistead's review of the production for the Guardian
Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

Hamlet at the Donmar Warehouse, with Alan Cumming in the title role, in November 1993
Photograph: E Hamilton West for the Guardian

The Caretaker at Greenwich Theatre, October 1977. The play, which was Harold Pinter's first commercial success, starred Max Wall who enjoyed a long relationship with the London theatre. Wall had begun his career as a music hall entertainer but moved to theatre following its decline
Photograph: Peter Johns for the Guardian

Romeo and Juliet at the Lyric Theatre in May 1993, with Joe Dixon and Joanna Roth as the pair of lovers. The play featured a cast of eleven with many doubling parts, to tell the story with what Lyn Gardner described in her review as a 'simple, piercing clarity', which made the viewer 'see the play through fresh eyes'
Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

Philoctetes with Espen Skjonberg, James Maxwell and Robert Lindsay at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. The 1982 production of the Greek tragedy was the premiere of a new translation of the play by Sophocles
Photograph: Denis Thorpe for the Guardian

Andy Serkis and Dervla Kirwan in Hush at the Royal Court Theatre, 7 August 1992. Serkis received critical success for his breakthrough role as Dogboy, barking and snarling with what Michael Billington described as ' canine ferocity'
Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian

Love is in the air: Anna Chancellor and Antony Sher in Stanley which debuted at the National Theatre in 1996. The play explores the complicated private life of 20th century painter Stanley Spencer
Photograph: E Hamilton West for the Guardian