Frankenstein

British photographer Simon Annand has been taking pictures of actors onstage in London for more than 30 years, but his latest book, “Time To Act,” focuses on those mysterious moments before the curtain goes up. A-listers such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett let Annand into their private backstage domains to witness their pre-show rituals.

On the TV show “Sherlock,” Cumberbatch’s brilliant character’s mind moves a mile a minute. In the makeup chair, however, as he was painstakingly turned into a monster for the National Theatre’s “Frankenstein,” the actor was a bit foggy.

“He had just come back from New York on a plane and caught a cold, I think,” recalled Annand of their 2011 encounter, which happened on a Tuesday. “By Thursday, he had to learn how to ride a horse for the film of ‘War Horse.’”

The actor, now 44, also had a complex routine to get ready for the play, in which he and Jonny Lee Miller alternated the roles of Victor Frankenstein and his Creature every night.
“He had to go through an hour or two of this makeup. So he needed a lot of physical and mental concentration to get it together,” Annand said.