A rare glimpse into the dressing rooms of dozens of A-list actors from Dame Judi Dench to Daniel Craig is on offer in a new exhibition.

When ‘The Half’ is called backstage in a theatre, it signals a 30-minute countdown until the actors are due to face their audience on stage.

During the past 25 years, production photographer Simon Annand has been given unprecedented access to the dressing rooms of some of the world’s most celebrated actors as they undergo that tense half-hour before curtain up.

And now he is sharing those intimate shots in new exhibition The Half: Photographs Of Actors Preparing For The Stage, at the Blake Gallery in Gravesend’s Woodville Halls.

It features more than 100 images of stars including Vanessa Redgrave, Gillian Anderson, Jim Broadbent, Martin Sheen, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Kristin Scott Thomas, Holly Hunter, Daniel Craig and Jude Law.

In addition to offering a spellbinding glimpse into the heart of the acting process, the portraits also capture 25 years of theatre history.

On display will be photographs that record actors at the height of their powers, such as Eric Porter readying himself for King Lear in 1987; as well as portraits of a young Kenneth Branagh, Anthony Hopkins, Colin Firth and Daniel Day Lewis in the 1980s, before they became household names.

There is a photograph of John Gielgud at the Apollo just before the curtain rose on his last ever stage performance in 1988, and Juliette Lewis warming up for Fool For Love in the same theatre 25 years later in 2006.

The 2008 cast of Hairspray waiting in the wings is shown alongside Daniel Radcliffe during his 2007 West End debut in Equus, along with Michael Gambon alone in his dressing room as he prepares to play Deeley in the 1985 production of Pinter’s Old Times.

The exhibition, curated by Kate Bailey of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s department of theatre and performance in collaboration with Annand, was originally staged at the V&A in 2010, and has also been shown in New York.

It is the most comprehensive survey of the veteran British theatre photographer’s work to date, and will include a number of new photographs on public display for the first time.

The Half also includes a film of a portrait session with Ben Whishaw, providing new insights into both the tensions actors struggle with and the personal rituals that they undertake on a nightly basis.

The Half will be the Blake Gallery from Wednesday, April 10, until Thursday, June 20. It is open from 9am to 8pm, Monday to Saturday, and 10am to 2pm on Sunday. Admission is free.

Call 01474 337774.