On Sunday night I was covering an event at the Tricycle theatre where the two poets Seamus Heaney and Simon Armitage selected 10 pieces of writing – verse or prose – that had inspired them. They were on stage introducing each piece which were then delivered by the actors Charles Dance and Jenny Jules. The event was a one off fund raser for English PEN, called Inspirations, and was sold out weeks ago.

It was a tricky gig for me as, unlike production photography, this was covering a live performance (instead of the dress rehearsal): subtlety was the order of the day although that is easier said than done. I was keen to get a least one charismatic image of Seamus Heaney – a veteran poet whose works I admire. Its always tricky to photograph live performance and actually enjoy the work but I did get a kick out of the extract of the Beckett play, Waiting for Godot. Just a few lines reinforces the fact that life is tragically futile yet the gentle simplicity of the writing somehow suggests that reason is restored.