The curtain has risen on a remarkable collection of sketches, now displayed at the Playhouse. You will discover them lining the walls of the staircases, the First Floor Café Bar and the Top Room. This is no ordinary exhibition. The 56 sketches on show are the work of theatre enthusiast, Michael Gabriel, who first watched performances at the Playhouse while studying art at the Ruskin School of Drawing, then housed in the Ashmolean Museum.

One of the remarkable things about these sketches is that most were drawn in the dark during a performance. Michael chooses an aisle seat – and a soft crayon that makes very little sound as it slides across the surface of his sketch pad – when he attends a performance. It is not until the lights come up that he has any idea if the pictures have worked. Any colour that is necessary to heighten the images is added in his studio later.

The manner in which he works in the auditorium accounts for the immediacy of the images, which capture far more than a photograph could ever do. It’s as if he has trapped a momentary conversation with the actors, and frozen their words and actions, such that the viewer is not just looking at a picture, but a performance. They are superb, and will doubtless bring great joy to regular theatregoers who, over the years, have watched the many performances he has encapsulated for all time.

These sketches include images of Sian Phillips, Joss Ackland as Falstaff and Miriam Karlin as Mistress Quickly, as well as the Lindsay Kemp Company’s performance of Cinderella (pictured). Spot’s Birthday Party, Peter Pan and a couple of sketches of Ian McKellen in Bent are also featured among the many performance classics Michael has depicted so impressively.

The curtain goes down on Between the Lines at the end of November to make room for panto pictures by Korky Paul.