The Times We Lived In: Portrait of the artist paying homage to Munch

He has played Albert Einstein. He has played Stan Laurel. He has played Death. He has been in Frasier and Cheers, Colditz and The Sweeney, Rebus and Poirot and Midsomer Murders. He has read the complete Ulysses on audio and recreated Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men on Broadway.

And as Bishop Brennan in Father Ted, he was the most bloodcurdling thing you’ve ever seen in a biretta – who can ever forget that scene where he zoomed across the fields, cape flying behind, to seek revenge for having been kicked up the arse by Dermot Morgan?

So do we need an excuse to publish this portrait of one of Ireland's most successful exports, the actor Jim Norton? In a word, no. As this year's Dublin Theatre Festival gets into its stride, theatre is on our minds. Besides which, this is one of the best portrait shots we've come across while rummaging through The Irish Times archive.

It was taken at a Dublin Theatre Festival photocall for a forthcoming new play by Frank McGuinness. In The Bread Man Norton took the role of the Sinner Courtney, a middle-aged Donegal delivery man whose behaviour has become, as Hamlet might say, a bit "antic".

The Bread Man has never been one of McGuinness's most popular or successful works – though it did net Norton a Best Actor award. Our photo, however, is a stunner. The lighting, the skin tones, the symmetry of the pose, the veins and creases on the actor's hands, the haunted expression in that intense gaze.

Which, when you think about it, pays homage to the iconic Munch painting The Scream.

No wonder Mr Norton is such a sought-after thespian. Between himself and Frank Miller, they’ve turned an ordinary everyday photocall into a work of art.