Urban streets have always served as theatrical backdrops for pedestrians and inspiration for artists. The earliest photographers realised the exciting possibilities of illicit photography — even with their cumbersome cameras — and adapted techniques from controlled indoor settings for the street.

That theme runs through Tate Modern’s superb summer show of 300 photographic portraits, including many favourites of London galleries (Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe and Cecil Beaton) integrated thematically with young contemporaries (Cindy Sherman, Wolfgang Tillmans, Juergen Teller and many lesser known surprises).

The changing relationship between studio and street photography is explored to the point where each location is inter-changeable. In the Thirties, Beaton’s theatrical studio sets demanded sophisticated lighting but in the Fifties, William Klein was able to take models, mirrors and lights onto Paris streets and into the photographs. In Sixties Bamako, Malick Sidibe made fantasy projections in his tiny studio involving status props (watches, scooters), while Hashem el Madani’s Palestinian Resistants 1968-70, posed with AK47s, similarly exploited art historical traditions.

Of the many intense close-up character studies, Helmar Lerski’s exquisitely detailed works — only achievable in a studio — are a highpoint of the show.

The idea of the studio-as-street fell heavily under Hollywood’s influence and also inspired Fifties advertisements. Tom van Wichert’s Volkswagen shoot is an imaginative inclusion — a scene in preparation, more interesting than the result, it conjures the epics of Jeff Wall.

Theatricality surrounding unnatural death inspires Weegee’s Their First Murder, 9 Oct 1941 where flashlightdazzled children represent an era when death was still everyday but photography wasn’t.

Earlier, Brassai employed street lighting to convert dark streets into stage sets for night creatures — a reminder of anonymity’s eternal fascination, and Tillmans avoids identity problems with close-up cut-ups of arms, eyes and armpits to express the intimacy/anonymity of Tube travelling.

Prints from Fifties photo booths show cheeky, flirty expressions impossible in formal studios. Elsewhere, snatched shots show that only celebrities fear cameras (as in Ron Gallela’s stolen shot of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow).

Today, we walk the streets aware of our place in the choreography of the city. This exhibition represents the contradictions within photography, where even a lavatory is a studio and we are all photographers and models.

Open Sun-Thurs 10am-6pm, Fri-Sat 10am-10pm, admission £10, concs available.Until 31 August. Information: 020 7887 8000 , www.tate.org.uk.