Poster Problems

*The following was written on 12th May 2012*

Here is our new poster. You will see from this very blog that it is more than a little different to our last poster for the same show. Why? you may ask. The last poster was cool and conveyed the tone of the piece perfectly. This, of course, is true – it was and it did. And indeed, the plan was to continue to use the original design with a nice sticker on the front announcing the new dates. But then we had to re-cast Fats and all of a sudden our poster needed not only new dates but also a new face. Stickers can only do so much. And the last thing I wanted was to give the impression that one of the cast was Pacman. So we needed to make changes.

Those readers who followed the blog back in late 2011 will know that the original poster design was a collaboration between myself and Katie McDermott. The natural solution was to contact Katie and make the necessary minor amendments. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of doing something different. I decided that since we had a new cast member and a new dynamic (more on that next time), we needed a new poster.

Taking a leaf out of Winedark Productions book, I wanted a single silhouetted image with text on a solid-colour background. So I needed an image that would sum up the play: a martini glass? A revolver? A woman? All were tried and revolver won. There was some debate amongst the team as to which colour the background should be – I favoured red, others blue. I was afraid that a blue background for a production called L.A. Blues would look to amateurish. I was wrong. Blue nails the tone of the play while my red version resembles some sort of straight-to-DVD sex thriller. Decision made.

If I’m honest, there are things I would like to change – some of the text needs repositioning and possibly re-sizing. But regardless of these niggles, I think it is a good poster, maybe a great one. Not necessarily in the pantheon of theatrical posters, but for this play. Certainly, it is a lot stronger than it’s predecessor. And that’s what matters for now.