sleeping posters

Once a project has finished and we have decided on a title, it's time to design the advertising! If you are a regular reader of the weekly Directors Notes you will know that it took a long time after the project was finished before we decided on a title. Many suggestions were thrown into the ring, we probably had about a dozen to begin with but after a quick vote it was decided that 'Sleeping Dogs' was perfect. 

So to the design! We, as a Company, like to give every member the opportunity to get creative so we never leave this process to any one individual and this time was no different. However, this time round, instead of choosing just one design we decided to use all three! Below are the 3 designs with a little bit from the creators about the inspiration for them.

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jocelyn

Once the title was decided, it was time to think about posters.

At first, I thought of the origins of the saying 'let sleeping dogs lie', so I started looking at Chaucer's poem; the line "it is nought good a slepying hound to wake"is thought to be the origin of the phrase, however, when looking at the plot behind Troilus and Cressida's story did not relate to our play. Then I started to look for pictures of medieval dogs and saw...a sleeping dog!

I used the three cushions to represent the mother and daughters in our play and as my dog Bentley has an epic tail when he is happily trotting around (a cross between a squirrel and a pig!) I incorporated the three colours of the cushions in the tail to show the familial connection. 

And here is Bentley in all his (sleeping) glory!
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Liz

First off, I am no artist so collage seemed a good way to go and something I could do.

A large part of the play focuses on the relationship between a mother and her daughters. Tearing and overlaying the pictures reflects the fragility and changing connections in family dynamics.

The crooked newsprint represents the traditional depiction of criminal intent and lastly, the blue background references a point of friction within the drama.


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kerry

I used a digital drawing app on my tablet for this design simply because it's easier to edit. I kept the overall look of the Company logo ie the black background and green edging so that is instantly recognisable as our work.

I took the words of May, Contain, Nuts and Theatre Company and displaced them to represent the fractured relationship between the mother and daughters. The main picture of a front door and house name signage was chosen to illustrate that you don't know what goes on behind a closed door, that things can look very normal from the outside. The Sleeping Dogs signage has intricate edging details as a counterpoint to the simplicity to show the complicated and fractured connections between all of the characters. And the red front door is both love and danger which are both present in the dynamics of the family. 

And the shadow figure looming....

​You'll just have to come and see the play!