Comments on Encore Theatre Magazine: Posters at the National

The current NT publicity design feels like a by-pr...

2006-11-24T09:00:00.000Z

The current NT publicity design feels like a by-product of the so-called web 2.0 phenomenon. You're right to point out the contrast, the publicity has become so bland and lacks a sense of daring.

What a great site. As sad as it may sound I still ...

2006-10-26T16:07:00.000+01:00

What a great site. As sad as it may sound I still jsut excited about other people getting exited about theatre.
Agree about the National. I love it. It is much better now. The posters though dull(ish) are maybe bordering on cultish in a positive way?

What about Market Boy? That was advertised on the ...

2006-10-19T16:09:00.000+01:00

What about Market Boy? That was advertised on the tube, much like a West End show.

Neat article. As someone who is just starting out ...

2006-10-17T17:26:00.000+01:00

Neat article. As someone who is just starting out to study design, this was enlightening.

Posters should intrigue and tempt people to see th...

2006-10-14T12:44:00.000+01:00

Posters should intrigue and tempt people to see the show or at least go home and Google the title just to find out more. This latest crop of posters doesn't do that very well and there is a lot on at the NT to appeal to a variety of tastes.

I don't go to see actors. I go to see acting, whic...

2006-10-13T11:39:00.000+01:00

I don't go to see actors. I go to see acting, which hopefully connects the spoken text to the elements of design and movement. Perhaps the concentration of the marketing mind upon who's on stage (as opposed to whatsonstage) disturbs people like me because it hints at, nay reveals, an ideology at work in Brit mainstream theatre. That is, emphasis of direction is placed upon leaving space for "towering" or "forceful" performances; and it doesn't matter if these don't connect to an intelligible conception of the work. In this praxis, the star turn becomes an alibi for missing the point. Thank you, theatre worker, for such an interesting provocation.

You're quite right, the posters could be prettier,...

2006-10-10T11:00:00.000+01:00

You're quite right, the posters could be prettier, though I do think Hytner has created a strong brand. I've always kind of assumed the NT was spending sod all on posters in order to have more money to pump into productions.

But what's a poster for? It's not an artistic adju...

2006-10-10T10:33:00.000+01:00

But what's a poster for? It's not an artistic adjunct to the show. The theatre puritans here don't want to accept that actors are what people go to see. Nobody says - what an interesting steel curve, I'll go and see that.
Plus, the images you talk about don't make sense unless you know the play anyway.

Really, really interesting article - shows how far...

2006-10-10T10:15:00.000+01:00

Really, really interesting article - shows how far we have moved away from "The play's the thing" to "Who's in it?" and the fact that it assumes that audiences recognise the titles and know what the plays are about - hardly drawing in new audiences....

Silly comment above. This was something that badly...

2006-10-08T21:30:00.000+01:00

Silly comment above. This was something that badly needed saying and done here with a panache and an authority which can hardly be said for the postings at whatsonstage. (Even if, as I suspect, there's some overlap: Skylight, who are you...?)

Do you assume that no one who reads Encore also re...

2006-10-08T19:48:00.000+01:00

Do you assume that no one who reads Encore also reads the Whatsonstage? disussion boards?