Old Times
Recently, I designed a poster series for Coastal Carolina University Department of Theatre’s 2010-11 season. Did a version of Pinter’s OLD TIMES that was met with the comment, “What are you after?” Never a good thing if you have to explain. Though I then DID explain: a metaphor for instigation and crawling into the abyss with a sense of the rustic and isolated, thus getting at both character and context. But it don’t mean a thing if it don’t have a ring…of truth to it.
So I did a second version. In this one, I played with the power struggle central to the play using rock/paper/scissors to bring out the menage-a-manipulation-trois. The design clearly has a nod to the Swiss and Mr. Josef Muller-Brockmann.
Then, the first poster? It “grew” on the director. And now it’s the winner. Meanwhile, I think I got more attached to the second’s use of scale.
Sometimes it’s hard to sync the strongest message with the strongest design. I find myself torn.
