So what is it that makes for a great theatre company? Under the artistic leadership of Robert Gillespie, Jane Nightwork Productions is gaining a strong reputation with audiences and critics alike for their capacity to both select outstanding new works… and also deliver them with exceptional production values. Typically, they focus on new plays that illuminate different aspects of the relationships between men and women.
Together, these factors add up to distinctive edge over other theatre companies. And our challenge was to captured convey that very ‘edge’.
Creating an impact before the curtain goes up
Tasked with creating a ‘family’ of promotional materials, we saw an opportunity – not just to give the theatre company a distinct and recognisable visual presence – but also to capture the essence of each individual play and its central characters.
To do this, we used a mix of illustration and photography. This enabled us to convey feelings and emotions in a more nuanced way, and — in the case of the play Making Dickie Happy — to create characterisations of Agatha Christie, Noël Coward and Lord Mountbatten. To date, this approach has been ‘rolled out’ in print, online and across different social media. It has also equipped Jane Nightwork Productions with a distinct palette of creative tools.
“TCE has created some of the best play posters I’ve ever used to advertise my work in over fifty years of directing on the stage. It’s a very difficult brief. If the image is too flashy and sensational, the audience will be disappointed. If the poster is just plain text and merely informative, people walk by with barely a glance.
TCE has the rare knack of finding the exact image to evoke the essence of the subject of a play and make it look enticing; and the posters are beautiful to look at”.
Robert Gillespie, artistic director, Jane Nightwork productions
