Twelfth Night

November 2023 i had the honor of creating the poster for Sparbu Teaterlag (est. 1922)'s production of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare.

The play was directed by Øyvind Brandtzæg (of Makta fame) and translated to local dialect by playwright Hans-Magnus Ystgaard.

The production wished to bring a Shakespearean comedy back to its roots as folk-entertainment, so the most important message to convey through posters and advertisement was "this is a fun comedy for people, not a classy event".

The main poster for the play, a 5x4m banner hanging along the main road through the country.

In addition to the banner and A3/A4 posters, I had to create variations for online event storefronts, social media profiles, newspaper adverts, and t-shirts for actors and crew during the production

"Grafitti'd Portrait"

Another theatre in the region recently performed another play by Shakespeare, and presented a beautiful art noveau poster which my client was impressed with. However, a poster like that connotated overly "classy" tones they did not wish to replicate.

I had recently visited Manchester and seen art created by taking oil paintings and repurposing them by painting on top of them, cracking the glass, etc. Taking inspiration from this I created a base image mimicking an oil painting, then created an illusion of the image being painted over with white paint and sharpies with the actual poster information.

This let me create a feeling of dualities blending together in the image, reflecting themes from the play. Older classiness blending with a modern punk-rock aesthetic, seriousness blending with playfulness, and of course masculinity blending with feminity. This play has entered the spotlight again awareness has grown about nonbinary people, as it plays fast and loose with gender expectations and expressions, something this production in particular leaned into. I did not paint this character as androgynous as I did by accident.

This suggestion became the base the client wanted me to continue to develop.

"Trønderbart" (Trønder Moustache)

A current trend in theatre posters is stripped back and heavily symbolic designs. I wanted to see how far I could boil down the elements of the play, and make a statement piece that would catch people's eye. Bafflement at how little and how much the poster tells you at the same time.

I chose this particular moustache despite it not matching the one in the play as it has long been used as a unofficial symbol of the city. For the target audiences' region it connotates folk, fun and revelery.

This was a close runner-up when choosing the posters, as many involved enjoyed the bold "in your face"-ness. The eyebrows in particular were a hit, and I was asked to incorporate them into the Portrait poster.

"Two Silhouettes"

This third suggestion plays on similar ideas to Trønderbart, but pulls back to a more standard level. I particularly enjoy how the silhouettes compliment and contrast each other. This suggestion had a few fans, but unsurprisingly did not gather as much as excitement as the other posters - this is very much the safe choice. I do believe this would make a nice book cover however.