The Last Yankee
Advertising: Theatre Production
A promotional campaign for the 2018 live theatre production of The Last Yankee, presented at Bolton’s Octagon Theatre.
The Octagon Theatre (then The Bolton Library Theatre) has a long-term continuous relationship with The University of Bolton’s School of Art programme, frequently collaborating by offering live briefs in order to give students real world experience.
Students were briefed to simply create a poster for their upcoming production of The Last Yankee and were given the opportunity to view an early showing of the play as well as copies of the script.
The challenge from our professors was to look deeper into the meaning of the play, search for its purpose and its commentary on the world, while avoiding cliches. This was to help us all understand storytelling, feeling, emotion, personality and purpose through design, looking at designers like Saul Bass, Milton Glaser, Chip Kidd and Paula Scher for inspiration.
Synopsis
The Last Yankee is a story that will effortlessly guide you through a tale of intense peaks, unsettling lows, witty humour and immense sadness; yet through the twists and turns is a story layered with a consistent undertone as two couples battle with one simple ideology… Hope.
The story takes place in a present-day State Mental hospital and highlights two couples all in different stages of their lives. Leroy Hamilton (an “unrefined” American man who’s descendants are of the founding fathers) arrives to pick up his wife, Patricia who has had a life long struggle with depression and now feels strong enough to return home while John Frick (a successful business man) has come to visit his wife Karen who was only recently admitted.
Throughout the performance runs a strong commentary on social hierarchy, life, ethics, ideologies and politics which, while debated heavily throughout the opening scenes, ultimately both parties have to admit that despite their differences, life has lead them to the same place.
The Last Yankee is a story that will effortlessly guide you through a tale of intense peaks, unsettling lows, witty humour and immense sadness; yet through the twists and turns is a story layered with a consistent undertone as two couples battle with one simple ideology… Hope.
The story takes place in a present-day State Mental hospital and highlights two couples all in different stages of their lives. Leroy Hamilton (an “unrefined” American man who’s descendants are of the founding fathers) arrives to pick up his wife, Patricia who has had a life long struggle with depression and now feels strong enough to return home while John Frick (a successful business man) has come to visit his wife Karen who was only recently admitted.
Throughout the performance runs a strong commentary on social hierarchy, life, ethics, ideologies and politics which, while debated heavily throughout the opening scenes, ultimately both parties have to admit that despite their differences, life has lead them to the same place.
Interesting a fifth character was introduced to the play to appear in a more symbolic role. A banjo, owned and carried solemnly by Leroy.
The banjo was placed and used prominently throughout the performance, helping to further dictate the mood and emotion surrounding the scene. Certain scenes had the banjo closed away, others had the case open yet the banjo laid still; there were moments where Leroy held the banjo in his hands but refused to strike a cord, finally leading to the plays crescendo where the banjo was played and enjoyed by all.
The banjo was placed and used prominently throughout the performance, helping to further dictate the mood and emotion surrounding the scene. Certain scenes had the banjo closed away, others had the case open yet the banjo laid still; there were moments where Leroy held the banjo in his hands but refused to strike a cord, finally leading to the plays crescendo where the banjo was played and enjoyed by all.
To me, that symbolic use of the banjo harmonised with the ideology of hope that all members of the play were battling within different stages, and that was what I chose to focus on.
The process
Building up the poster started simply with the banjo. I knew quite early into the process that I wanted the instrument to be the centre piece as it’s the element that people most recognise in the play.
I felt that the initial neglect and containment surrounding the the banjo mirrored the mental state of Patricia perfectly. As Leroy’s care and attention diminished, as too did Patricia’s health.
Throughout Patricia’s time in the hospital, she started to feel more and more like herself, echoing this was the banjo. I found that as the play progressed, Leroy started to get closer to the banjo. From initially sitting away from it, to having the case open and so on.
In the play’s climax, Leroy gains the strength to play the banjo echoed perfectly by Patricia, who finds the strength within herself to dance and more with joy, both events feeling like a long time coming, two journeys running parallel, a glimpse of who they used to be… and can be again.
A benefit of going to class where everyone is working on the same project is that you get to see what other people are thinking, and what direction everyone seemed to be going. As we all discussed our ideas I noticed one thing. Everyone has decided that the entire play was just, well… gloomy.
I thought “yeah there’s it’s sad, but surely that can’t be the only take away”. But for about 4/5 weeks I saw a lot of blue when turning my head towards peoples screens.
I thought “yeah there’s it’s sad, but surely that can’t be the only take away”. But for about 4/5 weeks I saw a lot of blue when turning my head towards peoples screens.
From that I wanted the campaign to showcase that feeling of hope… the fight out of the grey and the gloomy, into a world of colour.
The typography used bounced and danced in a musically unrefined fashion, radiating from the otherwise colourless banjo, signifying as the instrument plays, every strum and pluck changing Patricia’s perception of the world changing for the better.
The typography used bounced and danced in a musically unrefined fashion, radiating from the otherwise colourless banjo, signifying as the instrument plays, every strum and pluck changing Patricia’s perception of the world changing for the better.
Without the right people, without the right care and attention, a banjo can become lifeless, stagnant, dull. Only when the right attention, support and teamwork does life become musical and up-lifting. A discovery that each couple independently had to realise.
Note: If you buy a banjo for a project and don’t know how to play it, do not bother taking into the classroom, it’s not a fun time…
Client: The Octagon Theatre
Sector: Entertainment
Discipline: Campaign
Design Team: Ya’Qub Mir
Placement: University of Bolton/Bolton School of the Arts.
Sector: Entertainment
Discipline: Campaign
Design Team: Ya’Qub Mir
Placement: University of Bolton/Bolton School of the Arts.