Not currently on display at the V&A

Poster

ca. 2002 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Gloss-finish poster advertising Up For Grabs at Wyndhams Theatre, featuring a photograph of a naked woman sitting cross-legged on the glass base of a sun bed, the image printed in turquoise, white and black. The image shows all her body from the neck downwards but not her head. Above the image, in black lettering against a white background, is the title of the play and the names of the cast and the production company. Below the image, in black lettering against a white background, are the credits of the production team, the opening date, the log of the Ambassadors Theatre Group and the logo of the sponsors of the production, Rosemount Estate.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Paper and printing ink
Brief description
Poster advertising Up For Grabs, the play by David Williamson, Wyndham's Theatre, 23 May until 13 July 2002, starring Madonna.
Physical description
Gloss-finish poster advertising Up For Grabs at Wyndhams Theatre, featuring a photograph of a naked woman sitting cross-legged on the glass base of a sun bed, the image printed in turquoise, white and black. The image shows all her body from the neck downwards but not her head. Above the image, in black lettering against a white background, is the title of the play and the names of the cast and the production company. Below the image, in black lettering against a white background, are the credits of the production team, the opening date, the log of the Ambassadors Theatre Group and the logo of the sponsors of the production, Rosemount Estate.
Dimensions
  • Length: 50.8cm
  • Width: 31.8cm
Credit line
Given by The Ambassadors Theatre Group
Object history
Poster advertising Up For Grabs, the play by David Williamson starring Madonna, with Megan Dods, Tom Irwin, Daniel Pino, Sian Thomas and Debora Weston, Wyndham's Theatre, 13 May 2002, closing in July 2002.

The designer for this poster, Simon Jacobs, felt that he was in an unusual position when designing this poster. Because this was Madonna's West End stage debut, and because it was only on for a limited season, he realised that the poster would not have to sell the production and that the production would sell out as soon as it was announced in the press. Therefore he was in a position to go against all the usual unwritten rules of contemporary poster design. He chose not to feature an obvious photograph of Madonna but instead used a photograph of a woman which had the right sophisticated feeling, cutting off the image at the shoulders, deliberately to make people ask if it was Madonna. He also featured the names of all the actors in the same sized typeface, in alphabetical order.
Collection
Accession number
S.42-2003

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Record createdJuly 25, 2003
Record URL
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