Not on display

The Lion King

Poster
2008 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Dewynters Ltd (printers (people))
Place of origin
London (printed)

High-quality advertising is a very important marketing tool, especially for the West End theatre. This poster was produced by Dewynters PLC which produces a large percentage of the publicity for West End productions, and aims to produce original and innovative posters which capture the attention of their intended audience. In many cases the images, or part of the images, are intended to act as an instant reminder of the production to people seeing the posters briefly, for example, when they are pasted on buses. Examples of this 'logo' approach to poster design are the eyes that featured in posters for Cats or the mask on the poster for The Phantom of the Opera.

Object details

Categories
Entertainment & Leisure
Theatre
Posters
Advertising
Object type
Poster
TitleThe Lion King (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Offset lithography on card with gloss finish.
Card
Printing Ink
Offset Lithography
Brief description
Photographic poster issued in 2008 advertising The Lion King, the musical by Elton John, Tim Rice, Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi, at the Lyceum Theatre, London, with a photograph of Kissy Simmons as Nala embracing Wallace Smith as Simba.
Physical description
Poster with glossy finish, on orange background, featuring a medium shot photographic image of a man and woman embracing, both dressed in African tribal-style garments designed to look like a lion and lioness. The words 'IMAGINE IT' appear at the top and the title, THE LION KING, and details of the theatre, are at the bottom
Dimensions
  • Height: 51cm
  • Width: 32cm
Gallery label
(16/08/2016)
This much-loved musical is based on the Walt Disney animated feature, itself strongly influenced by Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It has been performed all over the world. Director and designer Julie Taymor combined puppetry and costume to create the animals. The lions’ heads are elaborate headdresses, which allow audiences to see the facial expressions of the actors wearing them.
Credit line
Given by Dewynters PLC
Summary
High-quality advertising is a very important marketing tool, especially for the West End theatre. This poster was produced by Dewynters PLC which produces a large percentage of the publicity for West End productions, and aims to produce original and innovative posters which capture the attention of their intended audience. In many cases the images, or part of the images, are intended to act as an instant reminder of the production to people seeing the posters briefly, for example, when they are pasted on buses. Examples of this 'logo' approach to poster design are the eyes that featured in posters for Cats or the mask on the poster for The Phantom of the Opera.
Collection
Theatre and Performance Collection
Accession number
S.168-2008

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Record createdJuly 1, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1112971/the-lion-king-poster-dewynters-ltd/
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