SHOW PEOPLE
Italy, 2005 – Edizioni Nuages
images by Paul Davis, text by John Lahr
www.nuages.net
Theatre posters and show business illustrations by Paul Davis, text by John Lahr
The theatre’s aim is to be sensational-that is, to make the public feel thoughts. Joe Papp of The Public Theater gave Davis the license to do the same-to convey the essence of the event and at the same time broadcast the Public’s legend of daring. ‘The poster is for the people who can’t see the show,’ he told Davis…
Davis’s theatre posters are built around the implicit understanding that an audience starts playing with a show long before the curtain rises… The colour, size, directness, and drama of each image made the moral atmosphere of the advertised play both visceral and irresistible…
Davis’s posters not only pitched the stage event; they became an event.
Text by John Lahr