When Lord Rose (better known as Sir Stuart Rose, Chairman and CEO of M&S) first penned his well-used analogy between being in business and being in the theatre he touched upon a rich vein of theatrical traditions and practices. In this post our guest author and former amateur thespian, David Kightley, delves back in time to look for synergies between the two disciplines that still apply in the world of graphic design today.
A-game in the world of theatre
Lord Rose famously said: “Being in business is like being in the theatre; you have to give a great performance every day”. There is no doubting that the legends of comedy timing, Morecambe & Wise, always brought their A-game from the theatre to the TV screens with incredibly clever material, but also complemented it with impeccable matching suits and fabulous sketch costumes and sets. Eric was a perfectionist and when asked by the late Oscar-winning British actress and former politician Glenda Jackson for any tips in her Christmas 1971 guest appearance as Cleopatra he responded “be faster and louder”. Glenda said only last year: “In all these years the best piece of advice I’ve been given by a director came from Eric”.
Comedian and singer Des O’Connor was the butt of their many jokes (and grew to love it and miss it if not forthcoming) but his A-game always remained intact to finish with his latest chart hit single!
British-American comedian Bob Hope was on the top of his game for four decades (40s-70s) in a career spanning sixty years. He advised fellow-comic and newcomer Jimmy Tarbuck to always take his sartorial A-game on stage saying: “Just give them two minutes to look at the suit. People pay a lot of money to come to the theatre and they don’t want to see comedians looking like a bag of rags”. Jimmy always wore his sartorial A-game from then onwards, whether it was at the London Palladium or the celebrity golf course with his close pal Sir Bruce Forsyth who was, of course, quick of wit, quick on his feet and himself always the epitome of sartorial elegance!
In contrast, Liverpool comic legend Sir Ken Dodd only gave himself thirty seconds to connect with an audience and frequently remained on his A-game until the early hours of the next morning. Look beyond the funny coats and outrageous stage props and you’ll find an immaculately tailored suit!
Michael McIntyre realised his long-held ambition as a stand-up comedian facing everyone else in a room filled with people and rendering them helpless with face-hurting laughter. He is the biggest-selling comedian in the world and holds the record for the highest-selling artist at the London O2 arena after twenty-eight sold-out shows. Now that’s what I call giving a great performance every day!
The same could be said of graphic design
You, dear reader, may wonder where all this is taking us? Well, back in the 1970s that genius American designer Milton Glaser (responsible for the I love NY logo) coined a near-identical phrase when he suggested that graphic designers should always bring their A-game to the table; thereby endorsing the synergy between the business of graphic design and the theatre that the author of this piece is seeking to establish.
One of the most celebrated designers of his generation, Neville Brody, also said: “The way something is presented will define the way you react to it, so make sure you’re bringing your A-game wherever your brand appears”, perfectly summing up the importance of striving to present your brand to its maximum potential, every time!
Schedule an audience with DSD
Perhaps as well then that at DSD we always endeavour to bring our A-game to the table every single day and judging by the warm applause, testimonials, referrals and return business we must be reading from the right script. If you would like our eponymous owner Dan Summers to do something right for your business, or theatre, he’ll do his level best to raise the curtain on a bright future for your business’s new brand or fresh interpretation. He’s waiting in the wings on 01245 890238 listening for his cue to get started. He’s bound to be wearing a natty line in DSD branded t-shirts or even a green velvet jacket!
Eric Morecambe summed up the British sense of humour, and in 1999 was posthumously voted ‘Comedian of the Century’. He collapsed on-stage during a sixth curtain call in May 1984 at The Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury and died in hospital soon after. His comedy partner of 43 years Ernie Wise (1925-1999) said: “I’ve had two sad days; when my father died and when Eric died”.
Bob Hope was famous for his rapid-fire one liners: “I left England aged four when I realised I wasn’t going to be king”. He lived to be 100 years and two months.
The ‘Happiness’ event in Liverpool is the first major exhibition on a British comic in a national museum, running until March 2024. While Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd OBE has been described as ‘the last great music hall entertainer’ he was also a platinum-disc ballad singer in the 1960s and an accomplished actor with a deep love of Shakespeare. He played ‘Yorick’ in a flashback scene alongside some of Hollywood’s finest in Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Hamlet’ in 1996.
The exhibition includes Sir Ken’s Diddymen puppets, iconic tickling sticks and immaculate show outfits along with a selection of his 1,000 or so notebooks of quips and one-liners. When asked what he spent his money on he replied ‘books’. His Liverpool home in Knotty Ash (born and died there) featured floor to ceiling bookcases!
