Hasta La Ideas

by Paula Scher

The National Theatre in London is 50 this year. To help celebrate, it has launched a pop-up shop at its home in the South Bank in London, called Shopping and E•ting. The shop is selling a number of unique products related to the theatre, including a series of limited edition posters created especially by designers and artists including Paula Scher, David Carson, Graphic Thought Facility, Michael Craig-Martin and Jamie Reid…

The posters are themed around the NT’s 50 years. Some, such as Paula Scher’s poster above, and Michael Craig-Martin’s below, celebrate the theatre itself. And GTF’s references the very fabric of the place – the woodgrain pattern of its concrete walls made by the timber shuttering used in its construction which is a distinctive feature of its interior.

Jamie Reid’s poster, on the other hand, focuses on one play, The Romans In Britain, which was staged at the theatre in 1980 and proved controversial for its depiction of homosexual rape. The play was the subject of an unsuccessful court case brought by campaigner Mary Whitehouse in 1982.

The posters are produced in a series of 200 each, are all signed, and retail at £450 each. If you are after a slightly cheaper way of commemorating the National’s 50 years though, the store also stocks a range of greeting cards, mugs, bags, and tea towels. It will remain open until January 12, 2014.

by Michael Craig-Martin

by Graphic Thought Facility

by David Carson

by Jamie Reid