The Children’s Monologues

The Children’s Monologues is a one-off production at The Old Vic, directed by the award winning director Danny Boyle in association with the charity Dramatic Need – for which we designed this poster…

The production brought together a UK based group of actors and playwrights to adapt 12 powerful stories from original testimonies written by the children Dramatic Need works with in South Africa. Their monologues were performed by an all-star cast that included Sir Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Benedict Cumberbatch and Rose Byrne. Whilst at the same time, in the Rammolutsi Township of South Africa, the children themselves starred in their first-ever performance of the very same monologues.

With just a week and a half to fulfil the brief we called upon Waldo Pancake and his colouring pens for the illustration, and designed the poster to reflect the structure of the play itself: Children’s first hand experiences, being retold and re-interpreted by UK based actors and playwrights. The names of these children and their townships are hand drawn on to a surface which then casts the shadow of a profile of an African child.

Dramatic Need is a UK-based charity that sends international and local volunteers in the creative arts (such as actors, artists and musicians) to South Africa and Rwanda to host workshops with children living in underprivileged rural communities. Their new arts center allows these children to express themselves freely and creatively – something which is easy to take for granted.

The play in Rammolutsi (top), and the cast in London (below. Photo credit: Simon Annand)

To find out more about Dramatic Need, visit their website or their blog.
You can see more of Waldo Pancake’s work here