‘Wedding Day At the Cro-Magnons’, a play by by Wajdi Mouawad, is a drama fueled emotional frenzy of a play set in war-time Lebanon. Bedrock staged the production for Irish audiences in October of last year, and Smudge were right there to take care of all of their design and picture drawing needs!

The final solution to Bedrocks marketing and design needs for this production can be seen on our main site, but here we thought we’d give you a gander at some of the ideas that weren’t quite a perfect solution for this project, but which we still have a little soft spot for. We liked them too much to relegate them to the archives!

Harking back to the graphic design trends of the play’s era, this image was created to be simple and striking, and to stylistically stand out from the crowd. Images of violence and weaponry were subtly overlaid on the wedding cake, signifying the underlying threat that is so prominent in the play.

A more contemporary approach here, hand rendered text, and a loose collage style come together to create a feminine, home-made wholesome atmosphere, until one looks closer, and realises that the brides bouquet consists of a decapitated sheep (it’s in the play - honestly), knives, and explosions. A personal favourite, although maybe not one for over the mantlepiece.

Inspired by an amazing illustrator, Tom Bagshaw, this image was created to directly co-incide with an incident in the play whereby a woman falls from her apartment window in the midst of chaos and explosions. In the play, the incident is described in a very poetic and beautiful way, which makes the horrible incident quite eerie. Not a very nice ending, but a great basis for an illustration!!

A crowing rooster, a motif referred to repeatedly in the play as a source of annoyance, is juxtapositioned with a headless bride in this colourful image! The image represents the main characters helplessness against her surroundings, I love the simplicity and bold colours in this one. And a poster with a chicken in it is always a winner in my books.