A Poster Featuring An Old-Fashioned Swing Set

Every theatre company needs a poster.  In fact, in Scotland, publicity is still delivered the old-fashioned way – by hand (as well as through social media).  Members of theatre companies cheerfully distribute to passers-by a small postcard version of their poster, that features all the information about the show.  The festival, you see, is not without some sense of competition.  At any given time, audiences have an opportunity to choose from over 300 shows; naturally, each company wants their theatre seats to be full.  So, we thought long and hard as to how best to deliver our message - one that would capture the essence of our title – Head Over Heels.  The show is playful.  We thought about using swings (picture heads flying high over heels!).  Then we thought of a place across the Ottawa River that has the perfect swing set.

If anyone has ever been to Les Fougeres restaurant in Chelsea, Quebec, you know how beautiful the setting is for this internationally-renowned restaurant.  The proprietors, Jennifer and Charlie Part, have created - in the back of their restaurant - a charming oasis.  Once the spring rains had stopped and the sun came out, the five swings in the gardens of the restaurant went up.  What an exquisitely beautiful setting to choose for a photo session of our young actors.  So, one afternoon after school, we drove up to the Gatineau and the girls kicked off their shoes and ‘played on the swings’ – barefoot. Shoes lay strewn at their feet as they soared in the air; their laughter ringing through the distant hills, while the click of the camera captured the joyous expressions on the girls’ faces.