Alcina and the Sofa
Creating a distinct identity for a double bill opera capturing two narratives in one opera poster
Creating a distinct identity for a double bill opera capturing two narratives in one opera poster
Royal Irish Academy of Music
Team
Solo
My Role
Research & Strategy
Imagemaking
Photography
Visual Identity Design
Design for Print
Timeline
Oct–Nov 2022
Awards
Shortlisted for Design for Print
(Other than Books) at IDI Graduate Design Awards 2023
La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola di Alcina, by Francesca Caccini, and the Sofa by Elizabeth Maconchy, were two opera’s in RIAM’s 2023 double bill stage production. The brief called for a poster and flexible visual identity for the production that summed up both operas in one striking image. Both opera's feature stories of powerful women who control and entrap men.
The Opportunity
Seduction, entrapment and female empowerment were key themes in both stories, so there was an opportunity to be playful, bold and expressive with the visual approach. My concept evolved from the idea of a maze to convey a sense of entanglement, and communicate getting lost in seduction that the male characters experience in the operas.
The Solution
For the hero image of my opera poster, I created a soft and looping maze out of thin strips of paper. The tactility of the materials added a sense of physical entrapment and claustrophobia. The darker tone in the operas is revealed in how the maze takes on the shape of a woman and intertwines with the typography, imprisoning it, mimicking the fate of the male characters at the hands of female characters in both the operas. Reflection and symmetry were used to highlight the duality seen in both the leading female characters.