Original 1971 National Theatre Poster, Laurence Olivier in Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Ken Briggs Design, Custom Framed

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Original poster for the United Kingdom National Theatre’s celebrated production of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night, starring Laurence … Read more Original poster for the United Kingdom National Theatre’s celebrated production of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night, starring Laurence Olivier as James Tyrone. Directed by Michael Blakemore, the production opened at the New Theatre (now the Noël Coward Theatre), St Martin’s Lane, and ran from late 1971 to mid 1972.

Olivier’s performance was acclaimed from the first night: the Guardian’s Michael Billington described his final act as among the most sustained great acting seen in years. The production was recorded for television in 1973, and that recording earned Olivier the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. It remains widely regarded as one of the defining performances of his later career, and the filmed version is still cited as the benchmark staging of the play.

The poster was designed by Ken Briggs and Associates, whose stark, grid-based graphic identity for the National Theatre in the 1960s and 1970s is now regarded as a landmark of British design. A high-contrast portrait of Olivier by photographer Zoe Dominic is sliced through with horizontal bands, set against a black ground with Art Deco title lettering and copper-gold rules.

Professionally custom framed with a wide black bevel-cut mat and the poster’s original slim polished chrome frame. The deep bevel adds a clean, architectural edge and sets the poster back from the glazing, while the black mat extends the poster’s dark ground so the image reads as one continuous field.

Ready to hang.

References

1. Michael Billington, “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” The Guardian, 22 December 1971, p. 8.

2. Television Academy, Primetime Emmy Awards 1973, Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: https://www.televisionacademy.com/awards/nominees-winners/1973/outstanding-lead-actor-in-a-miniseries-or-a-movie

3. Television Academy, Laurence Olivier awards record: https://emmys.com/node/70548

4. BAFTA Television Award nomination, Best Actor, 1974 (via IMDb): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000059/awards

5. Victoria and Albert Museum, costume design by Michael Annals for Olivier as James Tyrone, National Theatre Company, New Theatre, 1971: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1462474/long-days-journey-into-night-costume-design-annals-michael/

6. Screen Plays (University of Westminster research blog), “Long Day’s Journey into Night (ATV for ITV, 1973),” 7 October 2011: https://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/long-days-journey-into-night-atv-for-itv-1973/

7. London Theatre Direct, “Long Day’s Journey Into Night: a masterly presentation of a classic piece of literature,” 23 February 2018: https://londontheatredirect.com/news/long-days-journey-into-night-a-masterly-presentation-of-a-classic-piece-of-literature See less