He created the iconic Phantom of the Opera mask, made Daniel Radcliffe go topless and even had his Führer design banned on the tube. Theatreland’s go-to graphic artist Bob King talks us through his boldest designs
Operation Mincemeat is a tale of courage against the odds – and that goes for the hit musical’s poster, too. “It’s a brave producer who will go with just a graphic,” says its designer, Bob King. Luckily Avalon was that producer, “brave enough to go with probably the smallest title treatment in the West End”. Against a sea of jaunty, hazard-warning yellow, the poster features an energetic black scribble in the top right while the title is small and tight in the middle. Look again and you’re staring at a sketch of Hitler’s fringe and moustache. The name of the show is neatly topped by a handle, signalling the stealth attache case that propels the Nazi-duping plot.
A theatreland legend, King has form in creating brands that can travel and endure. Mincemeat is just his latest poster to hit Broadway. He had fun, he admits, with this musical of spies and stratagems, which is up for four Tony awards in June. “We did it in lockdown, and went through lots of scribbles. I’m old school – I always start with scribbling it out in my book, notepad or the back of a fag packet. My designers can make it look fabulous, but unless you’ve got that first idea, the computer won’t solve it for you.”
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