A History of the RSC in 50 Objects (Online)

CARTOON FOR A SET BACKDROP

Singer, 1989

Artist:  Jože Tisnikar
Playwright: Peter Flannery
Director: Terry Hands
Designer: Sanja Jurca Avci 

A cartoon for a set backdrop for Singer, a play by Peter Flannery. The RSC production was the first time the play had been seen on the stage.

Jože Tisnikar (1928 – 1998) was born in Mislinja, Slovenia. He taught himself to paint and is well known for the themes of despair, cessation and death in his work. Terry Hands and Sanja Jurca Avci wrote to Tisnikar about the play and sent photographs of the actors so that he could incorporate these details into his design.

Tisnikar produced this painting in Slovenia and sent it to Stratford where it was copied on a much bigger scale by an English artist.