Worth A Thousand Words: David Tennant in Art

...an exploration of some artistic depictions of David throughout his career

Off and on for the last week I’ve been working on a deep dive post on 1995’s What The Butler Saw for its 30th anniversary, inspired by my recent post on what to watch for if you want to begin collecting the play’s programmes:

But - in what is quickly becoming a par for the course thing for me - my research on What The Butler Saw’s grown a bit deeper than I originally intended. I’ve been in communication with the National Theatre Archive for some more information on the production which I can (hopefully) incorporate into the post, but it might take some time yet before I can get all my T’s crossed and I’s dotted on all this. So, I’ve decided to put the WTBS post on the back burner for a short while and turn my focus to another interesting aspect of David’s long and storied career: his representation in art.

Today’s post won’t be focusing on the renderings of David made by his fans, because that’s a whole ‘nother beast! Nope, today I’ll focus on some of the art made by people who were paid to do so - i.e., as an illustrator for newspapers or magazines, or as a hired member of staff - for any of his various theatre productions over the years.

So let’s dive right in!

In 2002, David was co-starring in a production of Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero, which opened at the Donmar Warehouse in April of that year. Set in a New York high rise building, the cast included David as the hapless security guard Jeff, Charlotte Randle as rookie cop Dawn, Dominic Rowan as her questionable partner Bill, and Gary McDonald as guard captain William. It closed at the Donmar in early May and then made a transfer to the New Ambassadors Theatre in the West End from 1 Jul 2002 until 10 Aug 2002.

The Donmar Warehouse’s programme for Lobby Hero was in the theatre’s traditional brochure-style format: 5.5" x 11.75", with one side containing the production’s title and author, the other with the name of the theatre in large print. But when it transferred to the New Ambassadors, the programme became quite different indeed:

…it became a caricature of the cast!

I’ve studied the programme from front to back to see if they credited the artist, but nope - all I could find was the printer (John Good/Holbrook) and the Advertising/Graphics/Marketing team at the Donmar (Dewynters PLC).

David Tennant as Jeff in 'Lobby Hero' (2002)

Whoever drew it, it’s a pretty decent likeness - though unlike his hair in the actual production (which was pushed up a little bit, granted, but not a whole lot) the caricature certainly seems to suggest his future Tenth Doctor’s hair, doesn’t it?

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This next piece of art is less a caricature than a rendering, for the purpose of costume design.

At the beginning of 2005, David was rehearsing for his role as Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger at the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh. It was a role which would earn him a CATS (Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland) Award for Best Male Performance.

I wrote about David in this play as half of my first Sheenant Chronicles collaboration with Amy McGrath of Write Hear (she did Michael’s run in the role, I did David’s).

You can read my part here, which also includes a link to Amy’s about Michael:

The Sheenant Chronicles: 'Look Back In Anger'

During the rehearsals for Look Back in Anger, the production’s costume designer, Monika Nisbet, would sit in and draw the actors in character to better feel out the costumes she’d be creating for them to wear.

Nisbet had this to say about her process:

I try to identify with the character in the play when I’m drawing. I actually find the process very exhausting because I almost become the character for the time it takes me to do the drawing. I’ve tried to be more technical but it’s more important to me to get the character across.

My costume drawings tend to be not so much fashion drawings but more character studies so that the actors and the director can relate to them. They’re usually put on the wall of the rehearsal room. Although I’m not a portrait painter, I try to get at least the similarity and colouring of the actor so that they can look and see ‘that’s me and that’s what I’ll be wearing’.

It’s also important to clarify the costume so that wardrobe have all the information they need. I don’t produce patterns but I’ve got to draw something they can make the patterns from. I will choose the fabric that the costume’s got to be made from; they provide me with samples. I also supervise the fittings so that during them I can change an element of the design. What I’ve drawn might look all right on the page but when an actor tries on that garment, the colour or style might not suit.

Nisbet’s drawings of David in the role of Jimmy Porter in his dressing gown were included in the programme for Look Back in Anger. I own the Theatre Royal Bath version of this programme, which includes a black and white drawing by Nisbet. I also have a color copy of this same photograph, but I’m unsure of its provenance; it may originate either from the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh copy of the programme or from the Resource Pack the Royal Lyceum created for the play.

I nevertheless include both here, along with a production photograph of David as Jimmy Porter in the play wearing the costume Nisbet depicted in her drawing:

Black and white and color drawings of David as Jimmy Porter in 'Look Back in Anger' (drawings by Monika Nisbet); David Tennant in 'Look Back In Anger', wearing the costume Nisbet depicted in her drawing.

Nisbet’s inspiration for this particular costume:

“He's got underpants on but he doesn't have slippers or shoes on, he's in his socks. And he's got a tie round his dressing gown, A) because he's lost the cord and B) because Jimmy is actually very much a traditionalist, he's actually conservative at heart. It was customary for public school boys to wear the old school tie around their cricket trousers. Jimmy has emulated this, to some extent unconsciously. He's using an old tie because it's something to tie round his dressing gown, but in fact he doesn't realise that subconsciously he's picked up the old school tie image which he's been trying to reject.”

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The next set of art pieces is an incredible set of caricatures done by legendary cartoonist Bill Hewison - and believe me, David’s theatre work in the late 1990s and early 2000s did not escape Hewison’s notice!

William 'Bill' Hewison (1925-2002) was the art editor of the renowned satirical publication Punch, where he worked for over three decades producing theatrical cartoons to accompany the magazine's reviews. He left Punch in the early 1990s to join The Times as its theatre cartoonist, and during his long career could often be seen at theatre opening nights seated in front of the stalls with sketchbook and pen.

Hewison died in 2002, and over the years many of his original artworks went up for public auction. One auction in particular was the William "Bill" Hewison Studio Cartoon Collection auction conducted by Ewbanks in December of 2014.

Three caricatures drawn by Hewison which featured David and were published in The Times were offered for sale during that auction. They were:

1. William "Bill" Hewison, original 9.5" x 13" cartoon, Vassa, Almeida at the Albery, published in The Times on 27 Jan 1999, feat. Sheila Hancock, David Tennant (as Pavel), Ron Cook, Richard O'Callaghan, Adrian Scarborough:

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2. William "Bill" Hewison, original 11.5" x 14.5" cartoon, The Rivals, RSC Barbican, published in The Times 1 Jan 2001, feat. David Tennant (as Jack Absolute), Wendy Craig, Benjamin Whitrow:

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3. William "Bill" Hewison, original 11" x 14" cartoon, Romeo and Juliet, RSC Barbican, published in The Times on 19 Jan 2001, feat. David Tennant (as Romeo), Alexandra Gilbreath, Des McAleer:

Absolutely incredible, aren’t they?

As far as I know, only two of these three caricatures actually sold: the one for Vassa and the one for The Rivals. The one for Romeo and Juliet remained unsold. I don’t know if it ever did sell, or if it still remains with Hewison’s family today.

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Now we’ll move on to two other caricatures, both of which are from a later time period - 2008. By then David had rocketed to stardom as the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who and was making his much-anticipated return to the stage in dual RSC productions - Love’s Labour’s Lost and Hamlet.

On 8 October 2008, a caricature of David appeared in the Daily Mail along with Patrick Marimon's first night review of Love’s Labour’s Lost.

The artist, whose signature on the piece is simply “Gary”, might be Gary Smith, a long-time contributor to the Daily Mail and other major British publications. Smith concentrated on caricatures of people in the arts - especially theatre and film - and was voted Caricaturist of the Year in the 1999 Cartoon Art Trust Awards:

Caricature of David by “Gary” in the 8 October 2008 edition of the ‘Daily Mail’ alongside Patrick Marimon's first night review of ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’

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Lastly, here’s an amazing piece of silhouette art from an American silhouette artist called Kerry J. Cook, who’s been working professionally in that field since she was ten years old.

This piece was presented to David by Cook at some point during the run of Hamlet:

Scherenschnitt silhouette art of David Tennant in ‘Hamlet’ by Kerry J, Cook, 2008.

This remarkable piece of work is done in Scherenschnitte [German: “scissor-cut”], a technique which consists of single sheets of hand-cut black paper, sometimes with small bits of colored paper mounted behind. The black in each image is one continuous piece. According to Cook,

…when cutting scherenschnitte, the darkness gives you something to hang on to -- literally. But what is cut away is empty, and easily torn, so that the challenge is always to cut things in the right order. Scherenschnitte projects are drawn first, and then the order of what is cut first and last is carefully strategized. As the work becomes more and more fragile, still you must have something to hold on to in the end.

You can see more examples of Cook’s work (and even schedule an appointment with her if you’re near the Seattle area!) at her website, Silhouettes by Kerry J. Cook.

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And that’s it for now.

I hope you enjoyed our artistic trip through David’s career!