Affiches Illustées
The pattern
This still is filed under Event symbol poster.
Define
A symbol or allegory that makes an event feel like a destination. Not a timetable. A magnet.
Mechanism
Attraction by emblem. Date and venue ride under a picture that already means come.
Verdict
We are filling a room, a night, or a run of dates
Why it works
The caption does the work by pretending to be a playbill. It names a venue, a performance number and a title, exactly the format a real theatre poster used, then applies that format to three people sitting in a box, so the reader performs the substitution themselves. Setting the title line in bold spaced capitals, the way a genuine affiche would, is the tell that completes the gag. The lover is rendered in shadow directly between the couple, giving the composition the same triangle the title names.
Steal this when
Use this when you can borrow the exact layout conventions of a familiar document and apply them to a situation they were never meant to describe. The format does the joke; keep the typography faithful to the original and change only the subject.