Royal de Luxe a French mechanical marionette street theater company in Nantes, France has created an incredible production that featured huge marionettes.
In the past dozen years, they have created a series of spectacular shows involving giant figures as big as 11 or 12 metres high. Shows are simple – the animal or giant arrives in town and lives its life, going about its business for a few days. Extraordinary interactions take place between passers-by and the performance; residents become enchanted with the activities of these miraculous beings and begin to follow their every move. By the end of the performance, huge crowds gather daily to watch the latest episode in the life of the visiting creature. “The Sultan’s Elephant “ is the fifth in the series of giant pieces, the others being “The Giant fell from the sky”, “The giant fell from the sky: last trip”, “Back from Africa “ and “Giraffe Hunters”.
"The Sultan’s Elephant" was first performed in Nantes from May 19th to 22nd and in Amiens from June 16th to 19th 2005, on the occasion of the centenary of Jules Verne's death. This production was commissioned by the cities of Nantes and Amiens and has received a special grant from the Ministry of Culture and Communication.
The director Jean Luc Courcoult founded the company in 1979, and they have performed all over the world ever since.
The company has visited countries all over Europe as well as Korea, China, Vietnam, Chile and Africa. Some of their most celebrated shows – including “The real history of France”, “Roman photoshoot” and “The Peplum” have been revived many times and performed in front of thousands of spectators.
2 comments:
Wow! This is truly amazing stuff. A little frightening, but mostly exhilerating. Art and mechanics. Thanks for posting these. :)
I'm glad you like it. I was really fascinated too by the craftsmanship and the synchrony between the whole cast behind the marionettes. We don't see art forms like this any longer.
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