royal de luxe

A few titbits from Royal de Luxe’s Sea Odyssey Giant Spectacular

Posted by hil

The Royal de Luxe‘s Sea Odyssey Giant Spectacular that took place at the weekend in Liverpool to commemorate the Titanic centenary seems to have been a roaring success, with a huge turnout and press coverage. There are a great many photos and videos online now (including at Flickr), so I’ll only mention a few that interested me in particular.

Journalists from the Liverpool Echo were the first ever to be allowed to visit the company’s headquarters in Nantes and they have an article and brief behind the scenes video clip. This gives us a glimpse of the workshop, and interviews with the director who coordinates the teams of people who move the giants, and the Little Giantess’s movement conductor.  I was interested to see La Machine viewed as a rival company! There seemed so much cross-over between the two that I’ve always assumed they were associated or sister companies!

I also hadn’t seen the Little Giantess dancing with joy before! At Flickr kingo62 has a great photo from the dance.

And I was taken with Xolo being washed and having his teeth brushed. His ears have great movement, they’re really expressive.

Previously:

New website for Royal de Luxe

Posted by hil

Royal de luxe logo

For a long time Royal de Luxe had no website, then a very rudimentary one.  Now they have a new one; great to see, though maybe not yet as expansive as you might desire!

Xolo will be in Liverpool too

Posted by hil

Xolo, Royal de Luxe

 

Here’s a great photo of Xolo, Royal de Luxe‘s giant dog!  It’s just been announced that Xolo will be appearing the Sea Odyssey Giant Spectacle in Liverpool in a couple of weeks time, along with the Little Giantess and her uncle, the deep sea diver.

Previously:

Royal de Luxe’s Sea Odyssey

Posted by hil

 

Four years ago La Machine debuted their giant spider, La Princesse in Liverpool. This year, as one of the cities directly connected with the Titanic which sank on 15 April 1912, it’s marking the centenary with numerous events, the highlight of which will be the Sea Odyssey Giant Spectacle by the associated company, Royal de Luxe, on 20 – 22 April. It’ll feature the Little Giantess and her uncle, the deep sea diver, in a story adapted for the occasion. A number of cool promo ads in which the Little Giantess is wandering the city and peeping into different famous places have been released.

 

 

Search my blog for La Machine and Royal de Luxe if you are interested in more links – I’ve posted a lot about them and their influence over the years!

New-ish La Machine creatures in Nantes

Posted by hil

Since going to La Machine in Nantes in 2008 I like to see what new sea creatures are being made in the workshop there. This TV news video shows the sea monster, a shell, a nautilus, a school of flying fish, another fish ship and a new kind of fish in action. I’m not sure where this amazing fish and turtle fit in , but they are cool!

Previously: Riding the giant elephant

Xolo, Royal de Luxe’s new puppet

Posted by hil

xolo

(Photo credit: Dalo_Pix2)

Royal de Luxe have just staged a Mexican re-imagining of their Little Giantess street theatre spectacular in Guadalajara as part of the Celebrando el Centenario de la Revolución Mexicana. I love the little giantess’s beautiful colourful dress and pigtails. She was accompanied by her farmer uncle, and a new character, a giant hairless Mexican dog, Xolo, who is satisfyingly doggy in the way it pricks up its ears and lopes along. There are  good photos at the Guadalajara Reporter, Super Punch, and Royal de Luxe Central. I also love this street art of Xolo.

Previous posts about Royal de Luxe and their influence.

Audrey continues Royal de Luxe’s influence

Posted by hil

Puppetrynews and then PuppetVision picked up on this advertisement for the Mayflower moving  company which borrows very directly from Royal de Luxe’s little giantess street theatre spectacle.  It is by no means the first to do so, as we had the Allen’s big doll commercial in Brisbane last year and there have been others that I have been tracking for some years (several pages of posts), which show Royal de Luxe has been highly influential. But the way Audrey settles in her big chair and takes a nap is particularly close to the giantess resting in her deckchair. In my opinion she doesn’t evoke the beauty and mystic that the little giantess does, but she’s not alone in that either!  The makers, The Character Shop, have detailed photos of the making process.

Royal de Luxe’s giants celebrate reunion in Berlin

Posted by hil

deepseadiver

(photo credit: Verieihnix, thank you)

Celebrations are taking place in Berlin this weekend for the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the re-unification of Germany. At the centre of the celebrations is a 4-day performance by Royal de Luxe‘s giant street theatre puppets, featuring their little giantess, and her giant uncle, the deep-sea diver.

Earlier this year in June the diver debuted in Nantes in La géante du Titanic et le scaphandrier, but in Berlin the back story, already one of separation and reunion, has been redrawn as an allegory for the divisions of Germany:

Berlin was once a swamp inhabited by giants.  One day, land and sea monsters tore the city in two and the Big Giant and Little Giantess were separated. The Little Giantess fell into a long sleep. When she awakes, she finds a large old mailbag containing letters between East and West Berlin, and sets out to deliver them.  After each searching the streets of the city, the two giants are reunited and symbolically return tens of thousands of letters once intercepted by former East Germany’s Stasi secret police to people watching their procession through the city.

Photos and videos are starting to appear at Flickr and YouTube, and many others will follow, but here are some links to items that have grabbed my attention so far:

I’ve posted a lot about Royal de Luxe and their influence on the genre of giant puppets over the last few years and you can search here to go to those posts.

Giant Pinóquio puppet by Trigo Limpo ACERT

Posted by hil

pinoquio1

(photo credits and thanks: zetavares)

This fabulous giant Pinóquio puppet premiered last weekend at the Imaginarious Festival in Santa Maria da Feira in a street theatre production called The fantastic history of a child called Pinóquio by the theatre company Trigo Limpo ACERT. They come from Tondela, a small town in the centre of Portugal.

The choice of Pinocchio, the classic tale of a wooden boy who wants to become human, is particularly pleasing, because it reflects the puppeteers’ conceit of being able to bring inanimate things to life. And he looks beautifully articulated – I really like the way his leg and foot can turn and rest in his signature stance.

Zetavares has a great Flicker photoset of the 7 metre marionette, and has kindly let me post some of his photos here. He also has interesting sets of the making of the puppet, and the rehearsing the manipulation.

pinoquio3

pinoquio4

The character was sculpted by Carles of Madrid and Nico Nubiola  of Taller de escultura De la Madrid & Nubiola, both of whom were involved with the production of the opening ceremony for the Barcelona Olympics. They have a cool video of  how they made Pinóquio:

Teatro e Marionetas de Mandrágora were involved with the manipulation of the puppet. I first saw pictures of Pinoquio on their blog Espaço das Marionet@s, which I have been following for a while now.

Trigo Limpo ACERT have previously made some other great street theatre pieces, two of them large versions of traditional wooden push-along children’s toys. Memoriar na rotunda had a man pedalling a bicycle, (making photos here) and Golpe d’Asa, a bird whose wings flap as its wheel base rotates.