The Sultan’s Elephant
Royal de Luxe’s weekend-long production of ‘The Sultan’s Elephant’ wrapped up central London today. The idea is that it’s a performance art piece commemorating the 100th anniversary of Jules Verne’s death, and loosely follows the plot of one of his stories, involving a Sultan seeing visions of a time-travelling girl who’d been transformed into a 5-metre high marionette, and constructing a giant elephant to carry his court through time to follow her. (Or something, read a better description here or here.)
First shown in France last year, and going on to various other European cities later, it was originally scheduled to come to London in September 2005, but was delayed after the bombings in July. All of the roads around Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square and St James’ Park were shut off to give enough space for the puppets in the performance: a 12 metre high, 42 tonne elephant, a 5 metre marionette of the girl, and the rocketship she emerged from and went back into at either end of the performance. It’s wonderful to think that the process of organising the event and convincing the city council and police to allow it to go ahead was basically the work of two people, Helen Marriage and Nicky Webb. I’d love to have been in those meetings.
I feel kind of odd writing about the experience, because when I first read about it last year it sounded like it was just a really cool idea - giant puppets walking through a town! - but actually seeing it up close was so much better than any written account could get close to. I’d sort of expected that I’d spend my time looking at the workings of the puppets and enjoying it as a mechanical/technical spectacle, but that went out of the window as soon as the elephant first came into sight, spraying water over the crowd with its trunk; it’s totally convincing, and you immediately forget that it’s not actually real.
The main thing that’s difficult to get across is the reaction of the crowd. Everyone was completely taken in and it really helped to personify the puppets. Tourists who didn’t know anything about it were running around different people trying to find out exactly what was going on, and everyone was telling their own stories about what the girl was thinking and feeling as she walked through the park, or met the elephant for the first time. Parents started the day humouring their kids by playing along as they told their stories, nudging and smiling to each other behind the kids’ backs, and then their jaws dropped when they first saw the puppets and they totally forgot that they were meant to be cynical about the whole thing.
I’d heard that the organisers were worried that no-one would turn up, since it’s difficult to promote something that’s meant to be a surprise and a mystery. Turns out they didn’t need to worry about that. The finale at the Horse Guard’s Parade ground was absolutely packed, and the entire Mall was lined with people as the puppets walked back to the rocketship, and the crew got a huge ovation at the end.
Anyone feel like going to Bilbao for the next performance?
