This essay explores the London performance of The Sultan’s Elephant by theatre company Royal De Luxe and questions why they are considered the masters of the craft of street theatre and how they can keep thrilling audiences constantly.
Royal de Luxe is a French theatre company, which make giant marionette puppets and then create extraordinary theatre with them. It was founded in 1979 by Jean-Luc Courcoult[1]. Since then they have been performing in public spaces around the world, places such as; Asia, Africa, South America and England.
The Sultan's Elephant was one of their most famous shows, was performed in London from 4–7 May 2006 - I intend on focusing on this particular show in this essay. The Sultan's Elephant , is the show’s official name but is also know as the Little Girl Giant and was actually created in honour of Jules Verne, a local boy who had an intense fascination with machines and their inner workings[2].
The London performance began on a Thursday with a rocket. The rocket appeared over night and was an object of great fascination as there was no explanation as to how or why it got there.
The rocket as you can see in the above photo, seems to be smashed into the tarmac and has smoke coming out from the bottom - as if it has fallen from the sky.
On the following day an enormous marionette elephant enters the scene. As this occurs, a girl emerges from the rocket and joins the elephant puppet. This rocket girl is huge, she has black hair and brown eyes and wears a green collared dress. The two puppets walk through the streets together and interact with the crowd. In the evening the two puppets part ways.
On the third day of the performance, the elephant walked to Trafalgar Square, the girl was then lifted onto the elephants trunk by a crane and was carried through the streets of London. At one point, the girls starts to sew and as the scene develops the audience notices that there are cars scattered about the street which appear to be sewn to the road. This optical illusion creates a great sense of authenticity and really convinces the audience that they are walking among giants.
On the fourth day - the show was complete, the giant girl stepped back into the rocket and as flames engulfed the rocket the audience imagines that the rocket flew back to wherever it come from.
Both puppets are 20-40 foot high, and were designed by long time Royal de luxe collaborator, Francois Delaroziere.[3] He stayed with the Royal De luxe company for 15 years. His trademark materials were unpainted wood ,metal and having the workings of the puppets exposed.[4] The mechanical mechanisms and people used to operate them can be plainly seen. This helps you see how the puppets function and the amount of effort the puppeteers must put in to get the puppet to come alive. The puppets are made from a wood called American Tulip and along with all the mechanics this makes it very heavy[5] . The girl giant has many other clever joins joining different parts of her . A crane must be used to hold up the puppet, this crane is also used to carry the puppeters and the scaffolding that they require for the performance. Parts of the puppet are electronically moved but other parts are moved by a series of ropes and pulleys. As you can see in the picture below a puppeteer is putting his full body weight into pulling a rope which will make one part of the puppet move. Take this effort into consideration and also remember that they would be doing this all day for three days, it gives you an idea of the amount of physical work involved in puppetering this show.
These large puppets make a massive impression on spectators, since these performances are in public spaces and are free, the audience is always diverse and their reactions varied [6]. The girl even though she is smaller than the elephant in some peoples eyes she is much scarier. Her movements are so human like that you could believe she has a mind of her own and could do whatever she wants. You could argue that she is merely a cute little girl, almost like a porcelain doll but a lot of people find porcelain dolls terrifying and she is basically a giant moving doll.
The sultan elephant moves just like a real elephant flapping its ears and waving its trunk. The elephants weight is lifted by a crane behind and so its feet are not supporting its body, but as he walks through the streets powdered chalk blows out from under his feet to give an illusion of great weight and pressure. This was also used on another puppet of the Royal De Luxe, the giant who fell from the sky in 1993[7]. He had a dusty/chalky atmosphere around him and he was made look like he was able to breath as his chest moved and he inhaled and exhaled the dust.
The huge elephant stands 12 meters high and 8 meters wide and weighs 50 tonnes ( as much as seven African elephants)and can hold 49 passengers. He has a top speed of 1/3 km per hour with a 450 HP engine.[8]
The girl puppet has a small amount of scaffolding situated at the top of the crane which all the ropes and pulleys are attached to. When she needs to be moved for instance into the rocket, the small bit of scaffolding can be detached and another larger crane can lift her higher.
Regardless of peoples culture or upbringing, stories of giants are commonplace and these giant puppets really capture your imagination and bring you back to your childhood. During an Interview for Les Cahiers du Channel, Courcoult discusses with Jean-Christophe Planche how The Saga of The Giants works its effects on grown men and womens emotions[9]. Grown men and women have been seen crying as the giants leave, Courcoult believes these puppets trigger memories and makes the viewer dream again, dreams of imaginary lands and giants and fantasy. Dreams from their childhood years. The use of music helps the emotions and feelings flow which also emphasis the puppets movements and mood. Les Balayeurs Du Desert, a French rock band that has worked with the company since the 1980s provide the music[10].
Without a preplanned and advertised place or time the show has a massive shock factor. Jean-Luc Courcoult is far too much the man of the theatre ever to lose the advantage of surprise[11]. This is why the Royal De Luxe is both renowned and secretive. The company is based in Nantes, but doesn’t have a web site and does not get involved in public relations or advertising. For artistic reasons the whole company needs to move to Cameroon or to China for many mouths at a time so its no wonder not much is heard or known about them. Despite high anticipation of an appearance the audience remains in the dark, not knowing where they will appear next. Why are these puppets so appealing? These puppets have been around for a long time and still have a huge impact on crowds. There is nothing else like these puppets and their sheer size is very imposing.
In conclusion the London performance of The Sultan’s Elephant demonstrated expertly why theatre company Royal De Luxe are considered the masters of the craft of street theatre and how they can keep thrilling audiences with their mysterious and secretive antics and incredible ability to create another world with puppetry.
[1] http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com
[2] http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com
[3] http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com()
[4] http://www.lamachine.co.uk/index.php/la_machine/
[5] http://www.lesmachines-nantes.fr/english/elephant.html
[6] http://www.thesultanselephant.com (interview with director Jean-Luc Courcoult
[7] http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com( the giant who fell from the sky)
[8] http://www.lesmachines-nantes.fr/english/elephant.html
[9]
[10] 3quarksdaily.blogs.com
[11] http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/2007/03/royal_de_luxe_t.html