Skip to main content

FM
Former Member

Looks fab

Giant puppets are continuing their parade around Liverpool today.
Over 250,000 people are expected to attend the Sea Odyssey event, a weekend-long street theatre production inspired by the sinking of the Titanic.
A 30ft (9m) wooden marionette of a girl, complete with papier-mÒchÉ puppet dog Xolo, has moved from the King's Dock through the city centre, while a 50ft (15m) puppet of her uncle is making the journey from Stanley Park to St George's Hall.
Claire McColgan, Liverpool city council director of culture, told the BBC: "We've never done anything on this scale before, not even in European Capital of Culture Year. There are some incredible things which are going to happen which are a secret and I can't say yet.
"This city loves great events. People have really got into the whole story and it's made everyone smile. It's great that the whole city has come together in this spirit of imagination."
The two giants, created by French company Royal de Luxe, are made from poplar, lime wood and steel, have eyes made from street lights and hair made from horse hair.
A special team of 110 puppeteers and crane operators move the giants, who have previously visited Nantes, Berlin, Santiago in Chile and Guadalajara in Mexico.

 

Replies sorted oldest to newest

This is the story of the Sea Odyssey which I found elsewhere. It doesn't mention the dog, but it's called Xolo.

 

The Sea of Liverpool has swallowed up so many sailors, travellers and adventurers that you would think it was a cannibal.

Icebergs are boat hunters and Liverpudlians are huge children with eyes full of hope and rebellion.

For the unsinkable Titanic, her first voyage was also to be her last.

But let's move right away to the story of one stowaway: loaded on board during the night, unnoticed - a thirty foot tall Giant capable of travelling through time, on his way to another continent to meet his daughter, the Little Giant.

Giants don't grow old, don't grow up, they just stay the age they are for eternity - that is, if they don't die. Disaster struck in the Atlantic Ocean; everyone knows the details of the accident. The ocean liner was the pride of Liverpool, and many different Liverpudlian tradesmen were recruited, mainly to maintain the ship and to look after the passengers.

But let's return to our gigantic passenger trapped in one of the holds. He feels the full force of the iceberg's blade. The sea rushes into the ship so fiercely that he is unable to move.

He is a prisoner and plummets 12,000 feet with the Titanic. We believe that, knowing he would soon die, he took his last underwater lift ride before coming to rest in a cloud of dust on the ocean bed.

Above, petrified with fear, survivors hoped for miracles - some were rescued, that too is known.

When the Little Giant heard the news, she sought out her uncle, the Great Giant's brother. While listening to her, the uncle made a decision that was to take him a century to carry out.

First, he would make himself a diving suit. Then he would scour the ocean floor for the shipwreck. After that, he would bury his brother in the deep-sea bed. Most importantly, he would come back with the letter the Great Giant had written to the Little Giant Girl. This is why he walked for many long years across the ocean floor, pulling the Titanic's mail trunk to bring back the post to Liverpool.

Such tragedies do not affect the Little Giant's morale who bravely decided to come to the reunion. While reading magazines before leaving, she discovered that there are another two famed legends in Liverpool - The Beatles music, and the sheer madness for football of the rebel City.

Before setting up her first camp in Stanley Park, between the two football stadiums north of the city, she decides she will go on a cruise through the town on a road-sailing boat. A few hours before her arrival, as if by magic, a geyser shoots up from the ground in the city centre, to herald her arrival.


Written By Jean-Luc Courcoult

 

El Loro

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×