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Royal de Luxe

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Royal de Luxe is a French mechanical marionette street theatre company which specialises in giant puppets. They were founded in 1979 in Aix-en-Provence[1] by Jean-Luc Courcoult. After some years based in Toulouse, the company moved to Nantes in 1989. The company has performed in France, Belgium, England, Germany, Iceland, Chile, Australia, Mexico, Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Ireland.

Royal de Luxe, Amiens from 2005

Giants spectacular

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Title City Country Date Event Spectators
number[2]
The Giant who fell from the sky Le Havre France September 1993
Calais France June 1994 Channel Tunnel's opening
Nîmes France July 1994
Nantes France August 1994
Bayonne France September 1994
The Giant who fell from the sky, last voyage Le Havre France October 1994
The Giant who fell from the sky in Barcelona Barcelona Spain July 1997
Rhinoceros Arles France July 1997 Arles International Photography Festival
Lisbon Portugal May 1998 to September 1998 1998 Lisbon World Exposition
Return from Africa Le Havre France June 1998
Nantes France June 1998
Calais France July 1998
Antwerp Belgium August 1998 Zomer van Antwerpen
Giraffes Hunter Nantes France September 2000
Le Havre France October 2000
Calais France October 2000
The Sultan of the Indies visit on his time travelling Elephant Nantes France May 2005 Jules Verne Death Centenary 150,000
Amiens France June 2005 Jules Verne Death Centenary
London England May 2006 1 million
Antwerp Belgium July 2006 Zomer van Antwerpen 650,000
Calais France September 2006
Le Havre France October 2006 300,000
The Giant : visits the pont du Gard Vers-Pont-du-Gard France August 2006
The Hidden Rhinoceros Santiago Chile January 2007 Santiago a Mil International Theater Festival 2 million
The geyser of Reykjavik Reykjavík Iceland May 2007 Reykjavík Arts Festival 50,000[3]
The fabulous story of the warrior buried alive of Santa Maria Santa Maria da Feira Portugal May 2008 International Theatre Festival of Santa Maria da Feira
The Giantess of the Titanic and the deep-sea diver Nantes
Saint-Nazaire		 France June 2009 Biennial contemporain art opening 'Estuaire' 2009 350,000
The Berlin appointment Berlin Germany October 2009 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall 1.5 million
The Invitation Chile Santiago Chile January 2010 Celebrations of the Bicentennial of Chile 3 million
The deep-sea diver, his hand, and the Little Girl-Giant Antwerp Belgium August 2010 Zomer van Antwerpen 800,000
The Giant of Guadalajara Guadalajara Mexico November 2010 Bicentennial celebrations of the Mexican War of Independence
Mexican Revolution Centenary		 3.5 million
The wall fallen from the sky in Guadalajara Guadalajara Mexico November 2010 Fresco painted in the style of Mexican artist Diego Rivera -
El Xolo Nantes France May 2011 600,000
The wall fallen from the sky in Nantes Nantes France May 2011 Fresco painted in the style of Mexican artist Diego Rivera -
Sea Odyssey Liverpool England April 2012 Centenary of the sinking of the Titanic 800,000
Planck's wall Nantes France June 2014 500,000
Memories of August 1914 Liverpool England July 2014 Liverpool's World War I centenary commemorations 1 million
The Grandmother fallen from the galaxy into a field in Munster Limerick Ireland September 2014 National City of Culture 2014 250,000[4]
The Incredible and Phenomenal Journey of the Giants to the Streets of Perth Perth Australia February 2015 Perth International Arts Festival
Anzac Centenary		 1.4 million[5]
The Giants[6] Antwerp Belgium June 2015 Zomer van Antwerpen 900,000[7]
Les Géants - La grande invitation[8] Montreal Canada May 2017 Montreal's 375th birthday[9]
The Knight of the Lost Time (Le chevalier du temps perdu)[10] Geneva Switzerland September–October 2017 850,000[11]
Big skate in de ice/Fight against the water Leeuwarden Netherlands August 2018 European Capital of Culture 2018 425,000/450,000
Liverpool's Dream Liverpool England October 2018

The End

10 Year Anniversary of Liverpool's European Capital of Culture Estimated 1.3 Million

This theater has been performed 44 times.

Bull Machin de Villeurbanne Villeurbanne France September, 2022 At the invitation of the Theatre Carouge and the city of Geneva 300,000

Technical data

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Sources: Portraits des géants on the Nantes website.

Name Date of Creation Height Length Weight Shoe size Number of operators Notes
The Big Giant 1993 9.50m - 2.20m 237 32 Structure of 14m high 8.50m width
Le Rhinocéros 1997 2.50m 5.00m - - 17
Le Petit Géant noir 1998 5.50 - 1 t - 18
La Grande Girafe 2000 12.00m 15.30m 25t - 25 4 km/h normally but can run up to 10 km/h
La Petite Girafe 2000 5m - - - 25
The Sultan's Elephant 2005 12m 21.00m 48t - 22 is moving at 1.5 km/h
La Petite Géante 2005 5.50m - 0.8t 166 18 en 2011
22 en 2009		 2.5 km/h by foot 4 km/h with scooter
Le Géant en colère
(the father of the little giant girl)		 2007 - - - - 3[12] Presented in Reykjavik only[13] The head of the great giant
Le Scaphandrier 2009 9.50m - 2t 237 30 The big giant in a diving suit
El Xolo 2011 2.80m 3.5m 0.20t - 20 Height at withers: 1.80m
Walking speed: 4 km/h
Running speed: 6 km/h.
El Campesino 2011 9.50m - 2.50t 237 32 Mexican for "Le grand géant"
La Grand-Mère 2014 7.50m - 1.7t 276 25 The first talking giant
Bull Machin 2022 4.40m 0.86t -
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  •  
    The Sultan's Elephant in London (2006)
  •  
    A Royal de Luxe operator manipulates the Sultan's Elephant head.

Other works

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  • The true history of France
  • Roman photo tournage
  • The Peplum (with odorama)
  • Revolt of the Mannequins.[14] After Nantes in February 2008 and Antwerp, in July 2008, It was played in Berlin, in November 2008
  • They were also said to have made another giant, more lightweight elephant used in Take That Presents: The Circus Live, atop which the four band members performed "The Garden".[citation needed] This elephant had to be made much more lightweight to be transported between venues.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Ash, Lucy (24 December 2012). "Street theatre revives French city" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  2. ^ "The company". Royal de Luxe. Retrieved 2018-09-04.
  3. ^ Total Iceland population in 2007 = 307.672
  4. ^ "Regular festivals 'must be held to draw thousands' to Limerick".
  5. ^ "Giants in Perth: Day three | Perth Now". Archived from the original on 2015-02-15. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
  6. ^ "The Giants, Antwerp, 2015".
  7. ^ Torfs, Michael (22 June 2015). "Almost a million to see the Antwerp giants".
  8. ^ "Montréal fête son 375e". www.375mtl.com.
  9. ^ "Montréal fête son 375e". www.375mtl.com.
  10. ^ "La "Saga des géants" débarque le 29 septembre dans les rues de Genève".
  11. ^ "850'000 spectateurs pour la saga des Géants".
  12. ^ Reduced number of operators due to the particular position of the Giant (only the bust is visible)
  13. ^ Giant beheaded at the end of the show: http://lilliputiens.free.fr/viewtopic.php?pid=908, http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/05/20/beheading_2.gif, the head will be reused in 2008 for The Fabulous Story of the Giant Buried Alive
  14. ^ La Révolte des Mannequins (2008)
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