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 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.

Giants spectacular Title City Country Date Event Audience sizeThe 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 50,000Total Iceland population in 2007 = 307.672 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 NantesSaint-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 IndependenceMexican 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 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 The Giants Antwerp Belgium June 2015 Zomer van Antwerpen 900,000 Les Géants - La grande invitation Montreal Canada May 2017 Montreal's 375th birthday The Knight of the Lost Time (Le chevalier du temps perdu) Geneva Switzerland September–October 2017 850,000 Big skate in de ice/Fight against the waterLeeuwarden 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 1.3 million over 44 performancesBull Machin de VilleurbanneVilleurbanneFranceSeptember, 2022At the invitation of the Theatre Carouge and the city of Geneva300,000

Technical data 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 9.5 m - 2.2 t 237 32 Structure of 14 m high 8.50 m width Le Rhinocéros 1997 2.5 m 5.0 m - - 17 Le Petit Géant noir 1998 5.5 m - 1 t - 18 La Grande Girafe 2000 12.0 m 15.3 m 25 t - 25 4 km/h normally but can run up to 10 km/h La Petite Girafe 2000 5 m - - - 25 The Sultan's Elephant 2005 12 m 21.0 m 48 t - 22 is moving at 1.5 km/h La Petite Géante 2005 5.5 m - 0.8 t 166 18 en 201122 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 - - - - 3Reduced number of operators due to the particular position of the Giant (only the bust is visible) Presented in Reykjavik onlyGiant 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 The head of the great giant Le Scaphandrier 2009 9.5 m - 2 t 237 30 The big giant in a diving suit El Xolo 2011 2.8 m 3.5 m 0.2 t - 20 Height at withers: 1.8 mWalking speed: 4 km/hRunning speed: 6 km/h. El Campesino 2011 9.5 m - 2.5 t 237 32 Mexican for "Le grand géant" La Grand-Mère 2014 7.5 m - 1.7 t 276 25 The first talking giant Bull Machin 2022 4.4 m 0.86 t -

Gallery

Other works

The true history of France Roman photo tournage The Peplum (with odorama) Revolt of the Mannequins.La Révolte des Mannequins (2008) 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". This elephant had to be made much more lightweight to be transported between venues.

See also La Princesse, a giant mechanical spider designed by the same man who designed the Sultan's Elephant but produced by La Machine - a different performing arts company. Les Balayeurs du désert, an accompanying band who perform much of the music for productions run by the Royal de Luxe. Machines of the Isle of Nantes

References

External links

Royal de Luxe official site About Royal De Luxe (note that as of October, 2008, the site had no new updates since 2006) BBC, "How giants genius Jean-Luc Courcoult fell for Liverpool", 25 July 2014 BBC article about Royal de Luxe, 24 December 2012 La Révolte des Mannequins ("Revolt of the Mannequins") Extensive photoblog of Royal de Luxe's show in Nantes, France, February 2008 I, for one, welcome the Giant French Rocket Girl and her Elephant of Royal Luxury! has a collection of links about the performance in Nantes The Sultan's Elephant in London Extracts from an interview with Jean Luc Courcoult by Jean-Christophe Planche The Sultan's Elephant in Le Havre on October 2006. Pictures and videos Photos and info, news, links etc. from Royal de Luxe events all over the world. Photo Album about Royal de Luxe on Fotopedia