Royal de Luxe, The Sultan's Elephant in London - May 2006
French company Royal De Luxe brought their incredible street theatre to London for 4 days in May. Streets were closed to traffic and as the days went by, thronged with more and more people. The people witnessed the 40ft elephant (carrying the actors) and the giant marionette come to life. A truly amazing sight - the people stood in awe, then smiled and laughed as the elephant strolled round the streets of London, past famous landmarks, spraying water, blowing up dust and trumpeting to announce the Sultan's arrival. The girl emerged from a rocket that had crash landed in Waterloo Place. She showered under the elephant's trunk, played in St James' Park and allowed children to swing on her arms.
The Sultan was officially welcomed to London by the Deputy Mayor, in Trafalgar Square. When their adventures were over they returned to Horseguard's Parade for the finale. The little girl was lifted back into the rocket capsule and she said her goodbyes to the elephant. The elephant gently and sadly said goodbye. There was an explosion of ribbons from the elephant and the rocket engines fired. The rocket flew away and as the elephant rested the Sultan and all the cast left Horesguard's Parade to cheers and applause from a vast crowd of people.