interesting street theatre piece

[martin ewen]

http://www.nantes.fr/ext/royal_de_luxe_2005/

awesome street-performance stunt in Jules Verne's home town of Nantes.
Click through to the next pages as well.

[Evan Young]

pass the hat at that show. *bling*

[Jim]

Holy Shit

I'm telling my machinist to cancel my 12 foot pole order... I'm getting a 12 foot marionette instead!

http://www.nantes.fr/ext/royal_de_luxe_2005/images/royal22_grand.jpg

Damn.

[Jim]

Scratch that...

I'm getting the pole, too. I'll do the 12 foot marionette ON the 12 foot pole. Nothing will be able to stop me.

[martin ewen]

varying cultures

If you click to the next page,(and the next)
you see its a huge production with a giant puppet and a giant elephant. Street theatre is built into many european cultures. Funded eccentrics with the ability to produce spectacles are a part of everyones life.
Whereas in the US, which for the last 40 years has been producing and exporting and refining an imaginatively retarded, repackaged byproduct consuming, (both varieties edible and cerebral)middle class too busy trying to upgrade the quality of their vacuousness to gain a sense of anything other than their own cunningly marketed desires, street theatre is more or less non existent.
Chicago puts on some big stuff and San Francisco does some counter-culture stuff but by and large its dangerous to let the sheeple celebrate where they are (on the street, watching cultured random beauty, stimulated) when its so much safer to have them consume on the pathetic treadmill that passes for reality here.
How many of the boston audiences stop at shows primarily for their kids sake rather than of any adult interest? Street theatre as distraction and digestive aid.
(hey I still do it, your allowed to be this cynical after 20 years)

(Although Frank Zappa almost makes up for a society that adds sugar to baked beans)

[Jim]

Martin,

I was trying to make a quick joke... but I did click through all the pages. I really am amazed at the production. And I can't imagine something like that happening in nearly any American city. (I mean... think of the permitting red tape!) I'd think most audiences in the states would just sit back and scratch their heads at something like that.

Does anyone know what that production was based on? Perhaps a book I haven't read?

Nice find, Martin.
Jim

[Mr Qwirk]

That looked awesome!
the Euros know how to put on great spectacles!!!

I was amazed last year went i went to the Love Parade in Ghent, and danced in the streets with 250,000 other people!

Absolutely amazing!!

I still dont know why the rest of the western world didnt try to take that feeling with them, when we jumped in our sailboats and left the "old world"

[harmonicakev]

Re: varying cultures

Originally posted by martin ewen


(Although Frank Zappa almost makes up for a society that adds sugar to baked beans) [/B]

I love baked beans with molasses (no accounting for taste).

love Zappa too. - Kev

[Peter Voice]

Interesting????

Understatement is not something I'm used to from your writings in Blah, Blah, Blah, Martin.

My nomination for "Link of the Year".

PS, Pls don't forget Warren Zevon.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Jim
Does anyone know what that production was based on? Perhaps a book I haven't read?

Can't help on the li'l girl or the giant heffalump...but the capsule from which she emerged reminded me immediately of Verne's From the Earth to the Moon. If I did this rightly, there's a pic attached.

Chris

[NYSB_Craig]

Link of the year, indeed...

one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a long time. Thanks, Martin.

[worldwidese]

Jules Verne

Yeah, youright!

1865 - 1870 From the Earth to the Moon. Around the Moon

And-
1880 The Steam House
Across India on a steel elephant

Apparently it's all about being the 100th anniversary of his death.
He was born in Nantes. My god he was prolific! More than 60 published works and dozens unpublished.

About the French and Spectacle. They've always been good at it.
They brought Mardi Gras to the US hundreds of years ago.