The Sultan's Elephant

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The elephant

The Sultan's Elephant is a show created by the Royal de Luxe theatre company, involving a huge moving mechanical elephant and other associated public art installations. In French it is called La visite du sultan des Indes sur son éléphant à voyager dans le temps (literally, "Visit From The Sultan Of The Indies On His Time-Traveling Elephant").

The elephant is made mostly of wood, and is operated by over ten puppeteers using a mixture of hydraulics and motors. It weighs 42 tons, as much as 7 African elephants. A replica of the elephant was built in Nantes (France) in 2007, as part of the Machines of the Isle of Nantes [1] permanent exhibition.

1 Performances
2 Related Links

[edit] Performances

[edit] Nantes and Amiens

In Nantes, from 19-22nd May 2005 and in Amiens, from 16-19th June 2005. The show was commissioned to celebrate the centenary of Jules Verne's death. The production was commissioned by the two cities. It was funded by a special grant from the Ministry of Culture and Communication.

[edit] London

The Sultan's Elephant, London

The Sultan's Elephant show was performed in London from 4-7th May 2006. The show started with a rocket "crashing" in Waterloo Place on Thursday May 4, smashing up the tarmac, with smoke coming out from the bottom.

The rocket, crashed in London

On Friday, the elephant arrived, along with the Sultan. An oversize marionette emerged from the rocket - this was the girl from the Sultan's dreams. The girl met up with the elephant. Friday evening the elephant wandered round St. James's, while the girl went on a trip around London on an opentop Routemaster bus.

On Saturday, the elephant walked to Trafalgar Square, where it rested over lunch. Then the girl marionette was lifted by a crane onto the elephant's trunk, and was carried on 'Grand Parade' back to Horseguards Parade, with the 'sultan' sightseeing with a troop of dancers on top of the elephant.

The girl has a needle and thread, and likes to sew things^{[citation needed]}, including a series of cars that were 'sewn' to the tarmac.

On Sunday, the show finished with a Grand Finale, in which the girl climbed into the rocket, which then 'took off'. This involved the rocket firing, with smoke and flames coming out of the bottom. The rocket didn't go anywhere, but when the top was removed from the rocket, by a crane, the girl had disappeared. She had travelled in time^{[citation needed]}.

Whilst in London, the elephant and the girl were stored at the Battersea Power Station, and were transported to the various sites in the early hours of the morning with a police escort. Many lampposts and traffic lights were removed to allow the elephant through. The police, who were more used to escorting large steel items overnight, were reported to have had fun with the event by making up explanations to members of the public. Between the performance days both the elephant and the girl were left sleeping at Horseguards Parade. After the performance the elephant was once again transported in the early hours of the morning back to Battersea Power Station. The return trip took longer than expected as some of the street furniture had been put back in place too early!

[edit] Antwerp

The Sultan's Elephant show was performed in Antwerp, Belgium from 7-9 July 2006. Besides the elephant, the rocket and the small giant, there was also a carousel with fantasy vehicles.

[edit] Calais

Also being performed in Calais 28 Sep - 1 Oct 2006. See details in French original and English translation

[edit] Santiago, Chile

Also being performed in Santiago, 25 to 28 January 2007

[edit] Reykjavík

Also being performed in Reykjavík, 9 to 12 May 2007.

The elephant spraying water at the crowd	Little Girl Giant licks lolly	The elephant on the bridge Anne de Bretagne (Nantes)	The elephant in the midst of the public
The small giant in Nantes	The Sultan's Elephant at Horse Guards Parade