Circus 1903, a stage show made to feel like a classic big top circus show, has "elephants" as part of the cast. Why the quotes? Because the giant pachyderms are puppets lifelike enough to make audiences gasp, laugh and forget that real elephants retired from the Ringling Bros. circus last year.
3 comments:
My initial reaction, as it is with most puppets, was "This is really cool and I want want in my home and my life forever". Unfortunately, I doubt that these beautiful creatures will fit in my family room. At times, it seems like puppets are more intriguing and entertaining than animals. What person today has not seen an elephant before? Between the efforts of zoos and nature documentaries, these incredible creatures don't carry the shock and spectacle value they used to have. Now they bear the unwelcome connotation of animal abuse and maltreatment. Puppets are a genius way to bring back the spectacle to the circus. These majestic mechanical beasts draw forth questions of operation. From the smallest breathing dog puppet (from Handspring puppet company - they have an incredible TED talk on life-like puppets) to a gentle trunk'd circus animal, to Katie Perry's Superbowl 19-operator golden lion, we are ceaselessly entertained by these feats of human creativity and mimicry. These "animals" are a feat of human ingenuity and talent in mimicking and honoring nature. I love it and I want it in my life.
My first thought when reading this article is that it is a brilliant idea. Part of the excitement of the circus was seeing the animals and with the animals no longer in the show, many people have lost interest. Although these are not real animals, the idea of having them to scale and act like the animals would have, is fascinating. It also gives people a new concept of what to expect at events like the circus. The puppets may engage people in a different way and get them more interested in puppetry or animals. However, this most likely is just an extremely inventive form of entertainment. I would be interested to see how little kids respond to these puppets. Do they react similarly to the real animals or do they view them differently because a human is in control? Also, even though the article says the puppet operator is barely visible, I wonder how true this is from the audience or if it even matters because the atmosphere changes once people know the operator is human.
I think that this was a wonderful idea in light of the recent backlash of live animals in the circus. I do think that this would be more interesting for people to watch instead of animals performing tricks. I think that live animals used to be a more novel idea, but nothing new was being done because the animals could only do so much. I think this new approach to the show will draw in more audiences because it is something brand new and intriguing. One of my favorite shows to watch is the Lion King, not only because the story is good, but mainly because of the costumes. I could sit in a chair all day and watch how the puppets work and are manipulated by humans. But many people have not been exposed to these beautiful costumes, so seeing something like this in a new setting will be absolutely astonishing. I do wonder if they will try to make the animals more cartoon-like or animalistic. While I think kids may enjoy the cartoonish look more, I think trying to portray real animals, while difficult, would be beautiful. If I am presented the opportunity to see a show with these puppets in it, I would really want to figure out a way to see it.
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