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But some of the performers at the heart of
"Circus 1903" will be largely hidden from view, inside the
life-size - and eerily lifelike - puppet elephants that give the
spectacle a decidedly 21st-century twist.
"I think we're taking ... an old-fashioned circus and (giving
it) ... a modern take. And with that comes the magic of
puppetry," puppeteer Luke Chadwick-Jones told Reuters.
"Inside I have really impaired vision because of the way that
the suit is designed, but I can see just about enough to
maneuver and not bump into anything."
For puppetry director Mervyn Millar, replicating on a far larger
scale the animatronics he mastered as part of the original
creative team on the National Theatre's ground-breaking drama
"War Horse" was a major challenge.
"We're working with aluminum as a kind of base skeleton and then
on top of that there are shells which are made out of types of
thermoplastic mesh that we've had to make from scratch really
...," he said. "So it was a long process."
As attitudes towards animals in captivity have changed over the
past 20 years, the use of wild animals in British circuses has
declined dramatically, with just two shows featuring them by
2017, according to data from animal rights group Born Free.
That "Circus 1903", marking its European premiere with a
three-week Festival Hall run that starts on Wednesday, still
manages to give such a clear nod to a time when no big top was
complete without its own menagerie lends the show an added
poignancy.
"It allows you that reflection back on how things were in 1903
but without the need for animals," said British Veterinary
Association President Simon Doherty. "I think it's really
clever."
(Reporting by Jayson Mansaray; Writing by John Stonestreet;
Editing by Alison Williams)
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