Royal De Luxe is a marionette company based in France who do a kind of hybrid performance art/street circus festival. They use traditional techniques to build gigantic, strikingly life-like puppets wh0 are then ressurected in cities around the world. People gather in the thousands to interact with these creatures because they are, quite simply, amazing – masterfully constructed and brought to life by a team of seasoned performers.

There is surprisingly very little information about Royal De Luxe online. Apart from a short Wikipedia article, and a website about a project they did in 2006, there is nothing current. No sense of who they are today, how they build and transport their creations or, what I wonder the most, where these gigantic marionettes are kept once their performances are over.

From their outdated website:

In the past dozen years, [Royal de Luxe] have created a series of spectacular shows involving giant figures as big as 11 or 12 metres high. Shows are simple – the animal or giant arrives in town and lives its life, going about its business for a few days. Extraordinary interactions take place between passers-by and the performance; residents become enchanted with the activities of these miraculous beings and begin to follow their every move. By the end of the performance, huge crowds gather daily to watch the latest episode in the life of the visiting creature.

Magic.

* The title of this post is a quote from Disney’s Pinocchio (1940). It’s a line said by the Blue Fairy, who brings the puppet to life.