Liverpool Giants: Thousands gather to see huge puppets walk in city centre

The Giant Man on the beach at New Brighton
PA
Katy Clifton5 October 2018

Thousands of people have gathered in Liverpool to watch huge puppets make their way through the city as part of a “breathtaking” street theatre festival.

World-famous theatre company Royal De Luxe’s over-sized street puppets, known as the Giants, are visiting Liverpool for the third and final time this weekend.

The French puppets, which attracted millions of spectators on previous visits to the city in 2012 and 2014, have drawn in thousands of people on their first day.

The shipwrecked giant, one of the theatre company’s puppets, was seen sleeping on the beach before walking along the promenade at New Brighton on Friday.

The Giant Man lays on the beach at New Brighton, Wirral, 'shipwrecked before he is woken up and goes for a walk'
PA

In the morning, puppets Little Boy Giant and his dog Xolo were seen striding through the city centre as thousands of people watched on in amazement.

The Royal De Luxe's shipwrecked giant
Getty Images

The huge puppet was a popular attraction at St George’s Hall on Thursday and was seen “sleeping” in a hammock as people lined up to catch a glimpse of him.

Other installations in Liverpool included a car with a giant fork pierced through it and a bus which had been sliced in two by an over-sized knife.

Scores of people took to Twitter to share their amazement at the Giants, with one writing: “Our beautiful city of Liverpool has been electric with excitement all week as our comrades in spectacular, emotive, free outdoor arts bring us the mind-blowing magic for the very last time.”

The little boy giant sleeps in St George's Hall
REUTERS

While one called the festival “breathtaking”, another added: “Very excited to see Giants Spectacle this weekend, they have been so special to Liverpool and we all flock to enjoy this artistry together.

“There is something magical about how our city embraces the show and becomes part of it.”

People look at a bus sliced by a knife during the Royal de Luxe theatre company's Saga of the Giants in Liverpool
REUTERS

Not everyone welcomed the arrival of the Giants, however, with scores of people criticising the festival for the traffic jams caused by road closures in the city centre.

“Am I the only one who is not in the least bit interested in these giant puppets that are causing such a stir on Merseyside, and causing traffic chaos as well by all accounts,” one man wrote.

Another said: “Message to the traffic gods – please let me get through today without punching another driver because they’ve stopped to catch a glimpse of a giant.”

“All this traffic chaos for a few puppets,” another angered motorist said.

Royal de Luxe will be performing the popular Giant Puppet Show throughout the city from October 4 to 6, as part of a year-long celebration of 10 years since Liverpool held the European Capital of Culture title.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in