La Princesse – Liverpool 08

5th September 2008

Presenting La Princesse, Liverpool’s most memorable European Capital of Culture event, produced by Artichoke and technically co-ordinated by Unusual, was a massive challenge.
 
Unusual proved that an energetic mix of lateral and innovative thinking, technical expertise, close teamwork and engaging individuals, with a dynamic range of skills and personalities, from a wide variety of backgrounds to get behind the project can be a hugely rewarding exercise.

La Princesse is the creation of French company La Machine, and in particular of the company’s creative director Francois Delaroziere.

Having presented La Machine’s The Sultan and the Elephant in London, the directors of Artichoke Productions, Helen Marriage and Nicky Webb, kept in touch with Francois and secured La Princesse for Liverpool 08.

The slightest whiff of a challenge brought about early discussions between Helen Marriage and Alan Jacobi, MD of Unusual – a company with a strong theatre background and a willingness to take on something different. Unusual has over 50 employees with a depth of technical experience, expertise and commitment matching the level of excellence of the creative partners. Like Artichoke, they specialise in events in unconventional places and particularly for large audiences. Tenacity is most definitely an attribute of Alan Jacobi and his team.

The well matched delivery team was in place. The successful outcome of such an adventurous project would rely on a positive attitude throughout and a magnetic tendency towards solutions rather than problems. In timescale terms, there was about 18 months to go before the event.

Twin challenges
The first challenge was the sheer number of people in Liverpool who would become involved in the hosting of the event. Behind the scenes, further consultations took place within individual organisations, hence increasing the number of people in the communication loop.

The focus of the show is the spider. Weighing around 20 tonnes and with a leg span of 15m, it arrived in pieces and was re-assembled over a period of three days. Already a subject of extensive testing in Nantes, this part of the show was effectively complete and ready to go.

The show included seven effects machines – snow, wind, water, light, noise, flame and smoke. Arriving in various stages of completion, there was a considerable amount of work involved in assembly and commissioning. The technical specification was detailed and changeable during the testing process. Unusual had to look after the variety of plant, power, water and gas requirements.

As if the spider and effects machines were not adventurous enough, the whole approach to how music would be used was unconventional at best. Take 26 musicians. Split them up and give them performing spaces in the form of four adapted forklift trucks, eight cherry pickers and a 40ft truck. Each forklift included a PA system and fixed sites had separate line arrays. During the performance, the forklifts and cherry pickers moved around. This effectively meant that the requirement was for 12 independently powered, people carrying performance spaces.

The music was all specially composed and, unsurprisingly, it was very much an evolutionary process. The more the show was rehearsed, the more the composer would be changing the score to fit the show. At the best of times, this process can be a challenge in the studio, but when the band is scattered in a variety of moving equipment in mid-air, this adds a new level of complexity.

Rehearsal
In theatre, the creative side of the business is accustomed to working with the technicians and vice versa. However, this project broke down the boundaries to include plant operators, truck drivers and crane operators to be part of the creative delivery process. In their normal day to day existence, these people probably only get to use 50% of their skills but on a project like this they really get to shine. Without exception, every single one of them had the time of their lives!