Royal de Luxe

Founded in 1979 by director Jean-Luc Courcoult, French company Royal de Luxe is world-renowned.

Celebrated for their vast interventions into the life of a city and working with large crews of performers, they often take everyone by surprise as, over a number of days, audiences multiply as they follow some epic saga played out on the city’s streets.

This production was the fifth in a series of giant pieces, the others being Le Géant tombé du ciel, Le géant tombé du ciel: dernier voyage, Retour d’Afrique and Les Chasseurs de girafes.

The Sultan’s Elephant, or La visite du sultan des Indes sur son éléphant à voyager dans le temps, was first performed in Nantes in 2005, on the centenary of Jules Verne’s death. This production was commissioned by the cities of Nantes and Amiens and received a special grant from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.

Royal de Luxe, produced in London in 2006 by Artichoke. Photo by Matthew Andrews.