The Giant Spectacular

Inspired by the Titanic, The Giant Spectacular was loosely based on the true story of one little girls letter to her father on board the Titanic, only for her letter to never reach him as diaster strikes. Sadly also, the little girls fathers body was never found. The Giant Spectacular imagined the little girl to reunite with her uncle, her fathers brother, in order to set sail and find their lost loved one. With the little girls trusty dog Xolo, the girl travelled around Liverpool in search of her uncle. The uncle in turn travelled Liverpool, a city renowned for its connections with the Titanic and for its port and dock, in search of his neice. Each Giant performed for the crowds, with the uncle having a nap and snoring outside St.Georges Hall (which hautingly sounded similar to the sea, a great link) the dog 'weeing' on school children and the little girl riding a scooter. All giants were completly interactive with the thousand strong audience. Local school children were invited to shout 'wake up, wake up!' to start the little girl on her journey, who often paused and kneeled to let children sit on her arms like swings, the girl would then rise, smile, blink and begin to wonder off to the sound of incredible music. The performance artists incharge of these 30ft and 50ft high wooden giants became part of the act and danced and cheered alongside the crowds, with what seemed like acrobats moving the giants themselves.
More amazing moments included a canon firing hundreds of letters of love written by the school children of Liverpool, the uncle wearing a scuba divers outfit and being lifted from the river outside the Tate Liverpool. Another memorable moment was when the little girl went to sleep in a giant sized bed complete with mobile, the next day enjoying the sun sat on a deck chair with a giant sized radio beside her. Once the little girl and her uncle were reunited, an intense and heart warming moment as these larger than life wooden puppets embraced, both, including Xolo, boarded a beautiful boat and sailed down the river Mersey to cheers from the hundreds of thousands of visitors who had come from around the world to view the Giant Spectacular.

 

All photographs courtesy of Art In Liverpool's Facebook page. 

While there was so much I missed, The Giant Spectacular was an event aimed at bringing the whole of Liverpool together, everyone somewhere got to see a Giant and the crowds on the final day of the Spectacular weekend summed up how amazing the event was. Although there were issues with the rain (always, hey?) and the final act being pushed forward 2 hours meaning sadly some missed out, the whole weekend was a huge success. I have heard through the grape vine that at one stage en route, the little girl giant 'squatted' and did a wee. I'm not sure how that fits in with the story and many complained, but the idea does bring the giant to life, the same way the dog relieving itself was amusingly real. 

An incredible event that was advertised worldwide that yet again puts Liverpool on the map. The planning behind this amazing weekend was next to none, from closing the roads and informing everyone of public transport changes, to the city sweepers tidying up after hundreds of thousands of people, to the choreographers and artists. Liverpool is once again beaming with pride.