Royal de luxe

"This is a company of inventors, stuntmen, poets and scrap-dealers all at once, led by Jean-Luc Courcoult. Royal de Luxe are currently considered to be an iconic, almost mythical, street theater company - equal to the Theatre du Soleil for conventional indoor theatre."

They started in 1979 in France and have since expanded and toured internationally. They came to Lisbon in 1988 with "Cars in Trees", in which they would rendezvous with the audience every day in the same place at the same time around an unusual event. Also in 1988, they visited Morocco for 10 weeks to conduct research into the souks and markets. They wanted to find new inspiration and develop new forms of theatre that would challenge Western pre-established ideas. They use a lot of town-square theatre, reminiscent of Shakespearean times.

Some of their work:

• Dream situations: In autumn 2007, Royal de Luxe develops a new form of street theatre, the window show, and proposes a new production "The Revolt Of The Mannequins". In the form of urban comics in shop windows, mannequins rebelled for nine days in Charleville for the twentieth anniversary of the National College of puppetry.
• Giants spectacular: "There once was a Giant who lived in the clouds. One day he fell from the sky and onto a boulevard. When he awoke, the humans had tied him up. The following day, they walked him through the city in a large cage for the entertainment of all. But every night the Giant dreamt, and the humans were afraid of his dreams. So they built a big wall of light to prevent him from sleeping. That night the Giant dreamt so hard he broke his cage and disappeared into the light ... ". Although the story is presented in this way, the audience does not know how each day will unfold and they must search for the Giant to find out what happens next. The Giant is manipulated in full view by a team of actors all dressed in red. With tousled hair, a black look in their eyes and bare legs up to the knee.
• Parades: "The Hamburg Cage", 1985, the audience are forced to follow this man being taken through the streets in a cage. 
• Shows without notice: For example, the "The Traffic-Jams", in which twenty vehicles with unusual scenes played on their roofs criss-cross the city from six to nine in the morning or evening during rush hour traffic. With this production, the company hoped to engage the audience with accidental theatrical scenes during their daily journeys. Chance and surprise are essential ingredients ; the public should be surprised and unprepared.

Amazing photo slideshows: 

• http://www.royal-de-luxe.com/en/creative-work/square-performances/
• http://www.royal-de-luxe.com/en/creative-work/dream-situations/
• http://www.royal-de-luxe.com/en/creative-work/giant-spectacular/

http://www.royal-de-luxe.com/en/company/