Giant animal puppets debut in London to raise awareness against climate change

The Manila Times

Giant animal puppets debut in London to raise awareness against climate change  A group of life-sized wild animal puppets take their first steps at the London launch on June 27, 2024 of 'The Heards,' a new public art project, which was created by the team behind 'Little Amal.' Taking place from April to August 2025, 'The Heards' will see groups of puppet animals making a 20,000-kilometer (12,427 miles) journey from central Africa to northern Europe, symbolically fleeing from the effects of climate change, as they expand in size and variety along the way. 'Little Amal' is the giant puppet that toured the world to raise awareness on the plight of refugee children.   Video by Reuters  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe  Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net    Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes  #worldnews  #climatechange  #animal

Transcript

00:00I'm

00:21a

00:37deer is that a group of animals start fleeing because of climate change. And as they go

00:44from city to city along the journey, they will add more native species, more endemic

00:49species and the herd grows and grows and grows. The journey starts in Congo Basin and

00:56will end in the north of Norway. So it's a 20,000 kilometre journey and we're creating

01:02partnerships in cities along the route. Obviously, Little Amal has been a massive learning curve.

01:17We took a lot of lessons. We did a lot of mistakes. We hope we'll do different mistakes,

01:24not the same mistakes. We learned a lot. I think the main, main lesson is local knowledge,

01:32local knowledge, local knowledge, local knowledge is planted in real partnerships in local cities

01:38with local citizen groups, with local civic society is what gives this the engine, the

01:45honesty, the it's what propels it. We've managed to get a handle at the back here and

01:52one in the front. And then there's an elastic waist. So if I do that, the whole body opens

01:58up and kicks. All right. So you can create a leap and then you've got to just land nicely

02:04and you can get hops, which they do beautifully. So we build in Cape Town. We had to come up

02:11with some real solutions, technical solutions, because we're working in biodegradable materials

02:16only and mostly cardboard. This is there's a little bit of plywood in here and some metal.

02:22So we've got pins, little metal pins just to hold things in place, but there's no plastic.

02:25There's nothing here that will not return to the earth over a period of time. But cardboard

02:32obviously is something that we had to develop. We had to find ways to strengthen, to create

02:37structures that are strong and that will hold and not break down too quickly.

02:54It's been pretty challenging. This is the first time I've worked on a kind of puppet structure like this.

02:59And our job as students, we were kind of the first people to kind of pattern test this.

03:05So we were not just building it. We were also kind of problem solving and kind of giving

03:11suggestions to how it could work a bit better. So it was fun to build it. But we also had

03:16kind of a learning curve with some things because this is just the first draft of it essentially.

03:35Making them out of very available materials is really good. That means other people that once

03:44we've sent the instructions out, other people can make them. It's so easy for other places,

03:50other schools in any country. It's very easy, very accessible because it all is just cardboard.

03:57As I'm walking to uni and I'll see it on the street, I'll take them with me. I'll use that, that's good.

04:05Big, warm breath in. Last one out.

04:28You need to do something, make people believe you're animal. So we learn the sound as accurate as it is.

04:35So everything needs to be accurate. You don't exaggerate, but then make sure it's minimal,

04:41but then you're doing it exact, the movement. Lion, kudus, zebras, gazelles. So yeah, a lot of research.

05:06Thank you so much.

05:16And it is to create an emotional reaction. That's the core of this. We're theatre people.

05:20We want to tell a story that evokes an emotional reaction and we believe that if you do that,

05:26you will also create action.

05:35Learn more at www.circlelineartschool.com

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