The French street-theatre company Royal de Luxe has presented multiday outdoor performances featuring their giant marionettes for millions of people around the world for more than 20 years. Their current cast of puppets—Big Giant, Little Giantess, Xolo the Dog, Giant Grandmother, and Little Boy Giant—have just been retired, following their final performance last week in Liverpool, England. The BBC reports that the Royal de Luxe artistic director Jean-Luc Courcoult has decided to “end the saga of the Giants,” but he says the group has plans for a new show “involving a silverback gorilla.” Gathered here are images of the giants in Royal de Luxe performances over the years, from England, Mexico, Germany, Chile, and France.
The Final Appearance of the Giant Puppets of Royal de Luxe
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Read moreThe Royal de Luxe's Shipwrecked Giant, one of the world-famous theatre company's street marionettes, walks along the promenade at New Brighton as he takes part in "Liverpool’s Dream" in Liverpool, England, on October 5, 2018. #
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Read moreThe Little Giantess is seen in Berlin, Germany, on October 4, 2009. Royal de Luxe performed in the city as part of the German Unification Day. #
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Read moreA marionette known as the Giant Grandmother is paraded through the streets of Liverpool, England, on July 25, 2014. The parade, entitled "Memories of August 1914" by the French theater company Royal de Luxe, featured the Giant Grandmother, a giant little girl, and her dog, named Xolo, and told the story of the city's involvement in World War I. #
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Read more"Vielle Geante" (Old Giant), part of a production by Royal de Luxe entitled "Le Mur de Planck" (The Wall of Planck), wheels through the streets of Nantes, France, on June 7, 2014. #
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Read moreLittle Girl Giant and Grandmother Giant dance during a parade through the streets of Carouge in their "Saga of the Giants" performance on September 29, 2017, in Geneva. #
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Read moreA 20-foot-long puppet named Little Boy Giant is positioned in a hammock in St. George's Hall in Liverpool, England, on October 4, 2018. #
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Read moreIn the finale of the "Sea Odyssey," the giant deep-sea diver, the little giant girl, and her dog, Xolo, sail along the River Mersey through pyrotechnic smoke watched by thousands of people on April 22, 2012, in Liverpool, England. Over the previous three days, Royal de Luxe performed "Sea Odyssey" with the giants coming to life and telling a love story inspired by a letter written by a young girl to her father, who worked as a steward on the Titanic. #
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Read moreA police boat makes its way past the Big Giant, who is lifted out of the water in Berlin on October 3, 2009. #
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Read moreThe Little Girl Giant makes her way through the streets of Liverpool as the "Titanic Sea Odyssey" giant puppet spectacular gets under way on April 20, 2012. #
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Read moreThe hand of the Little Giantess, photographed as she sleeps, in Berlin, on October 4, 2009. #
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Read moreCrowds gather around as a giant deep-sea diver marionette is paraded through the streets of Le Havre, France, on July 7, 2017. #
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Read moreXolo, a giant dog, is steered through the center of Liverpool as she and two other giants, a grandmother and a girl, parade for three days telling the story of the city's involvement in World War I, on July 25, 2014. #
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Read moreA giant marionette is walked through the crowd during a street-theater performance in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on October 3, 2009. #
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Read moreCrowds gather around as a deep-sea diver marionette is paraded through the streets of Le Havre, France, on July 7, 2017. #
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Read morePeople look out of their windows to watch a giant deep-sea diver walk through the streets of Liverpool on April 20, 2012. #
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Read moreA 50-foot-tall Big Giant and a 25-foot-tall Little Giantess rest in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, on October 3, 2009, as part of an observation of German Unification Day, when the street-theater group Royal de Luxe performed in the city of Berlin. #
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Read moreThe Giant Grandmother in Antwerp, Belgium, on June 19, 2015. #
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Read moreThe Little Giantess has a shower in front of Berlin's City Hall on October 2, 2009. #
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Read moreThe Little Giantess is operated by members of the Royal de Luxe company in Guadalajara, Mexico, on November 26, 2010, in the framework of the celebrations for the centennial anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. #
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Read morePreparations for a performance in the "Sea Odyssey" on April 22, 2012, in Liverpool, England. #
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Read moreThe Little Giantess walks through the streets of Liverpool on July 25, 2014. #
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Read moreCrowds watch as the Little Giantess walks through the streets of Liverpool on July 25, 2014. #
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Read moreThe Royal de Luxe's Shipwrecked Giant walks along the promenade at New Brighton as he takes part in "Liverpool’s Dream" on October 5, 2018, in Liverpool, England. #
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Read moreThe Little Giantess makes her way down Berlin's Friedrichstrasse on October 2, 2009. #
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Read moreThe Giant Diver walks through downtown Santiago, Chile, as part of a performance by Royal de Luxe on January 31, 2010. #
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Read moreCrowds watch and follow the Giant Grandmother as she walks through the streets of Liverpool on July 25, 2014. #
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Read moreThe Litte Giantess and her dog, Xolo, take part in a performance observing Liverpool's World War I centenary commemorations on July 25, 2014, in Liverpool, England. #
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Read moreA child waves at a giant deep-sea diver marionette parading in the streets of Le Havre, France, on July 7, 2017. #
Charly Triballeau / AFP / Getty
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