[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...yside-18177620

Liverpool's Sea Odyssey street theatre - which involved giant puppets - generated nearly £32m for the local economy, says an independent report.

About 800,000 visited the three-day event in April, spending nearly three times more than initially estimated.

The report found £10.5m was spent on accommodation and £20m was spent in restaurants, bars and shops.

Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said: "This was the biggest event in Liverpool's history."

He added: "Sea Odyssey put Liverpool on a world stage and I am determined that we will put on more of these types of events in the future to further enhance our reputation as a capital of culture."

The report, by Vector Research, concluded about 43% of people watching the show were from Liverpool, about 50% were from other parts of the UK, and more than 6% from overseas.

The figures revealed that 21 April was the city's busiest retail day of the year, with sales up 25% on 2011 in the Liverpool One shopping centre.

It really was stunning - photos :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...yside-17787778

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...yside-17797868

[Z]

This looks really incredible, I hadn't heard of it until now! Thanks for sharing Omah!

[Kizzy]

I hope they plough extra funds into regeneration... According to the CUF report Liverpool is long overdue a makeover.

[Kate!]

ah, i would have gone to this had I known about it. Great pictures, Liverpool sounds like it was buzzing for this, love the idea of the Uncle character at the Albert Dock.

[Omah]

Originally Posted by Zee

This looks really incredible, I hadn't heard of it until now! Thanks for sharing Omah!

The marionettes were pretty realistic to look at, but their movements were almost human - the big hit was Xolo, the dog - some children were even given rides on his back (flouting H&S rules, of course) - the children were ecstatic and the crowd went wild :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...yside-17806029

It began with a little giant girl snoring in a north Liverpool park, and ended with an eccentric Frenchman stripping to his long johns and throwing himself into the Mersey in celebration.

In between an estimated 600,000 people witnessed an enthralling 23-mile long three-day spectacle that captured the heart of a city.

Three giant marionettes, a 50ft (15m) man, a 30ft (9m) girl, and a 9ft (2.74m) dog, called Xolo, spent the weekend traversing the streets of Liverpool, in an event commemorating the Titanic disaster.

Sea Odyssey, the last production to use European legacy funding from Liverpool's 2008 Capital of Culture year, was inspired by a letter a 10-year-old girl posted in 1912 to her father, a bedroom steward on the Titanic.

French street theatre company Royal De Luxe, based in Nantes, created a story of a giant who perished on the Titanic, his orphaned little girl giant, her diver uncle and a giant dog.

The girl's uncle had spent a century diving the wreck of the Titanic to retrieve her father's last letter.

The story was played out over three days, to the backdrop of some of Liverpool's best known landmarks.

It was led by artistic director Jean Luc Courcoult, who took an unscheduled dip in the Mersey at the end of the event.

Giant wooden doll puppet wakes up

The puppets roamed across the city separately over the weekend, covering some 23 miles (37km), before meeting up on Saturday night and sailing down the River Mersey together on Sunday.

They are made from poplar, lime wood and steel, have eyes made from street lights and hair made from horse hair.

The dog puppet is made from steel and papier mache, and is 30ft (9m) tall.

They are being moved by a team of 110 puppeteers and crane operators, who refer to themselves as Lilliputians, after the race of tiny people who come across a giant in Jonathan Swift's 18th Century novel Gulliver's Travels.