Today we went to see 'The Sultan's Elephant', a theatrical 'performance' by French group Royal de Luxe which goes over 4 days and features an incredibly huge mechanical elephant. The 'performance' is about unexpected interactions - 'it represents an artistic occupation of the streets, an invasion that brings traffic to a standstill, disrupts the spectacle of every day life and puts culture right at the very heart of our capital city.' While it would have been nice to have been surprised by an enormous elephant walking down Oxford Street, we took the spontaneity out of it and went to see the elephant at the Horse Guards Palace as they prepared it for the parade. Although you can clearly see the performers controlling the movements, the elephant has that magical-realism quality about it where you can almost imagine it's actually alive.
