ADVERTISEMENT Back in April, a herd of towering, life-sized animal puppets – from elephants, giraffes, to antelopes and lions – set out from Kinshasa, in the Congo rainforest, on a hugely ambitious journey that would take them across two continents and 20,000km.
Their migration – fictional but steeped in reality – was designed to mirror the flight of animals and people escaping the growing effects of climate disaster and to bring the climate crisis into public spaces in a way that was emotionally visceral, not abstract.
As they moved north through Africa and into Europe, the travelling troupe “adopted” new members – animals native to the countries they passed through – each one built from recycled materials such as and cardboard and plywood.
Over the course of the journey, 1,000 people were trained as puppeteers, bringing the creatures to life in 56 public events across 11 countries.
The Herds has now finally reached the end of their long migration: climbing Norway’s Jostedalsbreen glacier, the largest in mainland Europe, before pressing on to Nordkapp in the Arctic Circle to greet the sunrise on 1 August.
The project was created by The Walk Productions, the team behind Little Amal, the 12ft puppet of a refugee girl who travelled through 15 countries in 2021 to raise awareness of the global refugee crisis.
When The Herds was first announced, producer David Lan explained the ambition to approach climate change through emotion rather than data. “Through theatre, we can engage with the major issues of the day,” he told Euronews Culture.
“We’re looking particularly for a way in which this very, central event in our lives, climate change, can be expressed not in scientific terms. What we think we might be able to do is allow people to engage emotionally with what is already happening all over.”
Artistic director Amir Nizar Zuabi, who also worked on The Walk, shared that the project’s power lay in its attempt, not its guaranteed impact.
“I don’t know if what we add to the conversation will change the world,” he shared. “Most probably it won’t. Doesn’t matter. It’s worth trying. But the idea is to create a project that deals with climate change from an emotional stance, from a sensory experience and not from, ‘This is the science’.”
Check out the video in the web player above to see The Herds finishing its epic journey.
