City walks tall with its colossal visitors
It was epic theatre where an unscripted element summed up the experience: exeunt west, pursued by boats.
A flotilla of boats, a sea of smiles and more than a few tears saw off The Giants yesterday after an extraordinary three days described by Premier Colin Barnett as spellbinding.
Crowds totalling 1.4 million, the biggest for a single event in Perth, walked and gawped at The Giants, the street spectacle by Royal de Luxe.
Never call them puppets, the company warned ahead of the visit by the Little Girl Giant and Diver Giant. It didn't take long for the locals to see them as "alive", too.
Schoolchildren, retirees, construction workers, barristers and truckies alike responded with delight.
Even the fencing contractor at Langley Park on Friday said the structures would stay because "she" was coming back to sleep.
The Giants and their Lilliputian carers brought to life an entire city. People streamed in from the suburbs and out of city shops, offices and apartments to take part in the spectacle.
There were magic moments at every turn from early Friday, when the Diver washed up like a beached whale and a child squealed in her father's arms as they exited Perth train station to discover him there.
The city was swamped on Saturday, when about 800,000 people took in the parading pair, the Diver finally stirring to make a spectacular crane-assisted jump over the Wellington Street overpass before striding out to the gut-busting rhythms of his gymnastic attendants.
The two Giants plotted different routes through the day. Their eventual "reunion" was an emotional high point underscored by a Noongar smoking ceremony and Welcome to Country. Then, with great tenderness and precision, their handlers locked them in an embrace that lasted the night.
Yesterday, the stage was set for a stirring Anzac centenary tribute and a victory lap before a departure on the waves of the Swan River and the crowd left in their wake.
Returned and Services League WA president Graham Edwards said he appreciated the strange merger of troupes and troops as the red uniforms of Royal de Luxe's Lilliputians mingled with armed forces cadets.
"I see all this through the eyes of a mature adult," Mr Edwards said. "I'd love to see it through the eyes of a six-year-old child and wonder how they might reflect on this in 30 or 40 years time."
Royal de Luxe director Jean-Luc Courcoult said the reception by Perth audiences had been marvellous.
"The people were a little bit like children," he said. "They were so happy to find the marvellous and seemed overwhelmed by the images.
"They took part in a dream in which they were ready to accept things that might be beyond them normally."
Courcoult said many were sad to see The Giants depart and an emotional come-down was to be expected.
