The Lanterns – Celebrating Six Incredible Years

Wild Rumpus have spent six incredible years producing The Lanterns at Chester Zoo.

As this chapter closes we’re celebrating this wonderful project and partnership, by reflecting on the beautifully immersive, interactive trail that audience members experienced. 

With a total of 600,000 visitors over our six years of The Lanterns, and this year being our biggest visitor numbers yet 130,000, audiences were wowed, children spellbound, and adults drawn into an immersive experience of live puppetry, lights and sounds that all who dwelt there loved. 

Partnership 

Our partnership with Chester Zoo has always been built on shared values of conservation and connection with the natural world. It has been a delight to tell their story and spend time immersing zoo audiences in the beauty of the narratives of the animals and habitat of the zoo.  

The Lanterns was a site specific project which required sensitivity to the surroundings –  in this instance it was elephants and baboons, meerkats and mongoose, who proved very welcoming to their co-workers! Working shoulder to shoulder with the animals and their keepers, we worked hard to create an experience that would delight audiences, while also making sure we didn’t cause them any distress (rumour has it the elephants were ok with jazz music, but anything too fast-paced – less so!).  

With a narrative which took audiences members through the different habitats of animals, sharing snippets of conservation insights, they not only experienced interactive puppetry and a visually immersive experience, they left with a deeper understanding and therefore connection with the animals and their habitats. This was a vital component to this work, The Lanterns were beautiful and full of wonder, while also pointing to the conservation message Chester Zoo has worked so hard to advocate for. 

Arts Council Relationship Manager visited in 2022, her reflection points to the quality of our work which we are hugely proud of. 

I was blown away by the quality of the new art work- in particular the puppetry and new digital elements which were a lovely new addition. Congratulations on such a magical event for families- it was very touching to see the interaction between puppets and children and the ingenuity of puppet mechanisms.”  – Angela Chappell, Arts Council. 

Meet the makers

Our work at The Lanterns brought together talented makers, puppeteers and artists from all over the UK. Gathering the very best in puppeteering talent, The Lanterns were crafted and improved year on year. One advantage of working with makers who worked on the project year on year, was they could apply their learning to improve and adapt in line with the audience experience from the year before.

It’s always a delight to hear visitors demonstrating this was also their experience,

I’ve been coming to the lanterns for three years, this was the best year yet!’ -Nicola Martin, The Lanterns 2022

One of our artists and puppeteers who has been with us since the first ever Lanterns, shared this reflection; 

There was an opportunity for the audience to observe or interact with creatures, sometimes at a distance, or up close and personal. It is in these moments that a performer/puppeteer can bring a degree of subtlety and sensitivity to that moment, which greatly adds to the ‘live’ experience. 

It was a joy and privilege to be part of this event for several years.’

– Jonny Quick    

Makers and artists also gained from their time working with us. Bringing makers from across the UK meant an opportunity for professional development and skill sharing. Kirsty, who worked on the Lanterns for many years, describes perfectly how taking part in such a project benefited her professionally; 
 

It’s a melting pot of knowledge. Being around such an inspiring community of makers and having the opportunity to work on the project year after year has meant that I’ve been able to learn from the previous year and improve for the next, improving my skills and hopefully the quality of the event for the audience!”

– Kirsty Barlow

Sustainable aims 

Producing The Lanterns for six years meant we could reuse many of the materials, puppets and signage year on year. We encouraged freelance makers and artists to use sustainable materials where possible, which included a large whale made entirely from waste packaging.

We remained mindful of how we resourced the project as much as was in our remit to do so. During de rig, all viable resources were taken back to our storage facilities where they will be reimagined into beautiful creations for future projects! 

Commercial success 

The Lanterns is such a shining success story for Wild Rumpus. To connect to such a huge and loyal audience, in line with our key themes of nature connectedness and permission to play has been an absolute joy. The commercial success of Lanterns, for us and for the zoo, has enabled us to really step up and innovate, in creating sustainable installations, digital exploration, and puppetry, so much learning which we’re taking with us to our next projects. 

As our team de rigged The Lanterns and loaded the final van, we felt a huge sense of pride in the moments of collective wonder facilitated.

Our puppeteers and artists won’t forget these faces in a hurry…