La Machine: Five days, eight legs - and cast of thousands

Sep 8 2008 by Alan Weston, Liverpool Daily Post

Crowds arrive to see La Machine in Liverpool _320

Vicky Anderson watches several days of spectacle which brought the city to the attention of the world once more

SHE came, she saw, she conquered the city. After three spectacular days, last night La Machine reached its finale with the giant spider La Princess making a grand, yet touching exit through the Queensway tunnel, facing the crowd of tens of thousands as she left.

It marked the end of a remarkable outdoor theatre event, the likes of which Liverpool had never seen before.

Reminiscent at times of a football homecoming or Beatlemania at its 1960s peak, the streets of Liverpool were crammed with people of all ages, many prepared to wait for hours on end to catch the awesome sight of La Machine in action.

The spider appear-ed on the side of Concourse House on Lime Street on Wednesday, and on Thursday was taken to the Echo Arena to be “quarantined”.

And, on Friday, La Princess, 50ft tall and weighing 37 tonnes, came to life, amazing audiences by strolling down The Strand and taking a dip in the Albert Dock.

The spider had been scheduled to perform on Saturday morning, but did not move, to the annoyance of many. On Saturday afternoon, Joseph Browning, from the La Machine science team, gave his final briefing to the world’s press.

“There was a big problem, a very serious matter, but we have managed to keep the spider alive,” he said.

“The temperature went down far too low and we tried to test its reactions but it has become very weak.

“We hope things will go well. Let’s wait and see.”

Helen Marriage from Artichoke, producers of the show, said their mistake had been giving in to pressure from authorities and the press to give exact times for certain events when that was not how the show had been designed by French creator Francois Delaroziere.

“We have been under huge pressure to say ‘at this point this happens’ – but it’s a surprise, a bit of magic.

“There has to be tolerance and flexibility and if we have made a mistake we have given out too much information.”

Ms Marriage and co-director Nicky Webb were visibly upset after being questioned by reporters, but a few hours’ drama was all but forgotten when La Princess revived.

The weather stayed mostly dry as La Princess made her way from the waterfront up Water Street to the Town Hall.

A bride making her way there to get married couldn’t get the wedding car past the hordes of people on Dale Street, and the party had to get out and walk the rest of the way, to huge cheers from the crowd and an impromp-tu Wedding March from the musicians dangling in cherry pickers above.

The spider travelled down Castle Street and into Derby Square for a “water ballet” that, similar to the bath scene at the dock the night before, left many wetter than they had anticipated.