In this video, Artistic Director Gil Garratt chats with Gemma James-Smith, the designer and constructor of the puppet that dominates the stage in Jumbo, which plays at the Blyth Festival until Aug. 10. Photo: Jumbo, written by Sean Dixon, runs until Aug. 10. Pictured are: Tony Munch as Matthew Scott and Lucy Meanwell as Annie Jones. Creative team includes: Manon …
REVIEW OF JUMBO: “Get on up to Huron County and feel its big love”
By James Stewart Reaney LondonFuse Contributor That’s a really big show up at Blyth this summer. That would be Jumbo by Sean Dixon. Your part in the play? Get on up to Huron County and feel its big love. Based on the tragic tale of the giant African elephant, Jumbo opened the Blyth Festival’s 45th Season on June 14. …
The Star: Jumbo the elephant lives again on the Blyth Festival stage
From The Star’s theatre critic Karen Fricker. He was, in the words of David Suzuki, “the world’s first animal superstar.” Jumbo was an African elephant who was exhibited in the Paris and London zoos and controversially bought in 1882 by the American circus entrepreneur P.T. Barnum. Jumbo’s story is tied to Southwestern Ontario for tragic reasons: he was struck and …