Take That Circus Tour Ringmaster

Asylum created a large mechanical elephant and giant ringmaster for ‘Take That Presents: The Circus Live’ stadium tour in 2009.

Ringmaster – This giant puppet appears out of the main stage and introduces ‘Re-light My Fire’, then proceeds to oversee the action on stage as the band and a huge cast performs the song.

The ringmaster’s torso was constructed on a collapsable aluminum frame and a lightweight shoulder section that was hung from a hydraulic gimbal attached to the scissor lift. The platform and gimbal was designed by Andy Edwards at Brilliant Stages. The arms and hands of the ringmaster were built as inflatables and operated by the performers. The head, fabricated in aluminum too, was attached to the top of the gimbal allowing it to move in 2 axes.

The face of the puppet was covered with a flexible LED screen supplied by DigiLED. The Digiflex system was chosen as it was the lightest we could find that still had a very good resolution and would allow the talking face of the ringmaster and other video effects to be shown on the surface. A large jacket, shirt, tie, and top hat were also made to give the puppet his finished look.