The Voyage
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Abstract
The Voyage was a major outdoor spectacle performance, which formed part of the official launch of the nationwide London 2012 Festival celebrating the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Voyage was an epic tale telling the dramatic story of passengers on board the HMS Olympia, a life-size cruise liner built against the prestigious backdrop of Birmingham's Town Hall.
Professional dancers and aerialists joined forces with a huge gospel choir, brass band and over 140 community performers from the Quest participatory project to transform Victoria Square and tell the story of The Voyage. The immersive multimedia performance saw the action unfold onboard the ship and amongst the audience on the ground. Phenomenal projections transformed the Town Hall and the city's skyline became a dream of undiscovered worlds.
The Olympics attracts individuals and groups from across the globe, crossing oceans on a quest for adventure, pursuing their dreams. The Voyage explored what this means for us all: departures and arrivals, hopes and fears, expectations and disappointments.
The Voyage was a stunning combination of physical dance, gravity-defying acrobatics and dynamic imagery, which surprised, captivated, and enthralled audiences of nearly 15,000 people from Friday 22 – Sunday 24 June 2012. Setting sail nightly from Victoria Square at 10.00pm the large scale spectacle transported audiences back to the heyday of cruise liner travel between the 1940s and 1960s, and took in the optimism of the era and the mystery of journeying to an unknown land.
Created by Motionhouse in conjunction with Australian physical theatre company, Legs On The Wall, and produced by Birmingham Hippodrome The Voyage was our most ambitious production to date. The outdoor physical spectacle was brought to life by extraordinary film projections courtesy of Logela Multimedia, a stunning life-size cruise liner set designed by Simon Dormon, beautiful period costumes by Sofie Layton and specially composed musical arrangements from Sophy Smith and Tim Dickinson,which were performed live by a Gospel choir and brass band from Birmingham's Town Hall and Conservatoire.