THE FACE OF KONG

For the first time the face of the King Kong puppet has been revealed in advance of the June 15 world premiere of the musical that bears his name. Kong was built entirely in Global Creatures’ West Melbourne workshop and is the product of nearly five years of development.  Weighing 1.1 tonnes and standing 6 metres tall, the sculptural look of the Kong puppet was designed to emphasise his musculature, making him an embodiment of raw masculine energy on stage.

The detail of Kong's facial expression is delivered by 15 industrial servo motors (the same ones used in the NASA Mars rovers) and 2 hydraulic cylinders, all controlled in real time by an off-stage 'Voodoo' puppet operator. The puppeteer has complete control over Kong's eyebrows, nose, upper lip, lower lip, jaw, corners of the mouth and upper and lower eyelids. The result gives Kong a subtlety of expression normally reserved for high-end film animatronics, and never seen on stage before.

The Voodoo operators are part of KING KONG’s 17-strong puppetry team, who along with 33 singer/dancers and 76 crew, will bring this modern adaptation of the classic love story to the stage.

KING KONG previews from 28 May at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre, and due to the size of the production, will not tour to any other city in Australia or New Zealand. http://kingkongliveonstage.com

Our Earlier Coverage.

Photographer: James Morgan

FAST FACTS – KING KONG

• King Kong is part marionette, animatronic and puppet, made entirely inGlobal Creatures’ West Melbourne workshop where the creatures of Walking With Dinosaurs and How To Train Your Dragon were also made.

• Kong is made up of 1.1 tonnes of steel, aluminum, lycra and latex andis 6 metres tall.

• Inside Kong there is 300 metres of electrical cable, 1500 connectionsand 16 microprocessors. Kong even has his own on-board hydraulicpower with a liquid cooled quiet pump.

• The detail of Kong's facial expression is delivered by 15 industrial servomotors (the same ones used in the NASA Mars rovers) and 2 hydrauliccylinders, all controlled in real time by an off-stage 'Voodoo' puppet operator. The puppeteer has complete control over Kong's eyebrows, nose, upper lip, lower lip, jaw, corners of the mouth and upper and lower eyelids. The result gives Kong a subtlety of expression normally reserved for high-end film animatronics, and never seen on stage before.

• On top of his core chassis, Kong has a layer of air-powered musclesthat give him a lightweight body form. Over the top of that are a series of highly sculptured muscled bags that stretch and contract as Kong moves.

• As well as his animatronic core, Kong will be operated on stage by 11‘King’s Men’ who are all circus artists that are being specially trained inpuppetry.

• In addition to the King’s Men, there are another two puppeteersoperating Kong offstage using “voodoo” controls and another crewmember operating Kong’s automation.

• There have been two full-sized Kong prototypes before the current‘sculptural-look’ version being installed into the Regent Theatre.

• The aesthetics of Kong have been changed many times before comingto the current “sculptural” look, including a Kong whose facade was made out of rope, and an earlier hyper-real version

Photograph by James Morgan. For online and editorial use only
NO SALES/NO ADVERTISING – IMAGE DISTRIBUTED ON BEHALF OF GLOBAL CREATURES.