Little Amal, a 3.5-metre-tall puppet of a nine-year-old girl, is doing something most humans couldn’t manage after 18 months on the sofa: walking 8,000km from the Turkey-Syria border all the way to Manchester.
The giant puppet is part of a new project from Britain’s Good Chance Theatre – which previously produced ‘The Jungle’ about the Calais refugee camp – that aims to bring attention to the urgent needs of young refugees and the arduous journeys they have to make in search of a better life. On her grand voyage, which began last month, Amal is calling at 70 towns and cities in Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and France before arriving in the UK. At each stop, she’s greeted by local festivals and celebrations.
Little Amal’s itinerary for London has now been announced and it looks like she’s going to have a great time in the capital. On October 22, the puppet – who was designed by the Handspring Puppet Company, famous for the ‘War Horse’ animals – will be welcomed to our city with the unveiling of a new piece of public artwork in Lewisham, which celebrates the 2022 London Borough of Culture’s diversity as well as the guest of honour.
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From there, she’ll head into Zone 1 where she’ll wake up on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral on October 23, before exploring the City and the South Bank’s landmarks, including Shakespeare’s Globe and Somerset House. That night she’ll have a sleepover at the Royal Opera House, guarded by a night vigil of singers, dancers and musicians, before a very big day on October 24: her tenth birthday.
London is pulling out all the stops for this special occasion: a dawn chorus performance will wake up Little Amal and then she’ll go to a party at the V&A with children from across the city. Afterwards, she’ll be showered in birthday messages as she goes on a stroll through central London, winding up at another party at Camden’s Roundhouse, where she’ll say goodbye to the capital.
She’ll then stop at Oxford, Coventry, Birmingham and Sheffield on her way to Manchester, having passed through Folkestone and Canterbury before arriving in London.
Find out about Little Amal’s journey and the events around it here.
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