La Machine show in Toulouse: jostling, broken tree branch, spectators deprived of the show… when the event is a victim of its success

The streets of Toulouse welcomed 1.2 million people this weekend, curious to see Asterion the minotaur, Ariadne the spider and Lilith the scorpion woman wander around. 200,000 visitors came to meet them on Friday, 400,000 on Saturday and 600,000 on Sunday. This is more than six years ago: the first opus attracted 900,000 visitors. “A success”, according to Mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc, who welcomed this enthusiasm on the social network X.

A pride shared by François Delarozière, artistic director of the La Machine company, who says he is “very happy with this incredible weekend”. “We have never brought together so many people, but we were almost victims of our success.” To avoid large crowds, the precise locations of the scenes were kept secret.

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However, many sites, crowded with people, have been paralyzed. “We were sometimes overwhelmed by the crowds,” he confirms. From 8 p.m. on Saturday evening, access to the Capitol was closed to manage the flow, while the place had to accommodate the three beasts at the same time. Then on Sunday afternoon, Lilith made her way across a crowded Pont-Neuf. The spectators, already very crowded, were under great pressure.

“A theater of improvisations”

And a little later in the day, when the Minotaur was supposed to reach the spider at Place du Capitole, via rue d'Alsace-Lorraine, he got stuck in front of the Augustins museum. “The machine was slowed down too much by the crowd,” explains François Delarozière. “He was moving very slowly so as not to upset the public, so we shortened his journey so as not to fall behind.”

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“We sometimes let ourselves be surprised, it’s also a theater of improvisations, which forces us to modify the initial plan. We might have done certain things differently if we had known that so many audiences would be there. ” Several spectators, who were waiting patiently at Place du Capitole, were therefore left wanting more. “On Sunday afternoon, we had a few disappointments and that hurts my heart,” he admits.

Thanks to the people of Toulouse

Another hiccup: during its wandering Sunday evening, the spider caught its legs in a tree on Lafayette Street, causing a large branch to fall. “These are things that happen with pressure,” explains the artistic director. With the crowds, the parade times have lengthened, requiring a lot of concentration and energy from the manipulators. Here, he did not anticipate the size one of our managers and a lady from the public were affected. We have to find out more, but apparently, there is nothing serious.

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François Delarozière remains very grateful to his audience. “The people of Toulouse are very attentive, smiling, understanding. I thank them for supporting us.” He already seems to be thinking about a next edition: “We reshuffle the cards, we look at what was successful, what was less successful. We wonder how to do better. Every experience leads me to manage the next one. This is our job of putting on big shows, in Toulouse or elsewhere.”