Looking up towards Covent Garden station, it was the giraffe’s head over the crowd I saw first. Life-sized, three metres high, made of recycled cardboard and paper, I thought to myself, wow that’s a sight I’ll never see again in Covent Garden. The next thing I noticed was the crowd surrounding and following The Herd. I could see the public clock it too, and stop confused – what was going on? Not all the animals were visible then, but like most crowds, they sensed something good was about to happen and stopped to watch. Then the full Herd came into view – 20 or so life-sized animal puppets snorting, stamping and occasionally galloping through.
I then cued Juliet Stevenson to start her performance and just like with the usual Covent Garden street performers, the public stopped, phones came up and everyone watched – just this time the crowd included kudus, zebras, monkeys, wolves, gorillas, giraffes, antelopes, lions and more. After Juliet’s short performance, the stampede went on and headed to its next stop around the corner, encountering Chipo Chung, briefly looking up to the Royal Opera House’s balcony to be serenaded and then interacting with two performances outside and inside Somerset House. One where The Herd cameo-ed as Shakespearean actors, performing with Zubin Varla as Oberon and Hattie Morahan as Titania who performed a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The other, where they stampeded around the courtyard of Somerset House to a blistering performance from artist and drummer, Andy Gangadeen.
It was a surreal hour to watch public art, puppetry, climate and storytelling collide in this way. I was lucky enough to be volunteering with many members of the TEDxLondon team (some of which were producing the whole weekend) and enjoyed a small taste of this audacious project.
But the puppets didn’t stop there! They crossed over the iconic Tower Bridge, watched performances on Bankside, visited Camden, met the children of London in Coram’s Field, went ‘out out’ in St James’s Park for a night safari and even hit the shops by Westfield before visiting Queen Elizabeth Park. But why is this even happening?! Below we share the story of The Herds so far…
What is The Herds?
Nizar Zuabi, creative director of The Herds, joined the Climate Curious podcast to tell us all about this ambitious public art project.
“Basically, it’s taking a big herd of wildlife from the Congo Rain Basin, all the way to the Arctic Circle… they are puppet animals, and we’re creating big, artistic public arts, big interactions in city centres.’
Overall the animals will travel 20,000km and visit 17 city centres over 11 countries. Nizar explains that the animals are fleeing because of climate disaster.
“One day in the rainforests of the Congo, a group of animals perked up, felt that something inherently is wrong, and started running. And as they run, more and more animals join them. They’re just invading our cities on the way to safety. And safety will not be found. They’ll keep on going until they reach North Cape, which is the cliff at the end of Norway.”
When The Herds reach each of these cities they meet and interact with some of the best artists across Africa and Europe to bring attention to their plight and the climate and environmental crises. Nizar explains:
‘The idea is that nature comes crashing into us. It’s an alarm bell, but a beautiful alarm bell. It’s not here to make us despair, but it’s here to make us care or to make us rethink our stance.’
Why create The Herds?
Nizar and David Lan (the producer of The Herds and former artist director of the Young Vic) were the team that created Little Amal, a 12 foot puppet of a 10 year old Syrian refugee, who became a symbol for refugee experiences and human rights. Nizar and David felt bringing art outside of the theatre to engage with the public on these complex, challenging issues is key. As Nizar says:
“What I got interested in Little Amal and subsequently in The Herds is taking theatre out to the streets and creating big public art events that are theatrical, that have a story, that are visceral, that are physical, that are participatory, that are relying on citizens to become part of them, because I stopped believing in my art form, as a thing that only exists in middle class, upper class, rich circles where you go pay £100 to see a show. Where the people that look like me and like you are not there around you.”
The intersection of art and climate is still relatively new – it’s why we recently ran a Climate Curious Live: The Culture Edition to ask David from The Herds and Daze Aghaji, environmental activist, on why we need to bring culture and climate closer together. Nizar summed up why he felt public art like The Herds needs to be part of the climate conversation:
“When we were walking with Amal, a lot of the refugees came from The Sahel, and when you talk with them it’s [climate change] not theoretical…. These are people that are fleeing because of climate change…There’s an underlying political situation that affects everyone. It affects Trondheim in Norway, and it affects Kinshasa, and it’s visible in both. In Trondheim, you know climate change is happening because the ice caps are melting. In Kinshasa, you know that climate change is real because the floods are worse every year, because of erosion of ground.”
Nizar mentions multiple times in his Climate Curious episode, How The Herds is bringing nature’s struggle to the streets, that theatre is a ‘community creator’ and such communities are a powerful tool. Combine that with Nizar’s belief that ‘art is what creates the story that we live and art is what changes the narrative slowly, for a culture’ and you can see why The Herds developed as a project reflecting both the visceral reality of living beings suffering from climate disaster and a multitude of beautiful and diverse live theatrical moments for all to engage with. As Nizar says, there is real power in storytelling, the arts and theatre in the face of the environmental challenges we are facing:
“I can only do what I do, which is theatre. I wish I could be a very efficient businessman that can create, but I’m a storyteller, and that’s my tool. So limited as they are, these are my tools, and I do believe they make a small difference…. I think that the minute [people are] listening to a story, there’s a community. And I think [community] is a commodity that is very, very powerful, used correctly.’
If you want to see and learn more about The Herds and how you can get involved, check these out:
– The Herds are still going – check out their next stops.
– Love the puppets? You can download resources from The Herds to make your own.
– Watch back some of the amazing footage of The Herds on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
– Listen to Nizar Zuabi’s episode, How The Herds is bringing nature’s struggle to the streets
– Listen to David Lan’s Climate Quickie, The Herds hit London: are you ready?
At Climate Curious, we love showcasing how climate and environmental work can intersect with the arts and culture to share powerful stories and shift our societies and narratives in a more joyful, just and sustainable future. We’ll continue sharing the amazing cultural work of people around the world to showcase how the arts can respond and engage with the climate and environment.
Lead image photo credit: @hugoglendinning/The Herds
