Our Blog - Urban Opera - Guardians of the Temple - Toulouse, France

This is the 2nd time that the "Urban Opera" of the Guardians of the Temple has been in Toulouse. The first one was done in November 2018, but we were on vacation and missed it. The story is inspired by the short story "The House of Asterion" by the Argentinean writer, Jorge Luis Borges.

The story that this Urban Opera tells is that Astérion, the Minotaur, was born from the waters of the Garonne River fulfilling the prophecy inscribed on a stone from an ancient capitol found during archaeological excavations in the Esquirol district. An ancient temple was here, with Astérion being the guardian of that temple. The temple disappeared and the guardian was buried underground. Eventually, Astérion emerges and becomes the protector of Toulouse.

Ariane is a giant Spider, the daughter of Minos and Pasiphae. Since her birth, she has watched over Astérion and uses her magical powers to guide Astérion, who she considers her half-brother. This year, Ariane and Astérion are driven by a strange phenomenon and return to the heart of the city.

In 2018, the story included only Astérion (the Minotaur) and Ariane (the spider). This year, they are joined by Lilith, a scorpion woman who, after being driven from the garden of the Hesperides, found refuge in the depths of the Earth. Freed by Hades, king of the underworld, she wanders from town to town in search of damned souls to expand her people and her power. She arrives in Toulouse, looking for new followers.

It is a "story" that takes place over 3 days and multiple acts. The idea is that people would follow the entire show, through the 7 different places that it takes place over the 3 days. We did not ... we went to the main square, Place du Capitole, on Saturday and Sunday to get a glimpse of the 3 different machines, but didn't follow the story.

Let me give you a bit of information on the machines .... The "Company La Machine" was created in 1999 and has various locations. They create unusual theater objects with various large machines. The Minotaur and the Spider stay all year round in Toulouse and you can ride on the back of the Minotaur if you reserve in advance. The Minotaur is 14 meters tall and weighs 47 tons. It is made up of steel wood, leather, and gold leaf. The Spider, who is actually older, is 38 tons of steel and wood, 13 meters tall.

Starting on Friday, the first Act has Lilith, the Guardian of the Darkness, emerges from the underworld. Astérion, being the protector of the city, is alerted to this presence and, along with Ariane, appears around the city. They could be found in 3 different locations: Place du Capitole, the roof of the Museum of Saint-Raymond, and on the roof of a church in the Saint Cyprien neighborhood.

On Saturday, Lilith approaches the sleeping Astérion, sniffing his skin and blowing her evil spray on him. Bewitched, Astérion comes out of his dream, fascinated by this creature. They then head out of the square to explore the city together. Lilith is attempting to open the Dark Portal and take Astérion with her. Ariane, sensing that Astérion is in trouble, comes looking for Lilith, and they fight. The final day, Sunday, they move through the city and, eventually, Lilith opens the Dark Portal and slips into the underworld alone.

A quick note ... it was an "Urban Opera" so there is music that goes along with the videos. On Saturday, the musicians were on the balcony behind the minotaur but on Sunday, it was just recorded music.

We saw Lilith (the scorpion woman) entering into the large square where Astérion (the minotaur) was already there, sleeping. Here we have a short video that shows the sleeping Minotaur and you can see the main "driver" walking up the back to climb up his back to the chair.

And here is Lilith (the scorpion woman) entering the square from one of the side roads. She breaths smoke and has flames on her hand.

She continues past us, with smoke also coming out of her scorpion tail.

Astérion (the minotaur), sensing her arrival, wakes up and looks around, snorting some smoke. If you look closely, you can see his chest go up-and-down with his breathing.

A couple pictures ... one with the minotaur snorting smoke and the scorpion with smoke coming out of her tail.

Lilith made her way all the way around the square and then headed up to the minotaur, trying to seduce him a little bit, to get him interested in her. Then she passes by him, as he turns to look (in the picture). They then both left the square in different directions and headed into town.

Saturday night, it seems that there was a fight between Lilith (the scorpion) and Ariane (the spider), who isn't too happy that Lilith is attempting to seduce her half-brother and take him away.

Then Sunday, I headed back to the same main square for my first view of Ariane. I thought Lilith was supposed to go by as well, but she never arrived. But my goal was to see all 3 machines, which I did. So a couple videos that show her coming into the square from the side road and her arms working.

Here you can see that she has eyes on the front of her head and shoots smoke out of her back. Then one final video of the spider moving around a little bit, and then she sat down.

And finally ... up-close picture of Ariane sitting in front of the town hall.

It was interesting to see the machines in action even though I didn't follow the entire Urban Opera. Perhaps if they have it again, I will try to catch some of the action at night.