22 replies to this topic

[Jan Brock]

To add species:

A large eagle of some sort (Winter's Tale, Roundhouse)

Chickens and a falcon (Taming of Shrew, Kyle/RSC)

A snake (Antony & Cleo (various) though the most recent RSC one was obviously rubber, the Dench/NT one looked real though)

[Trev]

On the ballet front there are two of yer actual pigeons in er....."two pigeons".

[richard]

The greatest assemblage of animals on stage must surely have been Peter Hall's famous production of Scoenberg's opera Moses und Aron at Covent Garden in 1965 when one ran the gauntlet in Bow Street of all the vans from Whipsnade Zoo bringing in several of their species for the orgy scene.

[Tintin]

At a preview of Gone With The Wind at Drury Lane, years ago, a horse did just what you would expect horses to do on stage, and that was the only interesting aspect of the whole production. I saw exactly the same thing happen with a donkey in a production by the New York City Ballet. One of the dancers received a tremendous round of applause in the clever way he did the cleaning up, while still dancing.

The kitten in You Can't Take It With You replaced a dog which apparently had the hots for one of the leading actresses.

[Jan Brock]

A notorious animal on stage was the real wild duck in the eponymous play by Ibsen. NT, 1980's. One performance had to be abandoned because it wouldn't stop quacking.

[abi_la_diva]

there's a real dog in the legally blone musical.

[Dove]

Many years ago the production of “The Four Musketeers” at Drury Lane had a white horse AND a White Persian moggy.

[siobhan]

During the cabaret show at Moulin Rouge, Paris they use real ponys and snakes from an underground aquarium. Freaky!

[Snout]

Didn't the caged bird escape on the opening night of Woman in White?
And I think they once had a horse in a Shakespearean history at Ludlow castle.

[caesar]

There was once a lamb in a Sam Shepard show at the Barbican. ( 1992 approx)  There were animal protestors outside.