What an unforgettable weekend it was bringing The Hatchling to Wakefield as part of Our Year 2024. The Hatchling spent a magical two days meeting the local community and navigating her surroundings across the city of Wakefield. 

Throughout her journey, she engaged in a series of interactions, from small-scale events to grand city-wide performances, highlighting the vibrant culture and spirit that form the beating heart of Wakefield, with over 20 community groups, 300 participants and thousands of people welcoming her to the city over the weekend.

Her journey ended with her nesting under the trees at Wakefield Cathedral, sung to sleep with a beautiful lullaby. Sadly, the flight that we had planned was unable to take place due to exceptionally high winds Pugneys Country Park, where our beautiful dragon was set to take flight. Despite the fact we couldn’t deliver the ending we were hoping for, we will never forget the time that a dragon visited Wakefield.

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the residents of Wakefield, all the visitors, participants and community groups who welcomed our dragon into their home and hearts over the bank holiday weekend. Your enthusiasm and support were the driving force behind this experience.  

You can look back at The Hatchling’s remarkable journey in Wakefield by following #TheHatchling and Trigger on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok. Please tag us with your own memories from the weekend’s events. 

The Hatchling led an array of cultural celebrations outside Buckingham Palace at the Platinum Jubilee Pageant in June 2022.

This time our Hatchling dragon puppet led the celebration pageant along The Mall in front of thousands of spectators, bringing central London to life with colour, street theatre and dance.

As she curiously and playfully explored The Mall, the Hatchling was greeted by a friend. A single dancer - a young woman with a flowing ribbon baton in hand, who’s presence emboldened and elevated the Hatchling’s confidence. Intricate kites and long, flowing ribbons unfurled at the dragon’s wings, adding a sense of flight, excitement and celebration. Their activity heralded the arrival of the pageant parade which they guided towards the palace.

The Hatchling in Plymouth was a ground-breaking outdoor theatrical performance that unfolded across a weekend of special events, experienced by over 30,000 people, and reaching an extraordinary finale over the coast of Plymouth in 2021.

Our beautiful visitor hatched in the city, built herself a nest, made friends and grew to the size of a double decker bus. Along the way, she encountered a series of intimate interactions and city-wide performances prepared especially for her majestic visit, before transforming in front of an audience of tens of thousands of people, and taking to the sky in a bid for her freedom.

The Hatchling is a live outdoor experience that takes place over a weekend within a city, starting with an egg hatching and culminating with a spectacular flight.  

This is a special and unifying show which brings people together from all walks of life and spotlights the talent of its place and communities within. As an ambitious and large-scale city-wide effort, including an extensive outreach programme, this project is easily successful when commissioned by a lead partner who can work with Trigger to bring in local partnerships to help make it happen. This is a bespoke process which is responsive to your place, partnerships and needs.  

The Hatchling is available for touring, if you would like to invite The Hatchling to your city, please email Producer Phoebe Stringer phoebe@triggerstuff.co.uk