AT A GLANCE
Why go?
The Messenger is a colossal bronze figure of a crouching woman poised to sprint, standing guard on Royal Parade directly outside the Theatre Royal Plymouth. Created by Cornish sculptor Joseph Hillier and installed in March 2019, it is the largest sculpture ever cast in the United Kingdom using the ancient lost-wax bronze process, and one of the country's biggest bronze works by sheer volume.↗↗↗
More than a landmark, the statue is a deliberate gateway: visitors are meant to walk between its outstretched legs on the way into the theatre, turning a piece of public art into the threshold of a night at the show. Its muscular, defiant stance makes it impossible to miss and a favourite photo stop in the city centre.↗↗
A giant in bronze, born from the stage
The idea began inside the Theatre Royal rather than on the drawing board. In 2014, sculptor Joseph Hillier was commissioned to mark the completion of the theatre's regeneration and captured 3D images of actors rehearsing a Frantic Assembly production of Shakespeare's Othello. From those scans he built sculptural figures, then decided one of them deserved to live on a monumental scale outdoors.
