A giant bronze sculpture depicting a young female actor about to spring into action has arrived in Plymouth by sea.

The 9.5 tonne, 7-metre-high piece is being installed in front of Theatre Royal Plymouth.

The theatre says the £500,000 piece, called Messenger, is the largest bronze sculpture created in the UK using the ancient process of lost-wax casting.

Arts and council chiefs in the Devon city hope the artwork will make a bold statement about the energy, creativity and ambition not just of the theatre but of Plymouth, as it gears up for next year’s 400th anniversary celebrations of the Mayflower’s journey from the port.

Thirty craftspeople spent a year working on the statue under the guidance of the artist Joseph Hillier at Castle Fine Arts foundry in mid Wales.

Its parts were moved to the naval base at Devonport in Plymouth for assembly, but the statue could not be transported to the city centre by road as it was too big to fit under bridges. Instead, on Monday morning, it was moved by ship to Millbay docks. From there, it was transported on a lorry along a bridge-free route to the theatre.

Critics have likened the statue to the pose adopted by Paula Radcliffe for her toilet break during the London Marathon. Photo Credit : Ben Birchall | PA

Hillier said he felt “quite emotional” as Messenger sailed across Plymouth Sound on a fortunately calm morning.

He said he felt it was important the sculpture was of a woman, to counter the many male statues that dominate in Plymouth and other cities, adding that its coincidence with the #MeToo movement made it all the more relevant.

“To represent a woman at this scale and in public space has turned out to be a more revolutionary proposition than I had first considered it … at a moment in our history when female actors have transformed the consensus in western society, about the position of women professionally and generally,” Hillier said.

“I see the work of a young and as yet relatively unknown female performer [as] a perfect focus for the faith that we can put in the arts to transform our world in these tumultuous times.”

The size presented practical and artistic challenges. “Despite the considerable scale of the piece, I have tried to keep her light on her feet, shifting, about to pounce,” he said.

Messenger is based on a pose by a young female chorister in a rehearsal for Othello at the Plymouth theatre in 2014, as she was about to spring up from a crouched position.

But even before its arrival, some people criticised the statue. One resident labelled it “Radcliffe’s revenge” after the moment Paula Radcliffe stopped for a toilet break during the 2005 London Marathon.

Adrian Vinken, the chief executive of the theatre, accepted it would be controversial for some, but argued this was better than it being ignored. “There are some for whom it is an abomination,” he said. “What people end up calling a work of art is up to them.”

But he said the statue could have a transformational impact. “A major piece of public art can transform the world’s perception of what a place is like; it makes a statement about a city it’s ambitious, it’s contemporary and it’s forward-looking.

“In time, it may become one of those iconic statues that destinations become for ever associated with. It will cause controversy.

“The Angel of the North faced a tremendous amount of opposition when it was proposed, but is now an integral part of life in the north-east. We hope our new sculpture will become just that here in Plymouth.”

Its title, Messenger, refers to the role of an actor in breathing life into the words of a writer.

The lost wax process, in which molten metal is poured into a mould made from a wax model, is one of the oldest forms of metal working, but the project also used 3D scans to capture the actor’s pose.

It will take almost a week to install, and the actor whose pose it is based on will officially unveil it on Friday.

This article originally appeared on : The Guardian