Could you tell us about your journey into the world of puppetry?

I made my first puppet at the age of six, inspired by an arts and crafts book I found in my school’s library. It was made from an egg box and a woollen sleeve and while I’d set out to make a dinosaur, it ended up being a hippo.in the end. This led to a childhood making things from leftover cardboard, cartons and toilet tubes, and putting on shows at home for my (very supportive and patient) family. Puppetry felt like a combination of the two subjects I enjoyed most at school, art and drama, and I continued to integrate it into my school work and youth theatre group growing up.

When it came to choosing a course for university I discovered a BA in puppetry at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (now sadly discontinued) and was fortunate enough to get a place. I had an amazing three years not only training as a puppeteer and performer, but also collaborating with other disciplines in the production making process.

Just before graduating I received an invite to audition for a development workshop at the National Theatre based on a book called War Horse, What followed was an amazing six years with the show as a puppeteer and eventually one of its puppetry directors. War Horse not only taught me that puppetry could take centre stage in a mainstream show, but it also challenged and broadened audience’s expectations of puppetry worldwide.

How does it feel to be bringing such a beloved children's book to the stage for the very first time?     

I am such a huge fan of Ross Collins’s work, his illustrations are so witty and expressive, with a strong sense of emotion and physicality, it’s no wonder I keep turning them into puppet shows!

In 2013 I was lucky enough to co-direct and puppet design The Elephantom at the National Theatre, based on another of Ross’s books. There was something very exciting about filling out the story and its characters from the illustrations, thinking about what happens between the pages and devising that narrative and action.

For There’s a Bear on My Chair and There’s a Mouse in My House the premise is very simple, each page is a different tactic of one character trying to outwit the other one, so there is a lot of fun to be had with exploring and expanding the action of each moment, and linking them together in a theatrical and playful way. Combining the two books into one stage show has been an exciting challenge, as you want to find a way to make the story build and progress into a satisfying finale, without changing or taking away anything the readers love and expect about the stories.
 

How did your approach to puppetry differ when designing characters for a show aimed at younger audiences?

When I design puppets I very rarely aim to replicate reality, or indeed build the whole character, usually I use the audience’s imagination as part of my design to ‘fill in the gaps’ and complete the image, so that they are involved in seeing the character as a living being onstage. But because the source material of There’s a Bear on My Chair is a picture book, primarily aimed at young children, I didn’t want to stray away from the aesthetic and style of the characters, or indeed go too abstract or poetic in their appearance. It felt important to me that fans of the books should feel like the characters have stepped off the page into a 3D reality.

I had a lot of fun looking through all of Ross’s illustrations of Bear and Mouse and thinking about their anatomy and what kinds of movements they needed to undertake. The show has a cast of four puppeteers, so I knew that each character would primarily have two puppeteers, which for our very big Bear is a challenge! This meant that I had to think about joints and materials that would allow the limbs of the characters to still feel active and animated, even if there aren’t enough hands available to keep all of the character moving. The different scales of puppet in the show, combined with their different structures and materials really allow Bear and Mouse to feel like very opposing forces with their own physicality and vocabulary.

What do you hope children and families take away from experiencing There’s a Bear on My Chair in this unique, interactive theatrical form?

I want audiences have a huge amount of fun watching the exploits of Bear and Mouse, We have been laughing constantly throughout rehearsals and have tried to pack in as many visual jokes and silly comic timing as possible, so I hope there are plenty of laughs in the show for both children and adults. Puppetry has a unique ability to appeal to broad range of audiences, so I always strive to make shows that appeal to anyone willing to suspend their disbelief, no matter their age.

Hopefully those audience members who are already fans of the books will get to rediscover these beloved characters in a fresh, new way, all the while feeling like they’re watching some old friends that they know and love. Plus we have some excellent, very retro music choices for Mouse’s air guitar and party, so I hope there might be a bit of audiences dancing in their seats!

What advice would you give to those who might be interested in a similar career?

My main piece of advice is to simply give it a go, as there isn’t a rule book or a right or wrong method in puppetry. Anything can be a puppet, even an everyday object around your house, it’s purely about that act of belief and using your imagination to make something seem alive. Start simple and small and think about how your puppet shows its emotions and its intentions, this can be through things as simple as its breath and eye-line as well as its overall bigger movements and action.

Making puppets is a lot of fun, but can be a daunting thing to start, so I would say think about the most important or expressive parts of your puppet and what kinds of movement you want them to have. Then look for everyday items or recycled packaging that might have the right shape or texture for your puppet as these parts become the skeleton or body structure, and link them together using flexible materials like string or elastic as these will act like the puppets muscles and allow for movement. Always prioritise the movement of a puppet over what it looks like, as an audience can use their imagination to make even a scrunched piece of paper into a dog or bird or person, as long as you r are animating it with the energy and behaviour of that creature.