Beccy Henderson on Poppins, puppeteering and Ben Platt

Beccy Henderson, like so many in the creative industries, saw much of her scheduled work disappear in the past year because of Covid-19.

“It’s been such a difficult year and I haven’t been able to do any of the work that I had lined up, which includes season 3 of Derry Girls. I did manage to do the odd voice over - one of which is airing on BBC Radio 4 on February 7 at 7.45pm as part of a series called ‘The Last Resort’ by Jan Carson.

“So, if you fancy having a cuppa while I read to you in lockdown #3 - tune in to that. I also worked on a short form thriller called ‘Kettle’, which was funded by Northern Ireland Screen and the British Film Institute and shot in September under Covid restrictions. It was a really strange experience, but I am so grateful I got to do it and get a glimpse of a work environment again.”

Q. What is your favourite song/album and why?

A. ‘The End of the World’ by Skeeter Davis is my desert island song. I never get bored of hearing it, and the message is so simple and humbling; no matter how big your problems seem, the Earth will just keep turning.

I normally only listen to music in the background when I’m crafting or drawing, when I’ll put on Lo-fi remixes of video game music. But during lockdown I’ve been listening to a lot more. Mainly Ben Platt or Hobo Johnson. According to Spotify I was in Ben Platt’s top 2% of listeners in 2020... which means I did a lot more shower singing than I thought.

Q. What is your favourite film and why?

A. The Fifth Element is my absolute favourite film! I love Sci-fi with creatures and world building; and it does both so well. There’s no explaining how the world works or how it’s different to ours. They just steam roll on with the film and you have to figure things out for yourself - which makes it fun to watch 100 times over (trust me, I’ve tried). The practical puppetry element is genius too, and it stands the test of time - not like CGI that ages so quickly now. The puppets were gorgeous and believable then and they are gorgeous and believable now. And I haven’t even touched on the incredible costumes by Jean Paul Gaultier, or the score by Éric Serra, or the set design... I should stop or we’ll be here forever, but I really really love that film.

And I’ll add an honourable mention to Jim Henson’s ‘The Labyrinth’ because, well... goblins.

Q. What is your favourite piece of classical music and why?

A. I think it’s ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ Waltz by Tchaikovsky. I just love that melody. I got to play Sleeping Beauty in The Lyric Theatre and there was a gorgeous dream sequence when Aurora dances with the Prince. We used our silhouettes and shadow puppetry elements to make it look like a storybook. And when we were rehearsing, our director, Deborah Maguire, came in one morning and asked us to run the sequence with a new piece of music, and she said to me “you’re going to love this”. And as we were dancing that melody crept in - beautifully integrated into the original score of our show (by Conor Linehan) - and I got goosebumps; it felt so magical and so right.

Q. Who is your favourite artist and why?

A. I love Peter de Seve. There’s something I find so endearing about his art style, he’s a real storyteller. My first ever art purchase was an original print of his - an artist’s proof of a watercolour illustration called ‘Easy Being Green, it is Not’. It’s a cosy little scene of Yoda and Kermit the Frog fishing together in a swamp. It means a lot to me.

I have since had the privilege of working on three series for The Jim Henson company, and a short few week’s stint as an assistant puppeteer on ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’. My involvement in the latter is on the cutting room floor but I’m no less delighted about my time there and the pin badge I got to prove it!

I like to think that my character Deet in ‘The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’ - an adorable, green, cave-dwelling Gelfling - would fit beautifully alongside them in that scene. And if you’ve seen the show you can agree... Easy being Green, it is NOT.

Q. What is your favourite play and why?

A. Easily ‘The Pillow Man’ by Martin McDonagh. It’s a black comedy that plays on the dark themes that are so oddly prevalent in old fairy-tales. If you like Brothers Grimm-style stories, you’ll have a feast. I saw a production of it by Decadent Theatre Company at the Gaiety in Dublin, and I loved it so much I watched it twice more when their tour came to the Lyric in Belfast. It is so dark and haunting... but also so funny if you can handle dark humour.

Q. What is your favourite musical and why?

A. Disney’s Newsies! I love a “kids vs the man” storyline and Newsies is absolutely that. With an amazing score by Alan Menken. I’m not really one for solo ballads, so this show totally spoils me with constant ensemble numbers. I found the show through being a fan of Andrew Keenan-Bolger; who created the role of Crutchie. My family and I took a trip to New York and we got to pick a show to see on Broadway. I was dying to see it, because he was still in the cast at that time. So, I picked Newsies - and I got his understudy and I never got to see him! But no regrets, I adored the show.

We joke that our family has an “understudy curse”, because anytime we go to see a specific actor, we get their understudy. We saw Chicago in the Grand Opera House and the little white slip fell from the programme - it must have had every blooming character’s name written on it with which understudy would be covering them for that show! We went into fits of giggles but that remains the absolute best performance of Chicago I have ever seen. Bring on the understudies!

Q. What is your most special moment in the arts and why?

A. Dark Crystal spoiler alert warning here! But there’s a battle scene I got to do with Deet, where she dispels this huge magical attack (the darkening), and it was my ‘Super Saiyan’ moment. As a serious geek myself - and as a passionate actor - filming that scene has been the pinnacle for me. For one, I got to scream a LOT - it was very fun and cathartic when you’re in that much pain because these puppets are so so heavy and difficult to work. But as an actor, to get to do a scene as a heroine basically saving the planet... is more than I could have ever wished for.

They let me take a break off set at one point and I walked around to the monitors where all the ‘RC performers’ sit (the puppeteers who control the animatronics) and they stood and applauded... and I can’t get over that moment. I had only been puppeteering for SIX years and these were all performers I idolized, who have been doing this for probably 30 years, and they thought my performance was worthy of that reaction. I think I hit my peak that day.

Q. What ‘classic’ just doesn’t do it for you?

Don’t get mad - but Mary Poppins. I haven’t re-watched it as an adult so I might like it now But as a kid I really didn’t. I thought Mary Poppins was mean and that pretty much any show that had humans in it was boring. I think I liked Bert. But it would seem my obsession with puppets and creatures was always at the forefront! Maybe I’ll give it a re-watch now that I’ve grown up?... or just watch something with goblins in it. Life is short.

Q. What have you been reading/watching/listening to/revisiting during the Coronavirus period?

A. Well, in my gaps between playing Animal Crossing I suppose I have done some things...I fell in love with a Netflix series called ‘Locke & Key’. I’ve watched it twice now and already want to watch it again. It’s based off Graphic Novels about a house filled with magical keys.

No spoilers, but Episode 7, directed by Dawn Wilkinson, is so so good - the story telling in it is great; dark and poignant and seriously pulls at your heart strings. It’s also a series about a house with magical keys?! What’s not to love?

I’ve been reading the Omte Origins by Amanda Hocking. It’s a trilogy and the final book has just been released! They’re young adult Fantasy books that follow a strong plus-sized female lead, set in a world of trolls and hobgoblins that rests alongside our modern human world. I highly recommend a delve into the world, and if you do - start with the Trylle Trilogy.

And lastly, I um... made a colouring book!? It started when I took on daily drawing challenges, just to keep me sane by having something creative to focus on. I shared them to my Instagram everyday (@youngsterbeccy) and people started asking me to make them into colouring pages. So, in a crazy 2020 twist of fate, I made an ACTUAL 30-page colouring book and my first batch sold out 4 days after launch!

It is such a weird and random thing to come out of 2020 and I never thought I would do anything like this, but there it is. The drawings were such a source of happiness and motivation and community for me during some of the toughest points of lockdown #1. Now I hope that they can bring others joy while they colour them in. You can check them out in my Etsy store here: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/921303595