A big belly, wavy fur and a nose for trouble: we exclusively reveal Paddington’s new look | Musicals

Paddington stands nearby. His fur flutters when he turns, his elegant nose sniffs the air, and his eyes soften with a smile. For years, details of the bear’s design in Paddington the Musical, directed by Luke Sheppard, were kept top secret. And here he is now wearing his blue coat and red hat. A quiet theatrical marvel. “What we’re doing has never been done before,” says producer Sonia Friedman.

The bear is about 1.2 meters (just under 4 feet) long, beautifully rounded, with a full belly and sloping shoulders. It is not an exact copy of the Paddington family that we have seen in illustrations or movies, but something new. Its shaggy, caramel-colored fur has a gentle wave, and its white muzzle is dotted with a brown nose, perfect for sniffing out trouble. Around his neck is a label, tied through an old piece of string, asking someone to take care of him.

When fellow producer Eliza Lumley had the idea of ​​making a musical of Michael Bond’s Paddington in 2016, the immediate question was how to perform the bear. “We wanted to see if it was possible to have Paddington on stage,” says Friedman, who joined the team two years later. “Just Paddington.” They tested each idea, finding the puppetry to be “cool,” Lumley says, but “a bit eccentric.” The presence of puppeteers also complicated the desire to keep this bear alone on stage, lost in a train station and waiting to be found.

The innovative answer to this theatrical adaptation, written by Jessica Swale with music by Tom Fletcher, began to take shape when Neil Scanlan, creature effects artist and designer of Star Wars’ Chewbacca, pointed them towards Tahira Zafar. Having conjured creatures for Star Wars, the English National Opera, and that annoying monkey for PG Tips, Zafar now boasts the incredibly sweet title of “Paddington Bear Designer.”

“We looked at the books and the beautiful illustrations by Peggy Fortnum, and all the different versions of Paddington over the years,” says Zafar. The influence of Fortnum’s designs is particularly evident; Where Paddington’s face leans toward realism, Zafar’s design has a wide, doll-like quality to Fortnum. Zafar describes the technological methods they discovered as “very imaginative,” but they kept coming back to simpler ideas that embodied the purity of the bear. “We wanted to create something that you respond to with your heart.” The score is part game, part real. Part technology, part fashion, and part magic.

The heavy quilted bear suit is then brought to life through the skill and partnership of two artists: Aarti Shah and James Hamid. Over years of workshops, the duo has formed a unique synchronicity that allows us to believe we are watching a Peruvian bear walk, talk, sing – and sometimes even dance. Shah’s experience as a creature actor in the film has prepared her to play the bear physically, while Hamid provides the voice, with the dual nature of the role never hidden from the audience. At a recent workshop, a child gave a more apt description of Hamid’s role when she walked up to him and announced: “You’re the spirit of Paddington.”

Hamid also animates Paddington’s facial expressions remotely using the control pad. This means that he is responsible for the bear’s notorious intense stare. These controls were originally a separate role, but through workshops, they found that the instinctive rapport between the pair minimized any delays in Paddington’s reactions. As an avid gamer, Hameed was very happy.

Physically performing inside a bear requires tremendous strength, endurance and skill. “Before we started training, I sat in the sauna for a whole week, every day, wearing my black clothes,” says Shah. “It was a way to train my mind. A bear isn’t as hot as a sauna.” She has experience dealing with these unusual performance limitations. When she was in Attack the Block, she was required to run on all fours in a costume that weighed half her body weight and had arm extensions. “This is much lighter,” she laughs.

While eight shows a week create new physical challenges (actors Abby Purvis and Ali Saribani are understudies in Paddington), theater also brings new joys; This musical will be Shah’s first experience with bending. “It didn’t sink in,” she says. “I’m humbled and excited to do this, especially as a short Asian female. To show my young son, who was diagnosed with the condition, that anything is possible.” A huge fan of the books and movies, her son can often be found singing Fletcher’s songs from the show. “I’m doing this for him,” says Shah.

For many of the team, the bear carries emotional resonance beyond nostalgia for bedtime stories. “Paddington means something different to everyone,” says Hamid. “My father came from Pakistan in the 1970s looking for a home. To my British mother, Paddington was manners, tea and marmalade sandwiches. To my father, it was a visualization of his own story.”

When Bond first wrote A Bear Called Paddington in 1958, he described an evacuee’s sticker around the character’s neck which read: “Please take care of this bear.” It’s clear that the Paddington the Musical team takes this role very seriously. Zafar remembers the label her team sewed onto the bottom of one of Paddington’s paws: “Made in Peru.”

“It’s very precise,” says Zafar. “I don’t think anyone will see it, but we know it’s there.” It is a sign of the care and attention that went into making this bear. “I think when you really love making something, that love transfers into the thing you make. I hope that’s what you see in Paddington. All that love on stage.”