Beccy Henderson
Irish actress Beccy Henderson might be best known for playing nerdy Aisling in the hit comedy series Derry Girls, but she's also an accomplished puppeteer, having worked on numerous projects with The Jim Henson Company. She tells us about getting started in puppeteering, working on Netflix's The Dark Crystal and her band Vokxen.
How did you get into puppeteering?
I'd always loved watching puppets - Labyrinth, the original Dark Crystal, and The Fifth Element is my favourite film ever - but I didn't know that it was something you could "do". I studied drama at University, and after I graduated, I wrote to a local company that made kids puppet shows to see if they had any work - not as a puppeteer, just to make tea and coffee, to be around that! They didn't, but they did invite me to a workshop there run by Victor Yerrid from The Jim Henson Company!
How did you get into puppeteering?
I'd always loved watching puppets - Labyrinth, the original Dark Crystal, and The Fifth Element is my favourite film ever - but I didn't know that it was something you could "do". I studied drama at University, and after I graduated, I wrote to a local company that made kids puppet shows to see if they had any work - not as a puppeteer, just to make tea and coffee, to be around that! They didn't, but they did invite me to a workshop there run by Victor Yerrid from The Jim Henson Company!
What was your first puppeteering job?
It was a kid's show called Pajanimals - animals in pyjamas! I was an assistant puppeteer on that, and I got it through doing the workshop.
How did you get involved with The Dark Crystal?
I was invited to audition in London and it was taped and sent to The Jim Henson Company - Kevin Clash was there. At first, they just had you use kind of a generic puppet, then they gave me a proper Gelfling puppet and I was like "Ah, should I be touching this?"!
You're probably best known as Aisling in Derry Girls - how did you end up joining the show?
I did an audition and a recall for another character in the show that I didn't get. Then I was called in to play Aisling, who was only ever supposed to be in two scenes, where she forgets her inhaler. I came in and did it, and afterwards they took me to one side and were like "We think you're really funny and would like to write you in to more of the show". I was working on another series at the time, but I managed to get a few days off to shoot more on Derry Girls series 1 and they ended up writing Aisling into more in the second series, and I'm due to work on the third later this year'.
How do you get into character when performing a puppet vs playing a human?
When I'm playing a person it's just a case of putting on the costume and from that point on the only thing I have to focus on is my performance., but with a puppet there's so much more going on. Like on The Dark Crystal, sometimes I'd have to be in 5-inch platform shoes to make me the same height as the other puppeteers, then there’s a lot of complicated blocking to choreograph how we - as humans - move around each other underneath the set so that the puppets above look like they’re travelling around normally, and then we have to make sure we can always see a monitor… You have a lot more to focus on! You have about 10 seconds at the beginning of a scene - between them calling "Turnover" and then "Action" – and it's really just in those 10 seconds that I get into character.
Which job do you think you've learnt the most on?
Definitely The Dark Crystal! It's such a big show and involved a kind of puppeteering nobody had done before, doing action scenes and moving these Gelfling creatures in ways that hadn’t been established yet.
You're in a band too - how did that come about?
I am! Vokxen had been going for a couple of years before I joined - they needed someone temporarily to do backing vocals and play the synth, and I ended up staying with them. I do a little bit of everything now! I write songs, and like to get into the mood by kind of making my surroundings match the feel of what I want to write.
Words: Scott Bates