How Does the Bear Work and Who Is Inside It?

When Paddington first waddles on stage during the new West End musical based on the beloved bear, the audience at the Savoy Theatre can hardly contain their excitement. Exclamations of “aww,” loud chuckles and enthusiastic yelps ring out from the crowd as Paddington sings, dances and crinkles his furry face to convey happiness, sadness and confusion — it’s truly like watching the bear come to life.

But how exactly did the team behind “Paddington the Musical” translate the Peruvian cub’s likeness to the stage? The answer is one expertly crafted bear suit and two very talented performers: James Hameed and Arti Shah.

Hameed, whose credits include “Gaddafi: A Living Myth” and “Just for One Day — The Live Aid Musical,” is the voice of Paddington and remotely puppeteers the bear’s facial movements. Meanwhile, “Star Wars,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Harry Potter” alum Arti Shah is inside the suit, embodying Paddington’s physicality on stage for most of the musical’s two-hour-and-40-minute runtime. Both performers have been with the show through several workshops for the past three years, working together to perfect Paddington’s every word, note and move.

Directed by Luke Sheppard with music and lyrics by Tom Fletcher, “Paddington the Musical” officially opens on Sunday night at the Savoy. Below, Hameed and Shah give Variety insight into the work that has gone into bringing Paddington to life, what it was like meeting Prince William and Kate Middleton and the message they hope the audience takes away from the show.

What were your respective relationships with the character of Paddington before joining the production?

Arti Shah: Being 7 or 8 years old and watching “Paddington” on TV after school with my older brother, that is my first memory. And then obviously, we have the films in 2014. And when my young son was born, he was gifted the “Paddington” books by his aunt. So we were reading them to him as well, and we’ve loved the films as a family. But also, two years ago, I was recommended to work on “Paddington in Peru,” doing a lot of the physical work on the second unit. So Paddington has been in my life throughout childhood and in my adult years, not just family but work as well.

James Hameed: I’m from a mixed heritage, and my mum, being very, very British, had obviously a very different relationship to Paddington than my father, who came over in the ’70s. For my mum, he represented all the best things about Britain — manners, politeness, tea. And for my father, he represented leaving a home to find a new home, for whatever reason, and not being welcomed at first and that challenge of coming to a place that has a totally different culture. I think there’s such a duality with Paddington that both exist at the same time — this idea that everyone has such an individual relationship and all of them are valid, all of them are true. I think that’s probably one of the reasons why he’s so special. He kind of encompasses everything. No matter your political or religious perspective, he just can represent an aspect of you that is so true and vulnerable.

Certainly, one of the main messages I walked away with from the musical was the importance of kindness, especially with everything happening in the current political climate.

Shah: That’s one thing that we all seem to forget, it’s about kindness and it’s free and it’s simple and we all have it within us. It’s just a gentle reminder that we can all be kind, and this is what the world really needs right now.

Hameed: It’s a good lens to teach that to not only children, but to adults as well. I think it strips away any preconceptions anyone might have, and makes it the most vulnerable version of that story and I think that’s what allows it to be told without any resistance.

How exactly do you work together to bring Paddington to life?

Hameed: On my side, I start off as a separate character called the Young Man. He arrives with his own story and in order to tell his story, he sort of gifts his voice to Paddington Bear. The Young Man then disappears and Paddington tells his story with his own lens, his own physicalities, but with the voice of the Young Man, which is essentially Paddington’s voice.

I also remotely puppeteer Paddington’s facial expressions. In the very early days, there were initially three people behind Paddington. We had the voice, the physical presence and then the remote puppeteer. And we did a test here at the Savoy in early ’23 I think, but what we soon found was there was always just going to be a slight delay. With this kind of puppeteering, it needs to be as true and as connected as possible, and if you’ve got three different people trying to achieve the same thing, it’s a little harder than if you had two. We got Phill Woodfine, who has been coaching me on remote puppetry, who is a legend in his field. They just were like, “Well, James, do you want to try to make the mouth move to what you’re saying and let’s see what that looks like?” It’s meant that we’re able to blend really well and there’s no delays between what we’re doing. That’s as much as I’m allowed to give without giving away everything else, but I think that we do enough that you will believe you’re seeing Paddington in the room.

Arti, you’re in the bear suit, bringing physicality to Paddington. What’s it like in there and how do you stay cool on stage?

Shah: It keeps me nice and warm. I take my job very seriously, and before we started rehearsals I sat in a sauna fully clothed every day for a week, just to mentally prepare myself. The mind is a powerful tool. I wear a lot of padding and then the lovely suit, which makes me stand in a certain way and brings the physicality to life. But I also touch on a form of Method acting, drawing on my own emotions because it’s not just about being the bear, you have to show the emotions. But I’ve had a lot of experience in the film industry working on things like “Star Wars” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.” The heaviest suit I have ever worn was on “Attack the Block,” it was half my body weight and I was running on all fours with arm extensions. I don’t think I would do that now because I’m a lot older, but it’s not as tough as doing that. So, it’s bearable.

Paddington is dancing and running around the stage for much of the show — Arti, what is that like for you? What is your vision like in the suit?

Shah: I don’t know what I’m allowed to say…

Hameed: Maybe I can say it, so you don’t get in trouble. Essentially, Arti’s vision is extremely limited in the suit and that’s where her plethora of previous work really comes into play. Between us, we try to work out ways to get as much vision as possible, but there are times where Arti has literally none. And that really just speaks volumes for her line of work and anyone who does that line of work, because I could not do that. There were times when I would go home and try to reenact the blocking with my eyes closed because I wanted to see what you were experiencing, and I was like, this is terrifying. It gave me a whole new line of empathy for what you were going through. So part of my job is to try and make sure that whoever is performing physical Paddington is safe — that’s always my priority above everything else.

I saw that Paddington got to meet Prince William and Kate Middleton a couple of weeks ago. What was that like?

Shah: Paddington did very well. He minded his manners, he tried to share his marmalade sandwich and he tipped his hat. He was very, very impressed. However, Prince William was trying to ask Paddington a lot of questions as in, “Does he get hot?” I think he was asking me, but Tom Fletcher did really well and said, “Paddington’s from Peru, he’s used to the heat!” I think Paddington was very excited but very calm at the same time. He’s a professional.

Obviously, “Paddington the Musical” is just opening in London, but is there hope for the show to travel other places — maybe New York?

Hameed: I will say that Paddington is well traveled and beloved by all, so I think he would work in any setting across the world. Let’s get through London first, but he’s been very well received so far.

Shah: He’s very adaptable. And he’ll always have his suitcase packed with marmalade.