Away Resorts doesn’t do things by halves so when it comes to creating cuddly puppets and characters to keep the kids entertained to create the best holiday memories, Creative Director Max Barraclough decided to call in the experts to help him bring the magical characters of Bear, Lucy, Scratch and Lucy’s teddy to life.
Working with such masters of their craft meant that Away Resorts was really pioneering the way when it came to creating characters to keep kids entertained at UK holiday parks.
Away Resorts was the first to introduce what is known as overt puppetry within the industry, many have since followed suit.
“I originally came up with the concept of Bear in the Woods with his friends, Lucy and Scratch and Lucy's teddy, in 2007 before I joined Away Resorts... And when I talked to CEO Carl Castledine, he loved the idea of the characters and I started sourcing character and puppet designers to work with." - Max
Away Resorts was the first to introduce what is known as overt puppetry within the industry, many have since followed suit.
Overt puppetry is when the puppeteers are visible and fully integrated into the action as in the case of Away Resorts’ characters Lucy and Scratch.
“The first person I worked with on the original illustrations for the characters was involved in the designs for the characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Gnomeo and Juliet, The Prince of Egypt and Space Jam, which starred world-famous US basketball player Michael Jordan."
And Away Resorts is also the only holiday park operator to have a full-bodied, life-size, puppetted character costume as most other holiday parks have a person dressed up as the character.
“So the characters were designed and the first generation of costume and puppets were built in New York,” adds Max. "Since then, the look of the characters has evolved with the help of a BAFTA award-winning and leading puppet designer/builder who has worked with the likes of Disney and The Jim Henson Company. Who teamed up with another BAFTA award-winning puppeteer linked to The Jim Henson Company and Spitting Image, and the PG Tips Monkey."
And with the new storylines currently being written for Bear, Lucy and Scratch, who knows what adventures they will have in 2017.
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