Paddington Bear designer 'overwhelmed' by response to musical puppet
Tahra Zafar says the life-like puppet has captured hearts after the West End musical's opening night
The Paddington Bear costume designer has said she was "overwhelmed" by the public response to the life-like puppet following the musical's opening night.
Costume and creature effects designer Tahra Zafar has worked on a number of productions and national events, including the 2012 London Olympics where she met the late Queen to design a replica wig for a stunt double for a James Bond sketch.
More recently, she designed the Paddington Bear for the West End musical adaptation, which was written by McFly star Tom Fletcher and is based on the Michael Bond book A Bear Called Paddington and the 2014 film Paddington.
The show has received rave reviews since it first opened at the Savoy Theatre in December, notably for bringing to life the famous bear through a two-person team consisting of James Hameed as remote puppeteer controlling the expressions and delivering the voice, and Arti Shah embodying the character on stage.
Zafar also helped to create some of the creatures in the first Harry Potter film and was in charge of costumes for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest held in Liverpool.