Beccy Henderson: actress, puppeteer, rocker and now color artist … there’s not much this Derry Girl can’t do

Actress, puppeteer, artist, musician and avid tea drinker: the list is endless for Beccy Henderson, who continues to develop her creative talents every day, ensuring her fans stay on their toes while they wait to see what she’s up to. to propose. with the following.

The pandemic and lockdowns haven’t slowed her down either, with Belfast-based Beccy finding time to write new music for her band Vokxen, design a coloring book and get into some voice work. off after funding from the Arts Council’s Emergency Resilience Fund enabled her to create a home studio in her living room.

Best known for playing Aisling in glasses in Derry Girls, she will return to our TV screens later this year in the new Channel 5 crime drama Dagliesh, which was set around Belfast.

She also landed a role in Black Medicine, a film released on all digital platforms last month, alongside Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Amybeth McNulty.

From her very first on-screen TV role on the hit show Derry Girls on Channel 4, Coleraine native Beccy said her own “geekiness” made the game easier.

“I can see similarities to myself in Aisling. She’s way smarter than me, but I’m a geek, so I try to lean on that with her, ”she explains.

“I love the show so much and the weirdness and the geek are some really fun character traits to play with.”

In other roles before appearing in Derry Girls as Aisling, Beccy was normally hidden away as a voiceover actor for BBC Radio 4 or as a puppet – what she calls her first love – for a variety of TV shows.

One of her favorite roles was as a puppeteer for Deet, along with the characters Naia, Juni and Maudra Seethi, in the Emmy Award-winning Netflix series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

Shot for 11 months at Langley Studios outside London, the role was a dream come true for Beccy as it reflected his childhood love for fantasy.

“I started doing puppet training in 2012 with the Jim Henson Company on a job in Belfast,” she says.

“I’m a huge fan of Jim Henson, and Dark Crystal in particular.

“I love it all – it was a big part of my childhood – especially Labyrinth. It was an obsession from my childhood, so I’m also a huge fan of Brian Froud who designed the character of Deet.

The show is a reboot of the 1982 fantasy film of the same name, but it was unfortunately canceled after a series.

Despite this, Beccy was determined to make her mark during her time on production, not only playing puppets for several characters, but also providing the voices of Bobb’n, Maudra Ethri, and a number of additional creatures.

Deet, however, was the character that stood out for Beccy, one to whom she “felt deeply connected” throughout.

“Deet is my soul. She is an extension of me. I put so much of myself into her when creating the character, ”she says.

“The script was amazing to play and it’s the most magnificent puppet I have ever seen, so I had a wonderful foundation to build on.

“Deet was the absolute dream role for me as a puppeteer. I think I have reached a peak, but I totally agree with that ”.

Beccy enjoys “creating in general” and enjoys branching out into different areas of the industry, from puppetry and theater to song and drawing – and all for a variety of reasons as well.

“Acting for me is so interesting. (It’s a space where) I can embody people and embody their emotions, whereas with the puppets I can create these emotions and this physicality from scratch because it’s normally fantasy based characters that don’t ‘have no established way of being yet,’ she said. .

“I like the change to go between them. I don’t think I could pick one to focus on.

“Puppetry is considered acting, so the two skills are combined but with extreme physical contribution and endless problem solving. “

Beccy has not only excelled in television and film.

The talented Derry Girl has embarked on theatrical performances in the past, taking the stage at the Lyric Theater in Belfast for performances of Sleeping Beauty and even touring Canada with a human trafficking awareness show. .

“One of my favorite roles was playing Deb in the Ordinary Days musical which was performed at a vintage store in my hometown,” she told Sunday Life.

The last time, however, that Beccy managed to take the stage was Friday, March 13, 2020, as part of his dark electro-pop group Vokxen.

“It was our last performance before confinement. We had a concert called The Song of the Bones, where we told the story of the Islandmagee Witch Trials, ”she says.

“(We used) our electro-pop music alongside Alice McCullough’s spoken word poetry and beautiful puppets.

“It was a really different and conceptual type of concert, but it was so cool.”

In the group, Beccy sings backing vocals, plays synth bass, and helps write songs alongside fellow vocals Claire McCartney, who performs the lead vocals.

She likes to explore her musical side because “it’s really great to have this outlet in addition to my other creative avenues”.

“We would love to start playing again soon, but at the moment we are working on new material and have some exciting things to come in the future,” says Beccy.

Instead of narrowing the horizons of gifted creatives, it widened them, with Beccy producing a special coloring book.

Throughout April and May of last year, in the midst of the first lockdown, she started taking on daily drawing challenges in order to channel her creativity.

“It was just something creative to focus on and keep me sane when I’m stuck at home,” she says.

“I shared them on my Instagram story every day and people started asking me to make coloring pages of them.

“So in a twist of fate in 2020 I made a real 30 page coloring book and my first batch sold out four days after launch.

“I still have 30 more drawings, so I could do another one. It is purely a question of foreclosure. I never thought of doing something like this before, but it’s there

“The drawings were a source of happiness and motivation for me during the most difficult times of confinement.

“I hope they can bring joy to others now while they color them.”

To follow Beccy’s news, you can follow her on Instagram by searching for the username @youngsterbeccy