"I Think These Are Better Than the Original Characters."
Commission: Away Resorts | Bear, Brand Ambassador Character Suite | Ongoing Partnership Since 2020
The Relationship
Creature Encounters has been the puppet and character partner for Away Resorts since 2020 — designing, building, rebuilding, maintaining and developing their family of character assets across the estate. That family includes Bear, Lucy and Scratch: the three characters at the heart of Away Resorts' ambition to offer the world's leading holiday park character experience.
This is not a one-off commission. It is an ongoing creative partnership, built on trust, technical excellence and a shared commitment to the highest possible standard of character performance. It is the kind of relationship we are built for.
The Brief — Bear
Away Resorts' Creative Director Max Barraclough came to us with a clear and demanding brief: transform Bear — the company's beloved brand ambassador — into a world-class character experience. The existing suit was known and loved. The task was to make it extraordinary.
The focus was performability. Reduce weight. Increase the range and quality of movement. Improve the overall aesthetic. And do it in a way that preserved everything audiences already loved about Bear, while giving performers the tools to do something genuinely exceptional with him.
The Build
The solution was a lightweight, highly performable rigging system contained within a robust foam and fur skin — a structure that prioritises the performer's movement vocabulary above all else, because a character suit is only as good as what a performer can do inside it.
Once the initial Bear was signed off — tested and refined across the estate — we replicated a further two suits and supervised the full audition and training process for the puppeteers. Three Bears. One consistent, world-class character experience, deliverable simultaneously across the Away Resorts portfolio.
The specifications: multi-directional head, opening and closing mouth, blinking eyes, interchangeable arms, concealed viewing panels.
The Result
"I think these are better than the original characters."
-Max Barraclough, Creative Director, Away Resorts
Bear is, by our own assessment, the most successful character we have created to date. That assessment is shared by the client. The suit performs. The character lives. The audiences — children especially — believe completely.
The Ongoing Partnership
The Away Resorts relationship did not end with Bear. We have continued to build and maintain Lucy and Scratch, replicated multiple Muppet-style puppet characters for their pre-school programme, and developed Little Bear — five smaller versions of the character for younger audiences, with increased colour vibrancy and improved head range of motion.
Each project within this partnership has built on the last. Each one has made us better collaborators, better engineers and better makers. That cumulative depth of knowledge — of the brand, the performers, the estate, the audiences — is something that cannot be replicated in a single commission. It is the compounding dividend of a long-term creative relationship, and it is what we offer to clients who are thinking beyond the individual build.
Thinking About Something Similar?
If you are a creative director, brand manager or head of entertainment at a visitor attraction, theme park, holiday park or live events organisation, and you are thinking about your character experience — whether that means building from scratch, transforming what exists, or establishing an ongoing maintenance and development partnership — we would love to talk.
We work at every scale, from a single bespoke character to a full character family. Build time is always flexible and negotiable, dependent on project scope and available budget.
To arrange an informal, no-obligation Discovery Call with Jamie and Michael, please use the Enquire button below.
Creature Encounters are designers, makers and performers of extraordinary puppet experiences, based in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. We have delivered bespoke puppet characters for theatre, television, live events and visitor attractions across the UK and internationally, for clients including Away Resorts, Mark Thompson Productions, Greater Anglia Trains, Blackgang Chine, Robin Hill Country Park, Big Brum Theatre in Education, Lakeside Arts Nottingham, and the Remal International Festival in Kuwait.