Kate Harbour on Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom and the Art of Acting Without Words

Send us Fan MailHow do you deliver a great acting performance when your script doesn't actually contain any words? That's one of the fascinating things I discovered when I caught up with actress Kate Harbour for the latest episode of The MarshyCast to talk about Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. Having recently seen the film myself, I went into this interview as a very happy customer. It's a brilliant family film, but one of the things that particularly struck me was how much there is for adults to enjoy alongside the younger audience. Kate and I talked about that delicate balancing act and why some of the best animation doesn't really feel as though it's been made exclusively for children or adults. It simply works for everyone. We also explored the different worlds of animation. CGI might dominate many modern animated movies, while traditional 2D animation has its own distinctive style, but there's something wonderfully tangible about stop motion. With every tiny movement carefully created, the amount of work involved in bringing characters such as Shaun and the inhabitants of Mossy Bottom to life is extraordinary. But there's another part of the process that viewers might not immediately appreciate: the voice acting. With Shaun the Sheep, performers have the unusual challenge of communicating character and emotion without conventional spoken dialogue. Kate explained how surprisingly physical that can become. A performance might ultimately be something we only hear, but creating those sounds can involve using your whole body in the recording booth. We also spoke about the changing world of animated voice casts and what it's like when big-name actors come in to lend their voices to a production. For Kate, though, this isn't simply about standing behind a microphone and making a few noises. It's acting, just with a very different collection of tools. Naturally, I couldn't finish an interview about The Beast of Mossy Bottom without venturing into horror territory. So I gave Kate a scenario: you're stuck on a farm and you're allowed one horror character to protect you. Who are you choosing? Her answer rounds off a conversation covering everything from the painstaking craft of stop motion to the strange art of acting without saying a single actual word. 🎧 Hear my full conversation with Kate Harbour now on The MarshyCast, available on Apple, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts. Find me on all social media @paulswampymarsh