UNIT 9 PUPPET
WORKSHOP
Cheryl ‘Chuck’ Brown
Co-Studio Head
Cheryl Brown, better known in the industry as ‘Chuck’, studied theatre design at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Throughout her degree she focused on puppetry, taking great joy in developing designs through character studies, form, movement and material. Chuck is renowned within the field of puppetry for her attention to detail and quality of finish which enabled her to thrive as a freelance puppet maker for several leading puppet studios.
She has been working alongside Max Humphries for almost 20 years and in this time they have designed and created a variety of puppets in a range of scales and performance styles. Unit 9 puppets have a distinct style that was born from a mix of their skills and techniques together; Max taking the lead in the mechanisms and engineering with Chuck developing the sculpt, fabrication and finish of the puppets they create, producing puppets that move with ease and grace, and with a considered aesthetic which enhances the performance and emotion of the character. In 2022 they became Co-Studio Heads of the Unit 9 Puppet Workshop where they created the Olivier Award-winning Dinosaur World Live and Dragons and Mythical Beasts as well as children’s book adaptions, The Lion Inside and The Koala Who Could.
Max Humphries
Co-Studio Head
Max Humphries graduated from RWCMD with a BA in Theatre Design in 2005 and has been at the forefront of UK puppetry for over twenty years, making over a hundred shows and helping change its perception from an artistic niche to one of the core elements of the language of British theatre.
His work is mainly concerned with the grace and beauty of mechanics, seeing his role as an instrument-maker working to supply the highest quality tools to best serve his puppeteers, the story and the audience.
With his team, he has made work for The National Theatre, The Royal Opera House, The Royal Ballet, Disney Theatrics, Polka Theatre, Almieda, Toho, The Metropolitan Opera, LA Philharmonic, Théâtre du Châtelet, Gecko, Elliot & Harper, V&A Museum, Bristol Old Vic, Les Enfants Terribles, Polka, Royal Court, Headlong, Stitches & Glue, Bill Kenwright, Pickled image, Green Ginger, The Unicorn, Jamie Lloyd Co., Little Bulb, Figurentheater Nordland, Lyric Hammersmith, Selladoor, Regents Park, and the Bridge Theatre, among others, as well as being Chief Puppet Designer for Cirque du Soleil’s Luzia.
Since 2022, along with fellow RWCMD graduate and long time collaborator Cheryl ‘Chuck’ Brown, he has been Co-Studio Head of the Unit 9 Puppet Workshop, which created the Olivier Award-winning Dinosaur World Live and Dragons & Mythical Beasts, sharing his love of dinosaurs and world mythology with children across the UK and the world.
In 2025 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, in recognition of his service to British Theatre.
Charlie Findlay
Team Lead
Charlie graduated from Warwick University in 2011, determined to work in theatre but struggling to decide exactly where. A jack of all trades from an early age, Charlie spent her early years performing, writing, and making, with puppetry remaining a magnetic source of fascination and inspiration throughout.
After graduation, alongside Alex Rutter and Polly Boon, she set up Whole Hog Theatre and went on to produce and puppet design for the whirlwind staging of Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke in London and Tokyo in 2012/2013. After seeing Charlie’s work in action, Max invited her to join him and Chuck first as an apprentice, and then as a permanent team member ahead of their build for Cirque du Soleil’s Luzia in 2014. She joined Unit 9, the newly created puppetry sub-division of Nicoll Entertainment, alongside Chuck and Max in 2022.
Charlie’s 14 year career in puppetry has been characterised by fierce curiosity, an intense love for theatre as a complete form, and an almost pathological refusal to specialise. As Unit 9’s ‘swiss army knife’, she supports both Max’s mechanical machinations and Chuck’s characterful aesthetic explorations, ensuring both elements act as catalysts for the overall success of each build as it develops. Her ability to keep the trajectory of multiple projects in mind at once has made her invaluable as the studio has grown, working alongside Workshop Manager Jacky to ensure all the workshop’s plates remain spinning.
Charlie has an abiding faith in the ability of theatre to educate, inspire and foster community, and especially adores seeing young audiences fall under the spell of live performance while watching Dinosaur World Live, Dragons and Mythical Beasts, The Lion Inside and The Koala Who Could. Like the teamwork that occurs between the members of Unit 9, puppetry can only be successful when the audience is empowered to joyfully cooperate in the make believe. It is a wholly collaborative experience, and as someone whose professional role is to form the bonds between Chuck and Max’s magic, it is a wonderful way to see that effort realised.
Jacky Alvey
Workshop Manager
Jacky has had a career specializing in niche manufacturing and running business operations.
Dealing with all of the day-to-day administration and scheduling systems at the workshop to keep projects and people on track and ensuring deadlines are met, she is everyone’s first point of call at Unit 9 for all essential internal and external communications.
She has also been known on occasion to be very handy with the sewing machine…..
Rhiannon Magill
Puppet Maker
Rhiannon Magill is a 2025 graduate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where they trained as a prop maker and scenic artist. Throughout their degree they showed a strong passion for sculpture, painting, creature making and puppetry. Before studying at RCS they also completed a foundation year at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee with a focus on illustration.
Alongside their studies Rhiannon has worked on various projects as a freelancer in film, TV and Theatre across Scotland.
After graduation they were excited to start working at Unit 9 with Max, Charlie and Chuck starting to develop their skills as a puppet maker working on shows such as Dinosaur World Live, Into The Woods and Madagascar The Musical.
Macduff
Part-Time Good Boy
No puppet workshop is complete without a dog and rounding out the team is our youngest and smallest member.
A 3 year old mongreldoodle, his hobbies include eating eggs, being surprised by the postman and being a cutie.