Produced by CLERKINWORKS & Improbable in Association with Ovalhouse

Angela is a solicitor’s clerk. She’s working with the defence team on a murder case. In the cells under the Old Bailey, she meets the defendent. “I didn’t do it” he says “The Bear did it. I saw it.” He’s obviously lying. Or mad. This is London after all. But Angela does some digging and she finds someone else who saw the bear. Without quite knowing how, Angela finds herself hunting the bear. Until she discovers the bear is hunting her.

 Angela Clerkin and Guy Dartnell tell the story of an everyday murder and a mythic bear. A funny, challenging and beautiful show about disavowed anger and how to survive a bear attack.

 The Bear is partly based on Angela’s experiences of working as a solicitor’s clerk at The Old Bailey and explores the transformative power of anger. The Bear toured the UK, with sell out shows at the Tobacco Factory, Manchester Royal Exchange and Brighton Fringe Festival ending with a three week run at OvalHouse.

“A modern Fairytale in the style of the Grimm Brothers”

****Exeunt Magazine

“Moves seamlessly between the comic and the sinister, juxtaposing the disturbing with the ridiculous”

Oxford Theatre Review

“Stylish…elegant…pleasingly wacky”

Scotsman

 

Credits

Directed by Lee Simpson

Performed by Angela Clerkin & Guy Dartnell

Designed by Rae Smith & Lucy Sierra

Producer – Leo Wood for CLERKINWORKS

Production Manager – Mishi Bekesi

Lighting Designer – Beky Stoddart

Sound Designer – Mark Cunningham

Composer – Nick Powell

Fight Director – Matilda Leyser

 

Based on an original short story The Bear by Angela Clerkin & Lee Simpson.

 

“It resonated in so many ways with my own life journey and relationship with anger. I had an epiphany…as if I was given a lens through which I saw myself differently.” Audience Member

 

UK tour 2013

19th & 20th April – Jacksons Lane

London 22nd April – @A.E. Harris, Birmingham

25th, 26th & 27th April – The Studio, Royal Exchange Theatre,

Manchester 2nd May – Carriageworks Theatre, Leeds

3rd May – Broadway Theatre, Barking

4th May – The Sheringham Little Theatre, Norfolk

7th May – The North Wall, Oxford

8th May – South Street, Reading

9th May – Corn Exchange, Newbury

10th & 11th May – The Brewery, Tobacco Factory Theatre, Bristol

13th & 14th May -Brighton Dome Studio Theatre, Brighton Festival

16th – 18th May – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

21st May – 8th June – Ovalhouse, London