Creators: Natalie Bellingham and Daniele Pennati
At the culmination of its UK tour, Natalie Bellingham and Daniele Pennati’s innovative and timely show The Polar Bear (Is Dead) reaches the Theatre Deli in Sheffield. This show, offering a combination of insights into Bellingham and Pennati’s lives and reflections on the state of world, is a rollercoaster ride. It makes you laugh, it’s moving and at times challenging to watch.
In this show, Natalie Bellingham is joined by Daniele Pennati via Zoom from Italy. They reminisce and “wander” down memory lanes, sharing both happy and sad memories of recent years. This is interspersed with slightly surreal moments in which Bellingham dresses as a polar bear. We see the polar bear start to learn about climate change and eventually realise the impact it will have on them and all their animal friends around the world. This is an incredibly clever way to humanise the effects of climate change, really making the audience empathise with the polar bear on stage. The show challenges the audience to think about how they could help reduce the impact of climate change, whilst refreshingly not shoving any messages too hard down their throats.
Bellingham and Pennati are an excellent duo and, despite one being on stage and one being on screen, they have an excellent rapport. They are obviously genuinely good friends in real life, and this helps bring the audience into the stories. Pennati is funny and likeable, making his reflections on more challenging times of his life hit all the harder. Bellingham has an excellent stage presence and warmth from the first moment she appears. She has great comic timing, fantastic physicality as the polar bear and delivers emotional moments exceptionally well. Bellingham and Pennati are both clearly exceptional talents and this reviewer looks forward to seeing what the future holds for individually and as a creative duo.
The show also has impressive technical elements. The moving set elements show at the end of the show that ‘save the polar bear’ are surprisingly elaborate given the small venue. Matt Rogers’ projection design is varied, enabling a range of styles of storytelling to be used whilst the show still feels consistent with a clear vision. Jack Sibley’s sound design is effective, creating moments of tension and pain as required but never drowning out the dialogue being delivered on stage.
Whilst this may be the final performance of The Polar Bear (Is Dead), Natalie Bellingham, Daniele Pennati and all the creative team surely have exciting futures ahead and they are most certainly ones to watch.
Reviewed on 4th April 2024.
