The Bear – Waterside, Sale

Writer: Raymond Briggs

Adaptors: Pins and Needles Productions

Directors: Emma Earle and Hal Chambers

Reviewer: Jay Nuttall

It must be Christmas if Aled Jones’ unbroken choirboy tones are in the television schedules. The Snowman will probably remain Raymond Briggs’ most famous piece of work. But what has been described as its thematic soulmate, and much later work, The Bear treads very similar territory to its chilly predecessor.

On the back of adapting Briggs’ Father Christmas, Pins and Needles revive their bright and colourful adaptation of The Bear. Initially made a couple of years ago it is remounted by two casts in Cardiff and Sale. On top of this, their new creation, an adaptation of The Little Mermaid, is playing in Bath this Christmas this festive season. Pins and Needles is a busy, growing company and one that is growling loudly in the world of children’s theatre.

When super energetic and highly imaginative Tilly goes to bed one night a fully grown polar bear decides to enter her bedroom through the window. Imaginary or not, Tilly is not daunted and instantly befriends the enormous white animal. Unnoticed by her parents, or maybe just incredibly good at Hide and Seek, it is up to Tilly to accommodate this unruly visitor in the house until it is ready to leave again.

There is no denying that the star of this show is, of course, The Bear. From the moment it flings open Tilly’s window it is captivating. What is exciting about this show is the sheer scale of Zoe Squire’s beautiful looking puppet. Working in almost telepathic unison puppeteer/actors Max Tyler and Lori Hopkins animate the creature for the entire show whilst also busily doubling as Mum and Dad. As with all good puppetry and puppetry design, the mechanics soon melt into the believable: an initial seemingly unusual design concept whereby the paws are operated entirely individually (like novelty slippers) and a head and body that break apart takes a few minutes to get used to – especially from the younger audience members. But, like children do, it becomes the accepted norm and the bear begins to come alive.

Co-directors Emma Earle and Hal Chambers have strongly focussed this show towards a family market looking for entertainment. As Tilly, Leigh Quinn is directed to be childish as oppose to child-like. Unfortunately, the result is the voice and demeanour like one of The Tweenies rather than a character we are to invest in. And whilst children may be swayed by favourite tricks such as squirting the audience with water, snow and bubble machines as well as threatening them with stinky polar bear poo, the best work will also be able to have integrity, heart and be able to move its audience. We see glimpses of this in The Bear. There are a few moments that come close; especially the couple of occasions when the bear catches sight of its reflection and in the final scene, but Tilly’s bond with the bear is never cemented enough for it to break our heart when the bear decides to leave.

There are some genuinely beautiful moments in this show. Huge credit needs to go to Pins and Needles for bringing the puppetry scale of something like War Horse to a piece of children’s theatre. As Tilly nestled into the bear’s soft, white fur it may have enveloped her with warmth but it would have been a much more charming piece of work if somehow we could have felt a little of this too.

Runs until 6th January 2018 | Image: Contributed