Qulture Magazine

Words: Kenny Ross

Let’s be honest, a play about a grieving widow who copes by sticking on a bear costume sounds like the sort of thing that could go spectacularly wrong. Thankfully, BearGirl has enough heart, humour and strong performances to stop it disappearing up its own a**… Based loosely on Chekhov’s The Bear, it follows a young woman trying to deal with the death of her husband by creating a tougher, furrier version of herself.

Rachel de Fontes is great in the lead role. She spends much of the hour bouncing between sadness, anger, confusion and the odd flash of comedy, all while keeping the audience firmly on her side….I know a few folk who go through this on a daily basis, however, it’s a performance that feels real, even when the story occasionally heads into slightly odd territory from time to time.

Jimmy Kavanagh deserves plenty of credit too though. Switching between various characters and voices, he brings a lot of energy to the stage and helps keep things moving whenever the pace threatens to sag. Watching him jump from one role to the next is impressive stuff! Still think he sounded a bit like Mrs Doubtfire at times…but could just be me!

The bear suit itself is a clever idea. We’ve all wanted to hide from the world at some point (like, right now), and BearGirl’s furry armour becomes a pretty effective symbol for shutting everyone out. That said, I found myself wishing they’d done even more with it. When you’ve got someone dressed as a bear on stage, you might as well go all in….right?

What works best is that the play isn’t really about the costume. It’s about grief, guilt and trying to figure out who you are when the person you built your life around is suddenly gone. Heavy stuff….but it’s handled with enough warmth and wittynss that it never feels that way.

Not every moment lands. There are sections where the story spins it’s wheels a little, and a few scenes feel longer than they need to (in my opinion). Still, the emotional honesty of the piece keeps you invested, and the performances do a lot of the heavy lifting when the script occasionally stumbles.

BearGirl won’t be for everyone, if you like your theatre loud, explosive and packed with action, this probably isn’t your thang. But if you’re willing to spend an hour with a quirky, heartfelt story about loss and healing, there’s plenty here to enjoy.

A touching, funny and occasionally strange EdFringe offering that’s worth a look should you feel that way. Note: I think it was a little dusty in there, so I may have left with watery eyes….and also, wondering if it was intentional to make the title sound like that guy who likes to survive in the wilderness eating sawdust or something, either way, this was good.