I sat down with performer and co-producer Katie Hurley to find out more about Man or Bear coming to The Front Room as part of The Croydonites Festival this November.
Man or Bear takes inspiration from the viral internet debate to explore female survival and fear. What inspired you to turn that specific hypothetical question into a fast-moving, darkly comic play?
Sarah and I had been talking about making a show based around unhelpful female archetypes (virgin, mother, crone) and how these stereotypes still shape the way women are seen and treated. At the same time, we were constantly sharing news stories about violence against women and girls and getting increasingly angry about it.
When Sarah told me about the Man or Bear debate, I was fascinated by the responses. What struck me wasn’t that women thought a bear was safe, but that so many felt they knew where they stood with a bear more than they did with a man. The conversations around it exposed so much about victim-blaming, gaslighting and the way society responds to violence against women. We wanted to take that conversation and make something that was both entertaining and urgent.
There’s so much anger and fear in the subject, but humour can also be a really powerful way of getting people to engage with difficult things. We wanted to create a show that allowed moments of laughter, as well as making people think and, most importantly, making them ambassadors for the cause.
What drew you to blending kitchen-sink realism with movement and music to tell this story of a mother, daughter, and stranger?
We always knew we wanted to combine kitchen-sink realism with more abstract theatrical moments. The story is rooted in the lives of three women, and we wanted the audience to really get to know them, their relationships, their humour and their anxieties.
But the subject matter also lends itself to something more theatrical. The bear becomes a metaphor, and movement, music and choral speaking allow us to explore things that might be harder to express through naturalistic dialogue alone.
The creative process was really collaborative, we experimented with ideas in workshops and our brilliant creative team helped us explore movement, sound and images. It was about finding a form that could hold the everyday reality of these women’s lives alongside the fear and absurdity of the world they’re living in.
What has been the biggest challenge in bringing this production to life?
I think, as with so much theatre made by independent artists at the moment, finances have been the biggest challenge. I’m afraid it’s not a very glamorous answer, and probably quite a predictable one, but it’s the reality.
We were really fortunate to receive Arts Council funding, and some of the venues we toured were able to offer us guarantees. But getting the show to Edinburgh, for example, meant running a pretty rigorous crowdfunding campaign, which is basically asking everyone you know, or have ever met, for money.
It’s mortifying, but it was necessary, alongside the hope that the show would sell well. It’s still an ongoing challenge. We’re not quite there yet, but we’d love the show to continue to have a life beyond this year and eventually break even.
How does the design of your show (set, sound, or lighting) impact the presentation of your story?
The world of the show is deliberately quite stripped back. Audiences enter to find three microphones, some chairs and boxes. That’s partly an artistic choice, but also a practical one.
We wanted to create a space that could move between three different worlds: the naturalistic world of the characters, a more narrational state, and something more abstract and theatrical.
I think the writing and performances do a lot of the heavy lifting, so although we have bigger visions for what the staging could be with more time and money, the show works really well in the form it’s in. We also needed something we could tour around the country and take to Edinburgh.
Sound is a really integral part of the show. It helps us establish those different worlds, creating atmosphere and tension and giving the narration a backdrop.
If you could sum up the show in one word or phrase, what would it be and why?
To quote Lyn Gardner’s brilliant review in The Stage: “A frank and fierce show fuelled by raw anger that women live in constant fear, while delicately celebrating the power of female friendship.”
It’s exactly how I feel about the show, but Lyn has articulated it in a way that someone so close to the work probably couldn’t. And she knows what she’s talking about!
Man and Bear runs at The Front Room, Croydon, on 11 November. Tickets available at https://www.ticketsource.com/croydonites/katie-hurley-amp-sarah-hehir-man-or-bear/e-qrddjo
