Why, I asked myself, would anybody want to organise a bear hunt in Leeds City Centre, where there seems to be a distinct lack of the creatures. It then struck me that this could probably prove how successful the pursuit has proven to be.
It was then that the conspiracy theorist in me kicked in, well, every idiot on social media has a conspiracy theory, so why not this one? Last summer, during the school holidays, LeedsBID released 35 giant bears and 50 cubs at various points in town, each of which had been decorated by artists and sponsored by local businesses. When they were auctioned off at the end of the break, £375,000 had been raised for the new Leeds Children’s Hospital. Well, that was the official line, but what if some of them had done a runner while no one was looking and were roaming the mean streets of Alwoodley, Moortown and Chapel Allerton.
My concern was only heightened when the show started and the four main characters took to the stage; Girl, played by Leah Eapen; Boy, Benedict Hastings; Dad, Tim Hubbard and Dog, Benjamin Hills. Their first admission was that they didn’t know what a bear looked like so we were all obviously doomed. At least they admitted to their short-comings and decided to seek the assistance of the audience in forming a photofit image of a typical specimen. Fortunately the auditorium was filled with theatre-goers aged three years and over so the replies shouted out were amazingly accurate, if conveyed in a somewhat eccentric manner. The parents whom they had brought along with them as a treat were no use whatsoever. Typical! Once enlightened, the hunt began.
The terrain through which the trek passed made me think that the prey had dissipated well beyond the city limits as the first obstacle was tall grass, represented by green strips of paper suspended from horizontal poles which the hunters held aloft. This introduced the first of the afternoon’s catchphrases; ‘We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it so we will have to go through it.’ They then proceeded to do just that. Singing as they went, with the musical accompaniment provided by Dog. I had a quick sniff of the glass of water I was drinking to see if it had been spiked, but it seemed OK, so I resolved to stick to red wine on my future visits here as the world made more sense when I partook of that particular tincture. The kids absolutely loved it so I might try something fizzy and sugary instead.
Neha Eapen as Girl, Tim Hibberd, Dad and Benedict Hastings as Boy going through the grass.
Once through the grass, now could that be a clue to the accordion-playing dog, the sun appeared and the field in which they found themselves was filled with butterflies. Many of them invaded the seating area as the occupants were asked to use their hands to mimic the insects. Once again, the actors received an enthusiastic response and arms were raised aloft with many tiny fingers flapping in unison. I did feel that their older guests were also having fun in this exercise, but probably used the excuse that they were only humouring their charges.
From then on the theme tune of the show was sung every time an obstacle was overcome. There was a river, made from blue towels and large plastic buckets of water, through which our intrepid heroes paddled as the audience joined in with duck impressions; a forest, on the floor of which was scattered the results of what bears do in the woods, giving Dog the opportunity to do what dogs do and roll about in it, the kids found that hilarious; a snowstorm, signified by a white sheet with snowflakes projected onto it, to the accompaniment of Dog playing Walking In The Air.
Benedict Hastings, Tim Hibberd, Neha Eapen and Benjamin Hills as Dog wading through the river.
There was the obligatory shouts of ‘It’s behind you’ when the bear eventually appeared and the other pantomime favourite of dividing the those present into groups to sing the theme song at the end. There were four lines to warble and Girl took the left hand side of the crowd for the first, Boy took the right for the second, and the final line was to be sung by everyone. This left the third line with no one involved until Dad picked on one of the men in the front stalls and they sang it as a duet. This was done with great skill and not in any way to embarrass him, in fact, he seemed to relish the role and boomed it out.
I must warn you that, during the river crossing section, some of the contents of the buckets were flicked into the audience and a couple of water pistols appeared in order to reach those further away from the stage. Again it was done in moderation and no one was drenched. More hilarity from the younger targets.
The cast going through the cave, with baby.
The four actors were just silly enough to appeal to the children but not so much so as to leave the adults rolling their eyes. Dog played several instruments enhancing the show’s appeal. I’m not sure that many of the young ‘uns, or even not so young ‘uns would have got his excerpt from the original Hawaii 5-0 tv series when the actors were pretending to surf along the river, but I liked it.
This production from Kenny Wax was originally directed in 2006 by Sally Cookson and is based on the picture book by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury.
Sadly this show is only running for three days in Leeds but it ends on Sunday, 3rd March, rather than the traditional Saturday, so why not bag a ticket for tomorrow. The forecast is for rain so even a rogue jet of H2O from a water pistol will be preferable to an outside event.
I must stress that no bears were harmed in the performance of the show and no specimen of a member of the ursine genus was spotted by me on the bus travelling through the three aforementioned suburbs on my way home. They can be sneaky though, so I am sticking with my conspiracy theory, and, by the way, someone has posted on Facebook that the earth is flat and that it is actually Taylor Swift playing for the Kansas City Chiefs and Travis Kelce who is performing in silver bodice and fishnet tights on the Eras Tour so it must be true.
For more information on We’re Going On A Bear Hunt and to book, please go to https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/were-going-on-a-bear-hunt/
For other productions coming to Heritage Theatres it is https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/
Meanwhile I’m going on a beer hunt.
Photographs and feature image provided by Leeds Heritage Theatres.
Tyke It To The Limit 