BearGirl
★★★★☆ Star Quality
Assembly Roxy (Venue 139): Wed 5 – Mon 31 Aug 2026
Review by Ed Boulter-Comer
A woman in a bear suit. She’s not wearing if for you, it’s not comfortable and she doesn’t like it. Rachel De Fontes’s titular BearGirl deals with the oddness of the situation in short order from the start of this significant and engaging piece of new writing by Emery Schaffer at the Boxy Roxy.
Developed with support as a 2026 ART Award Winner, the quality of the script shines as it navigates the trauma of recent widowhood. There are twists along the way. What follows is not about a costume but about power and powerlessness, the loss of agency and identity and, frankly, how badly men can behave.
Rachel De Fontes in rehearsal. Pic: Jed Shots
The piece hangs on De Fontes’ central performance. To be clear, there is more than a hint of star quality here. She is aggressive and physical enough for the moments of high emotion but her connection with the audience is the more powerful element of her performance. She is eminently watchable and makes her BearGirl sympathetic even when she is at her most annoying. The audience cannot but root for her – will we get to see BearGirl in different situations in future work? I hope so.
Jimmy Kavanagh is De Fontes’ foil as The Player, a kaleidoscope of sharply drawn characters. He has serious range, from cartoonish comic turns to fully-realised naturalistic people and anchors the work when portraying BearGirl’s husband, very much The Player in his own right.
intelligent and convincing
Kate Stamoulis’ direction wrings every ounce of meaning from the intimate space. Using simple LED strips and a couple of chairs, they conjure multiple locations as well as dealing deftly with BearGirl turning into a fully grown beast. It is intelligent and convincing.
Produced by Hey Thanks! Theatre Collective, this is a warm hour in the Roxy Boxy. De Fontes and the audience are wrung out by the end of the show, physically but more significantly emotionally. It’s not perfect but it is very, very good. A recurring theme in the play is that “Bears don’t think.” Anyone lucky enough to get a ticket for BearGirl will end up thinking about it for days.
Running time: One hour (no interval).
Assembly Roxy, (Roxyboxy), 2 Roxburgh Place, EH8 9SU (Venue 139).
Wednesday 5 – Monday 31 August 2026.
Daily (not 17, 24): 4.20pm.
Tickets and details: Book here at EdFringe.com.
Tickets direct from venue: Book here.
Hey Thanks website: www.heythankstheatrecollective.com
Facebook: @heythankstheatrecollective
Instagram: @heythankstheatreco
Linktree: @heythankstheatreco.
ENDS
