BearGirl at Assembly Roxy Review

A woman runs onto the stage; she seems to be in a rush, panting, trying to catch her breath. She shouts to a shop owner about buying a bear suit, which, after a few moments, he gladly offers to her, free of charge. As the woman puts on the bear suit, you can see her demeanour change, almost softening, like it hasn’t been able to in a long time.

Written by Emmy Schaffer and directed by Kate Stamoulis, BearGirl is based on the 1888 Chekhov piece “The Bear”. Following a woman after becoming a widow at such a young age, trying to process her grief before it becomes too much to handle. The character of BearGirl wrestles with not just her emotions but also the demons that won’t escape her mind. These collectively subconsciously form through her husband, who taunts her after his passing, only then really learning who he is.

I was a little sad that the bear mask wasn’t used too much, especially since BearGirl had already committed to the suit, but I can understand it’s not the easiest logistically. On the other hand, it was a nice touch that both actors were in a complementary colour scheme; it gave different perspectives depending on what character The Player was portraying. And it has to be said that Jimmy Kavanagh does an amazing job of moving between characters, almost like he’s becoming a shapeshifter. Whilst BearGirl herself, Rachel De Fontes, canurth-wall- balance a shocking amount of emotions all at once without ever letting one take control for too long. This matches perfectly with Emmy Schaffer’s writing, using a forth wall breaking single narrative to the audience, acting almost like BearGirl is trying to prove to us that she is sane, and the inclusion of her bear-like outbursts being a true highlight of the script.

BearGirl at Assembly Roxy is a melancholic piece about grief and how it can drive us to weird and unusual places, but also what it is like to feel loved.

BearGirl plays at Roxyboxy at Assembly Roxy until 31 August.

★★★★

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Written by Kerry for Theatre and Tonic, August 2026.