As part of the Being Human Festival 2023.

Box Office Bears and 1623 Theatre are in pursuit of Shakespearean bears. Although we don’t often connect Shakespeare and bears now, everyone in Tudor or Stuart England would have known or encountered a bear, and they made a few memorable cameos in the period’s drama.

You may have heard about the bear sweeping across the stage in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale: ‘Exit pursued by a bear’.

This event will stage and explore these kinds of moments in Shakespeare’s and his contemporaries’ plays, including a devil who disguises himself as a bear, an old man who turns into one, and a hero who attracts his girlfriend by showing off his ability to fight a bear.

Join the Box Office Bears(Opens in new window) team and actors from 1623 Theatre for a playful and thoughtful exploration of Shakespearean (and others’!) bears as we enter their play worlds, performed by, or as, a bear, returning to a time when bears fundamentally shaped popular entertainment during this period.

This event is part of the University of Nottingham’s festival Hub programme.