Review: Hercules the Bear

The story of Hercules the Bear was made for family theatre. Born in 1975 at the Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie, the cub was saved from termination by Scottish Wrestling champ, Andy Robin, for the princely sum of £50. He would grow up to be a familiar sight in and around their home in Sheriffmuir, before becoming a popular character on the wrestling circuit alongside Andy and his wife Maggie. That was only the beginning…

For Tenterhooks’ Fergus Dunnet, who led this production, a lasting memory of seeing Hercules wrestling outside his local butchers at the tender age of 4 would prove an irresistible creative prompt decades later. With help from Tenterhooks’ colleagues, Suzie Ferguson and Diane Thornton, plus some Co-Direction from Emily Reutlinger, the result is Hercules the Bear – a fun and heartfelt piece of physical theatre.

Hercules meets the audience

The story begins…in the middle, with Hercules (Suzie Ferguson in costume and a black nose) led out by the wonderfully tracksuited Andy (Dunnet) and Maggie (Thornton) to parade before the audience. It’s an echo of one of the famous bears’ many meet and greets, and soon descends into Keystone Cops-esque comedy, as Hercules slips his leash and begins hamming it up in and around the audience. There’s little dialogue other than cries of ‘Hercules!’, and that’s quite sufficient!

“…the result is Hercules the Bear – a fun and heartfelt piece of physical theatre.”

It definitely gets the youngsters in attendance howling with delight and sets an energetic tone for the story to come. Soon, Tenterhooks have gone back in time to Hercules’ first days as a cub in their everyday Scottish home – accordingly, Ferguson puppets a cub-size puppet, not unlike Dougle the Dog from the Magic Roundabout. Played more like an enthusiastic puppy than a tumbling bear cub, there’s something of Rod Hill & Emu to proceedings, but the unlikely trio’s evolution from keepers to family is sweetly fun nevertheless. Dunnet’s cute foray into song with ‘Only You’ breaks the dialogue-free norm and creates something of an anthem for the play.

**Hercules the Bear_Suzie Ferguson, Diane Thornton & Ben Winger – Credit Eoin Carey**

However, Hercules the Bear is only laying the groundwork for the main event, and when Ferguson debuts a towering, majestic, shaggy puppet, it’s worth every ooh and ahh. This impressive bear, designed by Dunnet and Gretchen Maynard-Hahn, has all the weight and momentum of an unstoppable, gentle giant. It’s now that the show unveils a glorious inflatable wrestling ring, and gives us a flavour of Hercules and Robins’s amiable, highly choreographed combat.

Smart, minimal production

The snippets of radio announcer exposition that have kept us in the loop whilst the Tenterhooks team play out their mostly wordless drama now turn to Herc’s meteoric rise to fame. Kate Bonney’s cleverly designed bank of lights, popping off like so many flash bulbs, gives a flavour of the constant media attention Hercules would encounter over many years in show business. It’s a hint at the downside of life as a performing bear, but the history books show that Hercules was well looked after and lived a long life in the company of two humans who cared for him deeply. Composer Pàdruig Morrison’s soundtrack is a mostly major-key ode to an odd but functional family history.

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So, Andy and Maggie are absolutely beside themselves when Hercules goes missing on a promotional trip to the Isle of Benbecula. Cue a montage of Hercules in the wilderness, and his encounters with the fauna of the isles: cows, sheep, and birds, conjured with lo-fi comedy genius by Dunnet and Thornton with only a tarp and a few props. However, Dunnet and his Tenterhooks’s allies never lose sight of the lonely bear who hasn’t the first idea how to survive in the wild. Fortunately, Herc’s story had a happy ending, and so does the play.

In the final reckoning, however, the three acts of Hercules the Bear don’t quite gel. The perky, clownish energy of the opening two – particularly the weightless cub incarnation – doesn’t segway naturally into the slower, progressively more thoughtful comedy of the last. The result can feel closer to three – undeniably enjoyable – mini plays on the theme of Hercules rather than a completely coherent journey with the same furry character.

Nevertheless, Tenterhook’s ursine adventure is a whole lot of fun.

Featured Image: Hercules the Bear_Suzie Ferguson, Diane Thornton & Ben Winger – Credit Eoin Carey