Bearing All For The Love Of God (Or Not)!

I remember visiting the Crimea many years ago and seeing, to my shock, a dancing bear on the seafront.

Far from being a comical image, it was one tinged with sadness as the beast master jabbed his helpless animal, until it 'danced' for the pleasure of ice-cream eating kids.

The grizzly had become something other than what nature had intended, a dancing bear, the very name used by director/musician Jamie Fletcher and writer/musician Beccy Owen for their latest piece, an exploration of the links between gays and their search for social acceptance and spiritual peace. Still in development stage - the Fletcher Owen production canvassed feedback at the end of the show - only a bigot or cynic would dismiss it as a gay show bar on the road.

Granted, the audience was full of adoring fans, clearly many from the gay community, which can distort levels of true appreciation but, putting that to one side, Dancing Bear gets you thinking and as well as making you laugh out loud, it also leaves you feeling sad for the victims of cruel prejudice, be it society's, the church, or just that of a 'normal' person (and who adjudicates that definition?)

The gay community sometimes gets a bad press because certain of its members are outrageous queens, and they're the ones who are invariably picked out for targeting by media bigots and so-called 'queer bashers'.
Dancing Bear tells the story of those individuals who were born as one thing but forced to live as something else, made to dance by society and all its conventions.

But when homosexuals, lesbians, transsexuals, or whoever, 'come out' or decide to 'be themselves' in every sense of the word, what happens? How do you reconcile what you are with the beliefs of Christianity and society? How do you achieve an inner peace as everyone around you struggles with the new you?

These were some of the searching questions cleverly dressed up in an entertaining, honest and bawdy show fronted by drag queen cum talented ballet dancer Owen Farrow, aka Divina De Campo.

At moments this show could have been on the tiny stage of the New Penny or another suitable gay venue at the bottom of Briggate in Leeds, but it was more than a Lily Savage rip off or a show where drag queens mime to Gloria Gaynor.

The music, the lyrics and narrative made for an entertaining show tinged with sadness and pathos. The people on the stage were honest and of all sexual persuasions and religious leanings, including atheists and agnostics. They all said 'this is me and whatever YOU are is fine by me.' There were some talented people on stage including the 'dancing bear' Andrew Gardiner.

Fun, brash and honest, Dancing Bear will get you thinking about your own prejudices and drag you kicking and screaming out of your shell of protective bigotry! Look out for the 2017 tour. Suitable for both the open and closed minded!

Dancing Bear
West Yorkshire Playhouse