Playwright Sarah Hehir brings Man or Bear to the Edinburgh Fringe, a darkly comic and thought-provoking new play exploring fear, survival and solidarity. Co-created with Katie Hurley, the production tackles urgent contemporary themes through bold storytelling.
Blending realism, music and physical theatre, Man or Bear follows three generations navigating a world shaped by violence and inequality. The piece draws on extensive research and lived experiences to create a powerful and authentic narrative.
Man or Bear runs at Summerhall (Red Lecture Theatre) from 6–30 August 2026 (not 17 or 24) at 13:45. Tickets are available here
You’ve written Man or Bear which is coming to Summerhall, what can you tell us about the show?
Man or Bear is a fierce, funny, feminist play that we hope will grab everyone by the heart and soul and send them out onto the street to advocate for a better, fairer, safer world.
You’ll be drawn into the lives of mother and daughter Paige and Angel as they seek refuge with a stranger, Connie, a widow about to step into a brave new world. You’ll also be the audience for a performing bear, the punters in a pub and witnesses to a kitchen disco where slut drops and garage music are interrupted by an ominous knock on the door.
The play is inspired by a viral question about fear and safety – what drew you to explore this idea on stage?
Originally, we wanted to write a play about female archetypes: the virgin, mother and crone who appear in stories across time and who haven’t disappeared because these labels tend to serve the patriarchy.
When chatting about this idea with my co-creator Katie Hurley, I told her about the ‘Man or Bear’ question and she was fascinated. We fell into a black hole that started with the TikTok question: ‘Would you rather be alone in the woods with a man or a bear?’ Most women chose the bear.
The women’s reasons for giving this answer were fascinating, ranging from light-hearted to angry, from the individual behaviour of a man they knew to the toxic attitudes of society towards women’s safety where victim blaming and protection of the male perpetrator are still deeply problematic.
The black hole became truly terrifying when you see some of the comments from men, ranging from unhelpful mansplaining of bear behaviour to threats of rape.
At the same time, we were reading about the national emergency declared around violence against women and girls and knew we could take these big ideas – the archetypes, the patriarchy, the reality of being female – and make it into a show that was both entertaining and a call to action.
Man or Bear examines themes of violence, resilience and solidarity across generations – what was important to you in shaping these voices?
When starting to create characters in workshops with female-identifying participants and in our all-female creative team, we were keen to reflect that abusive behaviour doesn’t only target one age group.
As our three characters started to take shape, we identified a male threat for each of them: a threat that lurks in the virtual cupboards of the show, adding a sinister note to almost every scene.
What was really important to us was that the story was about these women and their relationship to each other: the silliness, anxieties, conflict, love and friendship that we see on stage. We wanted them to take up space and for their voices to be heard.
From the very opening scene, a kind of prologue, we are told that someone will die. But my hope is that being with Paige, Angel and Connie is compelling enough to almost make us forget this fact.
We were determined to avoid yet another story where the female victim is used as a vehicle to endlessly ponder the inner workings of the male criminal psyche.
The piece blends kitchen sink realism with music and physical theatre – how did you approach combining these styles in your writing?
This is my favourite way to write: around other creatives in a room that is full of passion and ideas. When I finally got the chance to create a play in this way, I was in my late thirties. My first stage play and my audio dramas were written at my computer, on my own.
Although, as a drama teacher, my ethos was always centred around devising and process-based drama, there are financial barriers to working collaboratively as a playwright.
Thanks to ACE R&D funding, Man or Bear was collaborative from the very start. Katie and I dreamt up the bare bones of the story together and then brought our ideas into workshops where our actors, movement director and sound designer played with the images, words and themes. Their responses, in turn, had an impact on my writing.
These were the fun times. More challenging, but also satisfying, was taking away this explosion of dance, sound, improvisation and words and shaping it into a narrative.
Man or Bear is a character-driven story with abstract elements. The metaphor of the bear, the choral speaking, the archetypes and the strong rhythms of poetry and playfulness work alongside the ‘kitchen sink’ drama to build empathy and tension while encouraging the audience to remain active in their engagement with the show.
You worked with real-life research and workshops to develop the show – how did that process influence the final script?
We worked closely in the early stages with female-identifying girls and women in Medway and Croydon, as well as professionals and charities working in the area of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
These workshops were about understanding how women of all ages were experiencing the world, from international news impacting women’s lives to their own roles and experiences within families and communities.
The workshops were creative, based around games, drama and art. The feelings and frustrations these women expressed fed into the play.
Probably even more important was their feedback at the work-in-progress sharings we did as part of the process. Their responses let us know whether what we were saying was meaningful to them and whether the way we were saying it was powerful and entertaining.
Redrafting and reworking the show after their feedback was always a challenging and exciting part of the process.
What would you say to anyone thinking of booking to see Man or Bear?
Please come along! You’ll get a fast-paced hour of entertainment in the brilliantly unpredictable hands of director Ursula Martinez.
We hope you’ll fall in love with the characters and the show, leaving Summerhall as allies and ambassadors, desperate to be part of a world that is on the up rather than heading into that black hole.
