Tag Archives: White Bear Theatre Pub

The Last Days of Liz Truss at White Bear Theatre

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When we first saw the title of this new play at the White Bear Theatre, we thought it rather odd as the end of Liz Truss seemed to overlap with the beginning. Nevertheless, we just visited the Bear’s latest offering and we’re here to tell you all about it. If you’ve never been to the White Bear Theatre, it’s been a Greater Kennington staple since the 80’s and focuses on new and cutting edge writing. 

The Last Days of Liz Truss is an origin story told from her own perspective, and beings with a jaunty twirl around her childhood in Scotland and Leeds and her battle to be called ‘Elizabeth’ as opposed to her given name of Mary. A similarity to Thatcher is invoked/contrasted in this period and underlined when Liz/Mary breaks into song with 80’s tunes such as ‘Material Girl’. We then speed through her early parliamentary career as a junior minister as she builds alliances with the likes of Kwasi and Therese Coffey (‘TC’). 

In the second half we encounter the Truss who we all remember, trying to rationalise cutting taxes as the establishment deep state (cunningly deployed by remote voices) urge her against this. Then come the pesky little realities which work mendaciously to tear her apart. For example, the Queen dying and pension plans. It’s not exactly a spoiler alert to tell you what happens to Liz/Mary after just 49 days. However, Liz readily deploys the use of a lettuce held aloft to symbolise her own downfall, in a manner not unlike Hamlet’s skull. Overall it’s a captivating and very well acted monologue with defined moments of dark humour.  

The Last Days of Liz Truss is on now and runs until 14 December at the White Bear Theatre Pub and tickets can be grabbed here.  While the theatre is situated within the White Bear Pub, it is independently owned and not part of the Youngs mega chain.  But the Bear has some lovely Christmas lights.

Christmas Day Pubs

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If, during lunch on Christmas Day, Aunty Faye continues to witter on about her bursitis to the extent that you start thinking about ramming a carrot into your eye socket, then we have an idea for you.  Why not head to the pub! We’ve done some hunting and have tracked down the pubs (and there aren’t many) that are open on Christmas Day.  And they are….

The Fentiman Arms – Oval/Vauxhall 

The Three Stags – Lambeth North

 The Prince of Wales – Kennington 

White Bear Pub – Kennington 

Please be aware that to the best of our knowledge these pubs are only open in the daytime. However, we’ve just received confirmation that one of our favourite pubs, the Steam Engine will be open until midnight! It’s  on the edges of Greater Kennington, in Lambeth North, but well work the walk to avoid having to get a carrot extracted from your eye.  

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White Bear Theatre

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With our New Year resolution of daily marathon walks not quiet going to plan, we’ve decided to pursue our second goal – to attend more theatre. Last night we hopped  over to the White Bear Theatre Pub to catch a play called ‘A Final Act of Friendship’ which kicks off a season of exciting new theatre at our little and oft overlooked local playhouse. 

A Final Act of Friendship concerns two young men who have recently graduated from drama school. Caught in an industry where one ethnicity is favoured over another, it explores aspects of white privilege, alienation, communication and a human desire for connection that transcends race. The story is told in a semi autobiographical manner but does not come across as trying to teach a lesson to the audience. The residual story is that we impose many barriers in getting intimate with people, made all the more graphic when getting close to people has been inhibited over the past two years. 

White Bear Theatre is totally independent and not associated with the Young’s owned White Bear Pub downstairs. Your ticket gets you 10% off food, but we can’t really recommend the food there unless you like your dinner cooked by a sous chef named ‘Mike ro Wave’. Having said that, it is fun to have a drink before the show and peruse the Kennington/Oval/Vauxhall paraphernalia festooning the walls. The theatre itself is a very intimate and almost immersive experience. In fact, on a recent outing the naked people getting gouged with shards of glass on stage seemed almost personal. To make people safe they have reduced seating and the venue is very well ventilated.  

A Final Act of Friendship runs tonight (13 January) and through to Saturday and tickets are still available. This is the first of a whole season of other short plays which are an interesting mixture of new writing, horror, politics and comedy. The tickets are £12 (£10 concessions). These are all one acts so if you don’t like what you’ve seen you can just toddle off home and forget it ever happened. 

Swimming at White Bear

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Last night we hopped  over to the White Bear Theatre Pub to catch a play called ‘Swimming’ which is part of a season of new writing at our little local and oft overlooked local playhouse. White Bear Theatre is a very intimate and almost immersive experience. In fact, on our last outing the naked people onstage getting gouged with shards of glass seemed almost personal. 

Swimming is an altogether more accomplished play and involves a group of four friends as they explore issues of relationships, intimacy, timing, and honesty. Breaking up with friends and making friends is a key theme here, but the base is about gay and straight relationships forming, falling apart and then forming again. And believe it or not the play is rather funny. And if you’re not accustomed to theatre on this scale what makes it interesting is that the action happens only a few feet away from you. 

White Bear Theatre is totally independent and not associated with the White Bear Pub downstairs. Having said that, the pub is offering 10% off your total food bill if you book a ticket. Having said that, unless you like your dinner cooked by sous chef ‘Mike ro Wave’ we’d give dinner at Young’s pub owned White Bear a wide berth. Having said that, the ‘check us out we know our community so well’ Kennington paraphernalia festooning the walls are fun to peruse and are worth a gander and a drink before the show. 

Swimming is on until 21 August and is  75 minutes without an interval. So you can just swim home in the August daylight afterwards. Or walk if you prefer. The venue is well ventilated and your temperature is taken on entry. If this play doesn’t float your lilo then have a look at their website for other offerings. 

The White Bear Theatre Pub

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The White Bear, on Kennington Park Road, is a pub of two halves. The front half is an Irish sports pub with lots of regulars and rather an edgy atmosphere. The back half is an extraordinarily intimate, award-winning fringe theatre with a capacity of just 50. It was established in 1988 and actors who’ve appeared there include Emily Watson, Tamzin Outhwaite, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Mark Little, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Natalie Imbruglia.

Plays we’ve seen here:

* One about Byron, the Shelleys, and their frantic sex lives.

* A play featuring objectionable middle class couples arguing and cheating on each other over barbecues  – or we saw half of it anyway (the problem with leaving a theatre this small during the interval is your absence will definitely be noticed in the second half – sorry about that guys).

* A good production of Noel Coward’s Still Life, the play on which Brief Encounter was based, which is about an abortive affair.

* Recently we saw Coward, a rather unflattering depiction of Noel Coward and his sex life.

So is the White Bear the theatre equivalent of the Locker Room? No – they had a play by Ayn Rand recently so we’re guessing that was a sex free zone. Check out their programme here and get along.

Here’s a photo of Coward (that’s him, sitting down):

Coward at the White Bear Theatre Pub - kenningtonrunoff.com