A new play telling the incredible true story of a bear who lined up alongside soldiers during the Second World War premieres in Coventry this month. Writer Alan Pollock tells What’s On how The Bear Who Went To War came about, and explains what audiences can expect...

Ladies and gentleman of the jury, let me finally put to rest the argument about whether truth can be stranger than fiction...
The evidence?... 

A real-life bear fought alongside a regiment of Polish soldiers during the Second World War. 

Yes, you read correctly. A Syrian brown bear cub was adopted by soldiers who fought in the Battle of Monte Cassino near Rome in May 1944. Not only that, he remained their companion throughout their decisive Italian campaign, during which time he carried artillery shells and even rose to the rank of Corporal. 

After the war, the bear emigrated to the UK, made an appearance on Blue Peter, and saw out his days at Edinburgh Zoo, where he died in 1963.
Playwright Alan Pollock discovered the fascinating tale while conducting research for another project, and admits he could scarcely believe his ears when he first heard. 

“Reactions vary when you tell people,” he says. “Some people have heard the story, but most haven’t, and half of those go ‘Sorry, can you repeat that?’” 
The proud Coventrian is best known for penning the critically acclaimed One Night In November, a play about the Coventry Blitz. Premiered in 2008, it has been revived twice and is still the most successful new work produced at the city’s Belgrade Theatre. 

“It transformed my life, really,” says Alan. “People apparently still come into the theatre every autumn asking whether it’s on. I wish the answer was yes, but I think we’ve probably seen the last of it for now.” 

Following his 2011 play Too Much Pressure, a 2-Tone musical also based in the city (“the critics didn’t love it, but I think it was a decent show and we had a blast doing it”), Alan wanted to write a play about the rebuilding of Coventry after the Second World War. As part of his research, he interviewed a number of the city’s Polish immigrants.

“I talked to a 90-year-old lady called Yanina, and while she was telling me her own story, she dropped in the story of the bear. I literally couldn’t believe her; ‘What do you mean -  there was a bear who was a Private in the army?!’

“I started to research it and found out it was real; it did happen. It was one of those moments when I thought, I have to write this, because it’s a quintessential Midlands story.

“Although the soldiers and the bear ended up in Edinburgh, lots of Polish people ended up in the Midlands - Coventry, Leicester, Newark, Nottingham and so on.”

Making that geographic connection was especially important as Alan is the co-founder of From The Heart Theatre Company, which he set up to be a Midlands version of Northern Broadsides, a Halifax-based outfit that specialises in work with a northern focus.

“I wanted to tell Midlands stories, with Midlands voices, to Midlands audiences, and I just thought, we’ve got to do this.” 
But that was easier said than done. He wrote a successful children’s picture book that was published in 2019, but the stage version of The Bear Who Went To

War has dragged its heels in comparison; it’s been in development since July 2018. 

“It’s been 11 years since I heard the story and six years since I wrote the first draft of the play, which I did in Gdansk in Poland, just to get the flavour,” chuckles Alan, who has managed to keep the same director (Kirstie Davis) and composer (Rebecca Applin) on board throughout the show’s protracted gestation.

The book was aimed at six-year-olds, so children who read it at the time will be nearing their teens now - but Alan is quick to point out that the stage version is for an older audience anyway. 

“The play is for ages seven and upwards. It’s not much scarier than the book, but you’ll be slightly more aware of the war in this version. It’s very much for a family audience - the kind of people who might read a Michael Morpurgo novel. If you like his books, then you’re gonna love this - it’s basically War Horse with a bear!”

Which is obviously the line that should be on posters advertising the show, not least because the production features three life-size puppets (“baby, mid-size and a massive one”) that portray the bear at different stages of his life. And once again there’s a local connection: the design is by Abby Clarke, who grew up in Allesley - the same Coventry suburb as the writer.

A number of local community groups are also involved in the production.

“Most of the real soldiers in the story were from eastern Poland, including places like Lvov [Lviv], which is now part of Ukraine. One of the schools we’re collaborating with is a primary school in Camp Hill in Nuneaton, which has the fastest-growing Ukrainian population in the country because of migration due to the war with Russia.”

The show also features contributions by migrant musicians from the Coventry Refugee & Migrant Centre and refugee textile makers from local minority support group the Inini Initiative. It will premiere in one of the new studio spaces at the Albany Theatre, which is rapidly establishing itself as the city’s community theatre.

“The whole project is about community and migration - what you leave behind when you leave somewhere, what you carry with you, and what you end up with. I know everybody says this about everything, but I don’t think this play could be more timely, with people on the move again all over the world.

“Most of the people in this story left home one morning and never went back, because Poland didn’t exist anymore. They never went home, so it’s about what home and what family you make for yourself somewhere else.”

Migration, the trauma of being forced to leave home, and how the world treats migrants are all key themes of the play, not least when the soldiers and the bear are repatriated to the UK after being left stateless at the end of the war.  

“The country didn’t particularly welcome refugees after the war, but the bear helped to sugar the pill. Most people are hostile to the bear initially, and then it’ll just roll over and make a funny sound and everybody’s won over. The bear makes friends with everybody.

“So it’s a lovely story with a bit of an emotional edge. I won’t tell you the ending but it’ll be really entertaining as well as rather moving.”

Feature by Steve Adams

The Bear Who Went To War shows at Coventry’s Albany Theatre from Wednesday 30 October to Saturday 2 November.

Following the Albany run, the play’s writer, Alan Pollock, will host associated storytelling and music sessions in a number of the region’s libraries. These include Stockingford, Nuneaton, on Wednesday 6 November and Coleshill on the morning of Saturday 9 November. Alan will then visit Nuneaton library on the afternoon of the 9th.