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Read our interview with writer/performer Julian Bird and performer Stephanie Okoye here
The Psychiatrist by Julian Bird

World premiere Production

8th - 26th April 2025

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After working as a psychiatrist and physician for 40 years, Julian Bird started acting in his sixties. The Psychiatrist is a two-hander, in which Bird takes the title role. It is based on real events and portrays a psychiatrist’s struggle with poor resources, whilst trying to achieve a better life for his patients. Troubling events and losses in the psychiatrist’s personal life lead him to seek help from a psychotherapist while he continues his work. In alternating scenes, he is shown as a patient and as a therapist.

Following his career in psychiatry, Julian Bird trained as an actor at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. His TV credits include East Enders and The Tudors for the BBC. He received critical acclaim for his role as Sigmund Freud in Freud’s Last Session at the King’s Head in 2022.

Julian Bird said: “From my own experience I am well aware that at times of stress the mental health of psychiatrists can be a critical factor in the treatment of their patients. Audiences will get a realistic feel for the tensions, frustrations and dangers of working with inadequate resources and a fascinating insight into the mental health problems of a psychiatrist.”

The Psychiatrist is directed by Kenneth Michaels, returning to the White Bear after directing The Dedication in October 2024, and produced by Alistair Brown. Further casting is to be announced

Theatre Reviva! Presents

Were you anyone before Dad's Army?

Written by Nicolas Ridley

29th April - 3rd May 2025

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Today the actor Arnold Ridley is best remembered as the much-loved Dad’s Army character, Private Godfrey, but the part of Godfrey came towards the end of a long theatrical career and a truly remarkable life.

Having survived the horrors of the First World War and a stuttering start to his theatrical career, he began writing plays, one of which, The Ghost Train, enjoyed immense success. Many more successful West End plays followed alongside an involvement in the movie-making business which resulted in his financial ruin.

Evacuated from France in 1940, he was invalided out of the British Army for a second time, and then began his struggle to find a place in the new theatrical landscape. There followed many anxious years until the miracle of Dad’s Army restored his faith in himself and at last provided him with a modest measure of renewed celebrity and security.

A well-drawn character can easily seem so complete that it’s difficult to distinguish the fictional character from the actor. Were You Anyone Before Dad’s Army? draws back the curtain and provides a touching, life-affirming account of one man’s unwavering courage and resilience: a true hero although he himself would certainly have disclaimed the label!

Wedding of the Century

By Lucy Sargent

6th - 10th May 2025

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Gareth and Georgia are getting married today. Which Ro and Mac are fine with. Really.

They’re fine with how Georgia (Mac’s ex) and Gareth (both Ro and Mac’s ex) met through them, fell in love, and happily left the two of them behind. They’re fine with how their own 15-year friendship was entirely wrecked through the creation of this rather confusing love quadrilateral. What they are not fine with, however, is how, instead of being at the wedding, they’re stuck in the storeroom of the sub-par Italian restaurant Ro works at, with nothing to do but finally talk to each other, and work through some of the things they’re potentially, just maybe, not so fine with after all.

Coming to the White Bear for its London premiere after an incredibly successful run in Cambridge, Wedding of the Century is a hopeful comedy exploring love and friendship, and what happens when the two really fail to work together nicely.

Suckling

by Scott Horgan

8th - 10th May 2025

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"Suckling" delves into the dark and unsettling realities of parenthood—and the true horrors of raising a child.

An unplanned pregnancy catapults a couple into parenthood, but their deepest fears pale in comparison to the reality that awaits. Something is disturbingly wrong.

Laced with biting dark humour and razor-sharp dialogue, "Suckling" warps the realities of parenthood in shocking and surprising ways. This play explores trauma, unconditional love, and the paradox of children who complete us—and consume us.

An Acquired Taste

Written and directed by L. T. Hewitt

13th - 17th May 2025

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Leah's food blog doesn't pay the bills, but being mentored by London's most pretentious food critic could open new doors – if only she can stomach the ethical dilemmas at turn in the world of fine dining. Marvin, meanwhile, uses his coding skills on a number of madcap schemes, from AI sheep to interactive tables – all to fund a school for interspecies communication. But how much can they each compromise on their values before there's nothing left?

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From the award-winning writer-director of 2024's Slush Pile, Outing and Conflicted (also at The White Bear) An Acquired Taste explores the ethics of the meat and textile industries through five hilarious and manipulative individuals.

Leah's positive outlook and joyful approach to dining do little to convince the famed Emile Dempsey that she's cut out to be part of the next generation of food critics. Furthermore, what begin as ethical questions about what we consumer slowly eat away at her and limit what food she feels comfortable with – something of a pitfall to a food critic.

Meanwhile, Marvin tries every tactic possible to impress heartless entrepreneur Ophelia Murray, but works low-waged jobs at every restaurant he can to pay the bills. His goal, though, is something radical: opening a school for the Deaf in Indonesia which doubles as a research centre for great ape communication, resulting in a community where two species can live and speak sign language side by side.

Harmony

Written by Sam Thorpe-Spinks

20th - 31st May 2025

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The year is 2035, and as the waves gently lap the ground floor windows of a block of flats, on the 9th floor, a machine-learning relationship therapy bot intervenes in a couple’s argument in an attempt to save their relationship.

In a world where technology has become fully integrated into even the most intimate parts of our lives; Harmony will ask whether in an uncertain future, with rising sea levels and scorching temperatures, if the uncontrollable advancement of technology will save humanity, or remove humanity from the equation entirely.

'It is October the 31st. There is an amber weather warning. The weather outside will be 33 degrees with a chance of heavy showers in the afternoon. There is a moderate to high risk of flooding. Would you like me to remind you to bring your washing in?'

A brand new play by actor and writer, Sam Thorpe-Spinks.
Directed by Noah Marullo

Funny, sexy and catastrophic, Harmony is a breathless interrogation of a couple, navigating the newly intimate parts of their relationship while the climate catastrophe rages outside their door.