about us

the company
Based at Farnham Maltings, Pursued by a Bear is a unique presence in the South East, commissioning, creating and touring professional theatre productions, producing documentary films on our estates, and in our old people’s homes, young people’s participatory theatre at the Maltings and Nigerian story-telling in our schools.

We seek to stimulate and surprise, excite and provoke, introducing our audiences to the often unheard and marginalised voices of our communities. We offer an opportunity to come together to create a rich, socially inclusive mix - where difference is the source of celebration. We draw from all ages and all culturally diverse backgrounds. “Intelligent, accomplished and ambitious” The Guardian

Read about the history of the company here

helena bell
Pursued by a Bear’s new Artistic Director Helena Bell has over forty new plays to her credit, most of them British premieres first developed through workshop and rehearsed reading. For ten years she was Artistic Director of Alarmist Theatre in Brighton, the first British theatre company to tour the post-glasnost Soviet Union in her critically acclaimed production of Mayakovsky’s The Bedbug – “startling theatricality…superbly played….excellent” -The Guardian. Alarmist toured new writing throughout Britain including four successful years at The Edinburgh Festival and concluded with Fossil Woman by Louise Warren (awarded a Time Out Critic’s Choice) and a transfer to the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. On completion of an Arts Council Directing Bursary, Helena worked nationally as a freelance director and dramaturg, working closely with Kali Theatre for whom she has directed a number of national touring productions including Love Comes in at the Window (Oval House) and River on Fire by Rukhsana Ahmad (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith). Helena is now looking forward to directing Footprints in the Sand which will be her inaugural production for PBAB.

the board
We are proud to be supported by a group of outstanding industry professionals:
Thomas Kell – Chair of Board & Administrative Director of Tiata Fahodzi Theatre Company, London.
Tuhina Ahmed - Administrator of Vayu Naidu Company.
Elizabeth Bagnall – Chair of Farnham Art and Design Education Group.
Katherine Ives – General Manager of Lauderdale House, London and Producer of Trilby Productions.
Deb Mullins – Artistic Director of Emergency Exit Arts, London.
Roy Williams – Internationally acclaimed British Playwright.

Farnham Maltings

Helena Bell