Turkey Semen, Beekeeping, Mothers & Daughters, , One Night Stands, N.S.A. Sex are just some of the unexpected topics found in The Birds & The Bees by Mark Crawford. The Canadian comedy is filling The Arts Club Granville Island Stage with laughter.
The Birds & The Bees is really a story about rolling with the punches. We never know what life is going to throw at you, how people react to expected turns defines their character, and in the case of this play, provide plenty of laughs and heart.
Centred on the strained relationship between, Gail (Susinn McFarlen) and her newly separated daughter Sarah (Dawn Petten), The Birds & The Bees takes place in just two upstairs bedrooms of Gail’s farmhouse as Sarah tries to move home after leaving her Turkey-farmer husband. The sudden change in living arrangements through both ladies’ lives in disarray. Things are complicated further by the arrival of university researcher Ben (Christopher Allen), here to study why Gail’s honey bees are dying, something she blames on the pesticides used by her tenant farmer Earl (Tom McBeath).
The intergenerational cast of The Birds & The Bees also shows that ages is really just a number, as the characters find new life and sexual awakening in their changing circumstances. From the audience’s reaction, who could clearly see themselves in at least one of the characters, it was easy to see that embracing their sexual side, at any age, was a welcome topic. Although the play finds them in plenty of slapstick situations, the four actors brought depth and heart to these roles, showing a great connection with each other as well as, the audience.
As the action, and Sarah, moves out of Gail’s house, the play wraps up but the audience would clearly like a sequel to follow up on the further adventures of Gail, Sarah, Earl and Ben.
The Birds & The Bees runs until October 26, 2019 at The Arts Club Granville Island Stage. For showtimes and tickets visit: artsclub.com
