ThisEgg

Pleasance Courtyard

26/08/17

Bees are pretty tiny. Humans are pretty big. Even so, we humans depend on bees much than we realise. As Josie, Greta and Joe are here to tell us, without bees (who pollinate 70 of the top 100 crop species that feed 90% of the worlds population) our way of life would change forever; avocado toast would be no more, but millenials still wouldn’t be buying houses because our economies would probably crash as bees unwittingly sustain many of our multi-billion euro industries. But bees are in danger, human actions such as the use of pesticides, mass production of single crops, industrial development, and the increase in global warming all contribute to the decimation of bee populations worldwide.

ThisEgg Theatre Company’s production Me and My Bee takes a serious, though comedy-filled look at the plight of bees in our world. After meeting a bee named Joe, Greta and Josie set up “The Bee Party,” a political party, disguised as a party, disguised as a show, to protect and support bees. They want to win the audience over to joining the party, and in order to do so they have decided to share Joe, the bee’s sad tale of losing the beloved flower he pollinates. Creating engaging characters, including the truly memorable, somewhat power-hungry party leader, Josie, ThisEgg blend their important message with an entertaining performance so, while there is no doubt that the show is intended to educate its audience about the importance of consciously protecting our bee populations, it feels less like a lesson and more like a party.

There are a couple of points at which the narrative progresses a little slowly, but in all the production is energetic and interesting, with simple but effective, bright and colourful lighting and stage design that appeals to the upbeat nature of this political party disguised as a party disguised as a show. The flipchart which is used throughout serves to reiterate the information given in the show and encapsulates the blend of information and entertainment that characterises the production.

Giving each audience member a role as a solitary bee (for example, I was a mason bee in their “focus group”) and presenting them with a party bag of flower seeds on their way out of the auditorium, the production involves the audience in its message and empowers them to act on it after leaving the theatre. Me and My Bee is a production that does not skimp on the gravity of its message while it has fun and ensures its audience does too.