Theater Review by Ron Fassler . . . .
Second Stage has taken a leap into the unknown in presenting Kate Douglas’s new play The Apiary at the Tony Kiser Theater, where it will be running in a limited engagement through March 3. Set twenty-two years into the future (a random number?), it is staged almost entirely as if the audience is inside a beekeeper’s outfit. You know the ones—mesh hoods that allow for seeing the bees but hopefully not experiencing their sting. The reason for this is that much of the action takes place inside an apiary, fully enveloped by a similar mesh—or scrim—placing the actors behind it. Scenic designer Walt Spangler has even stuck some dead bees onto it. Yet for all the realism on display, the play is somewhat out of whack with reality and some of its characters are slightly “off” as well. The dangers of this mix are somewhat alleviated by its having only a 70-minute running time with scenes that rarely run longer than six or seven minutes, tops. Before there’s time to seriously ponder what’s happening, things move on.
So, where does all this take you? Thankfully, Kate Whoriskey’s deft touch with her actors allows for some significant wiggle room so that the play’s many questionable aspects are kept aloft like a beach ball the four women toss amongst one another. A fifth woman, billed in the program as Dancer (Stephanie Crousillat), is meant to portray a bee, deliberately kept apart from the ensemble. As for its plotting, without giving away too many spoilers, the laboratory in which the play takes place is where bees, now extinct in the wild, are being kept alive by synthetic means. It’s not going well and the ramifications upon the outside world have created a scarcity of food resources. It’s an actual fact that if bees were to disappear there would be a dearth of vegetables or fresh fruit. Say goodbye to almonds, coffee, chocolate and, of course, honey. Bees are so vital to our food supply that even milk and beef would be affected. So, when two lab assistants, Zora (April Matthis) and Pilar (Carmen M. Herlihy) discover that through a freak accident, the bees are capable of thriving on the carcasses of human flesh, they realize that in order to bring them back and save the world, people are going to have to die. Hiding their mission from their imperious boss Gwen (Taylor Schilling), they become . . . well, worker bees—scurrying about in dedication to the greater good.
It depends how much an audience is willing to suspend their disbelief in all this and, to make it work, tone is everything. Playwright Douglas has a fine ear for rhythm and heightened natural dialogue; and, again, Whoriskey makes a fine partner in getting points across without being didactic. Credit to all the actors, of which Carmen M. Herlihy is very much a standout. If this were produced on Broadway and Tony-eligible, Herlihy would surely be nominated for the blend of humor and humanity she brings to Pilar. Singularly quirky, she mines every ounce of humor by way of her original line readings and, following the discipline of all great comic actors: pretend nothing is funny. April Matthis offers a sensible portrayal of a woman doing dangerously foolish things; and Taylor Schilling goes for broke with what could have been an over-the-top performance, but instead delivers the goods with a reckless abandon for comedy. The cast is rounded out by Nimene Wureh in several different parts, encompassing a couple of nationalities and accents, all thoroughly believable.
Whether one buys into its premise and goes for the ride will be up to each individual theatergoer. That said, the time goes quickly, the acting is top-notch, and if the play falls short of a deadly sting, it certainly buzzes along at a nice clip.
The Apiary. Through March 3 at Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theater (305 West 43rd Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues). www.2st.com
Photos: Joan Marcus
