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This future is bee-less, except for a few quickly withering colonies maintained in labs like this one.
She isnt gloomy, though.
Shes caring, curious, and easily charmed.
Zora raises an eyebrow.
Thats not really meant for science, she responds flatly.
It skews the data.
Her play, however, feels erratic in its attempts to construct a robust throughline from these questions.
We get a plot, but we dont really get consistent development of a clear motivating idea.
We only know that, when she was young, her mother used to keep bees.
And that woman was superstitious, my god, laughs Cece.
She told them everything.
As I chatted with my partner about this tradition, he said it sounded to him like biodynamic winemaking.
Things really kick off when Pilar, Zora, and Gwen discover a dead human body in the lab.
How did it get there?
Why is it naked?
And why are the beesup till now fluttering at deaths doorsuddenly acting like its Christmas?
I mean, were beekeepers, says Zora, eyes hard with resolve.
We have to try and keep them.
Connecting the dots of whatThe Apiaryactually wants to say might be less sticky if Whoriskeys production felt more fluent.
Same goes for the hive frames that Pilar lovingly removes for testing: more black dots.
(Theres a lot of sweeping up dead bees, Pilar smiles nervously.
She is that dangerous directorial temptation: a gesture that feels cool without necessarily being additive.
Before the play begins, the preshow music is on blast with loud, party-time classic pop.
As a result, the play only feels more diffuse.
Nevertheless,The Apiaryisnt without ideas or without heart.
The former might not entirely coalesce, but the latter is visible and palpable in Herlihy and Matthis.
They, at least, are worth telling the bees about.
The Apiaryis at the Tony Kiser Theater at 2nd Stage through March 3.
