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sex, love, science, family, and the artificial insemination of turkeys

The Birds and The Bees

The Birds and The Bees

By Mark Crawford

THIS WEEKEND MAY BE THE LAST-EVER TURKEY DAYS FESTIVAL, BUT FOR THESE FOUR CHARACTERS, THAT IS JUST THE BEGINNING…

Sarah, a turkey farmer, has just left her husband and moved back home to live with her mom Gail. Despite the fact that she’s a divorcée of twenty years herself, Gail isn’t exactly providing the sympathy Sarah needs. Gail’s a beekeeper and she has other things to worry about—like why her honeybees are dropping dead.

Then there’s Earl: Gail’s neighbour, farm tenant, and the ex-husband of Gail’s ex-husband’s new wife. In these past twenty years, he’s been keeping himself mighty busy with the ladies, but Gail has just never really got back on that horse…so to speak. And finally, there’s Ben: an athletic 23-year-old Masters student, here to study the collapsing bee colonies. Secretly still a virgin, he’s about to get a big lesson in pollination…if you know what we mean.

Set in two adjoining bedrooms on a modern Canadian farm, the play tackles sex, love, science, family, and the artificial insemination of turkeys. The Birds and the Bees is a laugh-out-loud comedy with brains…and a huge, honeyed heart.

Production History

The Birds and the Bees premiered June 22, 2016 at the Blyth Festival (Blyth, Ontario).

It had a second production in August-September, 2016 at Port Stanley Festival Theatre where it played to 96% capacity.

In 2017 Prairie Theatre Exchange's (Winnipeg, MB) production ran from March 30 - April 16, and Victoria Playhouse Petrolia (ON) produced the show from May 30 - June 17. 

A co-production between Thousand Island Playhouse (ON) from September 22 - October 15, 2017 was produced in Association with Western Canada Theatre (Kamloops, BC) where the show also ran January 25 - February 3, 2018.

2018 also saw productions at both Lighthouse Festival Theatre (Port Dover, ON) and Drayton Entertainment (Drayton, ON). 

In 2019 The Birds & The Bees ran at both the Sudbury Theatre Centre (ON) and the Arts Club (Vancouver, BC).

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