The Birds & The Bees – Livestream - New Wolsey Theatre

The Birds & The Bees – Livestream

Performed from Thu 7 — Sat 9 Apr


Warehouse Digital

Warehouse Digital

'The Birds and the Bees' by Mark Crawford, additional material by James McDermott - Livestream.'

PLEASE NOTE: The tickets bookable on this page are for the livestream so you can watch from home.

New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich in co-production with John Stalker Productions, Norwich Theatre and Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds present

'The Birds and the Bees' by Mark Crawford with additional material by James McDermott.

On Gail’s East Anglian farm the honeybees are dropping like flies – just like her love life. Her husband bolted twenty years ago and she hasn’t slept with anyone since. Her middle-aged daughter Sarah’s marriage is going up in smoke just like her turkey farm and neighbour Earl is fighting a losing battle with his sugar beet yield and his ‘no strings’ relationships.

Then along comes city-dwelling bio-student Ben to study those pesky poorly performing pollinators. He could probably also have a look at Sarah’s turkeys, which can’t seem to mate without a human helping hand. Perhaps some local mead and the annual Turkey Day’s Dance will sort everything out – and not just for the birds.

As the consequences of that momentous night unfold Sarah, Gail, Earl and Ben discover the best way out of a crisis is to commit to those closest to you – just watch out and don’t get stung.

The Birds and The Bees is a hilarious comedy romp with a heart as big as the laughs it brings. Indeed, it’s the bees’ knees!

'The Birds and the Bees' premiered at the Blyth Festival in June 2016. 'The Birds and the Bees' is produced by permission of the Playwright and Marquis Literary (Colin Rivers) www.mqlit.ca

The show contains strong language, adult themes and partial nudity - recommended for ages 14+


Cast & Creatives

Louise Gold — Gail

Louise Gold

Theatre includes: Botticelli in the Fire (The Hampstead Theatre); Fiddler on the Roof (The Menier Chocolate Factory and The Playhouse Theatre); Mary Poppins, Mamma Mia and Anything Goes (Prince Edward Theatre);   Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (The Palladium Theatre); Noises Off (The Piccadilly Theatre); Follies (The Royal Festival Hall); The Cherry Orchard (The RSC); Assassins (The Donmar Warehouse)

TV Credits include: Strike Back for Left Bank Pictures and Netflix’s Dark Crystal Age Of Resistance.

Louise is also an accomplished puppeteer, performing and voicing many famous favourites on The Muppet Show, the original Spitting Image and most recently The Furchester Hotel and Netflix Series Dark Crystal.

 

Richard McIver — Ben

Richard McIver

Originally hailing from Reno, Nevada, Richard is a 2020 graduate of Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Theatre Credits whilst training include: In the Blood (Richard Burton Company) and Half-Full (Richard Burton Company/Royal Court Theatre).

Other theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet (Hull Truck Theatre), LIFE COACH (National Theatre Wales), The Word Begins (Merry War Theatre Group), Titus Andronicus (Good Luck Macbeth) and A Raisin in the Sun (Nevada Repertory Company).

Siôn Tudor Owen — Earl

Siôn Tudor Owen

Siôn is thrilled to be back at Ipswich where he worked with Peter before on Chorus of Disapproval.

Theatre credits includes: 5 seasons at the RSC in 18 productions, Mozart in Amadeus (first National Tour), recently Henry VIII in The Court Must Have A Queen (Hampton Court Palace), Mr Evans in Carrie's War (Saddler's Wells/Apollo Shaftesbury Ave and National Tour), Krupke in West Side Story (ATG), White Christmas (West End/Curve Leicester/West Yorkshire Playhouse), We're Still Here (The National Theatre Of Wales/Common Wealth), Mr Boo in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice (Stephen Joseph Theatre Company), Montfluerie in Trevor Nunn’s Cyrano de Bergerac (Chichester Festival Theatre), Baloun in Schwyk at Manchester Library Theatre *MEN Best Actor Nomination*, Encounters With The Tudors (Hampton Court Palace), Jack and The Beanstalk (Chris Jordan Productions), Absurd Person Singular (Curve Theatre Leicster), Resistable Rise of Arturo UI (Liverpool Playhouse and Nottingham Playhouse), A Chorus of Disapproval (Wolsey Ipswich/Watford Palace), and Accidental Death Of An Anarchist (Theatr Clwyd).

TV credits include:

Grange Hill (BBC/Mersey Television), A Touch Of Frost (Yorkshire Television), The Bill (Talkback Thames), Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Midsomer Murders, Babes In The Wood (ITV), Eastenders, ‘Allo ‘Allo, Casualty (BBC), Humans (Channel 4), and Outlander (Amazon).

Film credits include:

Highlander (20th Century Studios), Twin Town (Agenda/Aimimage Prods/Figment Films), Aberdeen (Filmfabriken/Freeway Films/Norsk Film), One Chance (The Weinstein Company) Girl From The Song (Netflix), Staggered (A Big Deal Prods), Experience Preferred But Not Essential (Channel Four Film/Enigma/Goldcrest), Submarine (Film Four), La Cha Cha (Channel 4), Bolan’s Shoes (Buffalo Dragon), and Mortimer's Law (Chatsworth TV).

Proudly during the pandemic Siôn has set up his own production company Uhuru Fach films, and his first film Home has won 12 awards, along with 20 nominations including 4 best actor awards.

Siôn trained at Guildhall.

Laura Doddington — Sarah

Laura Doddington

Laura can be seen in the upcoming new adaptation of “The Midwich Cuckoos’ on Sky Drama. Previous Theatre includes ‘Last of the Red Hot Lovers’ and ‘Educating Rita’ (The Mill at Sonning) ‘Boeing Boeing’ and ‘Bedroom Farce’ (Oldham Coliseum and tour) ‘Mansfield Park’ (Bury St Edmunds and tour) ‘Man of the moment’, ’Private fears in public places’ and ‘Time of my Life’ (Northampton). ‘Alphabetical Order’ and ‘Oleanna’ (New Vic). She has worked extensively with Alan Ayckbourn at the Stephen Joseph theatre in Scarborough originating multiple roles in his new writing and reviving many roles in his previous works.

TV Work includes: Multiple appearances on ’Doctors’ BBC. ‘Holy City’ BBC. ‘Casualty’ BBC. ‘People Just Do Nothing’ BBC. ‘Eastenders’ BBC and Prime Suspect 7 (ITV).


Reviews of The Birds & The Bees – Livestream

What the press say


★★★★★ 'a razor-sharp, steamy and sexually-charged new comedy'

WhatsOnStage

'The shifts between drama and comedy were spot-on, as amidst the hormone-fuelled hilarity, there were some really emotional and hard-hitting moments.'

WhatsOnStage

'excellently directed'

WhatsOnStage

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