Review: BEES & HONEY at Marin Theatre Company

For two Dominican millennials in Washington Heights, the love of their cultural Bachata music draws them together and into a whirlwind romance and marriage. Inspired by the Juan Luis Guerra song “Como Abeja Al Panal," (“Like a Bee to the Honeycomb”), Bees & Honey is a slice of ethnic life following their romance and its disillusion as they struggle with marital pressures both internal and external. Playwright Guadalis Del Carmen clearly has her heart in this story and has created fully fleshed characters peppering their speech with Spanish colloquialisms.

Manuel (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) is a mechanic eager to expand his business and Johaira (Katherine George) a prosecutor in the DA’s office. Their acting seems natural enough, but the dialogue and situations weigh them down. Del Carmen throws in too many ideas here – machoism, feminism, economic upscaling, and sexual harassment. When Manuel moves in his ailing mother and Johaira has a miscarriage, the marriage collapses.

The two don’t seem to be on the same page as much as Manuel tries to change and appease his wife. Perhaps that’s the message here – two unlikely lovers pulled apart by circumstances and reality. Their situation isn’t mainly Dominican at all, rather quite universal.

Bees & Honey continues through March 10th. For tickets, call 415-388-5208 or online at marintheatre.org/productions/bees-and-honey.

Photo Credit: Kevin Berne

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