Alexa Vere de Vere, a femme fatale any man would melt for, has her sights set on any ‘hot’ commodity she can draw into her sticky, sweet trap.
Douglas Carter Beane’s As Bees in Honey Drown, currently mounted at Theatre On The Run by Trumpet Vine Theatre, tries to be something it ultimately is not, that being believable.
Always the true test of a scammer or scoundrel, even a fetching one, would be plausibility and Kari Ginsburg is not plausible as Alexa because she plays the part too far over the top in an almost comical, hyper fashion. Evan Wyler (Andrew Zox) is the object of her scam and he is a perfect mark. A newly published writer and wildly popular, he falls for Alexa and her plan to rid him of all his money. A whirlwind of buying and parties ensue and then… you guessed it! Alexa is gone! Vanished!
Any other pawn certainly would have cried a bit and moved on but not Evan! A bit of investigation leads him to Alexa’s former boy toy now gay artist played by Jon Townson who points Evan in the right direction and becomes his happy ending. A tale that illustrates how easy it is to get stuck in the honey or tangled in a web — As Bees in Honey Drown struggles to please and there is no lack of effort on behalf of the cast.
The set design complete with sliding doors and bed looked a bit dated, more seventies than nineties but colorful and visually attractive. Lighting and sound design were just fine. Trumpet Vine is to be commended for tackling such an ambitious project and for almost succeeding. The honey was sweet but there was not enough to go around.