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| Elyse Wolf photo by Kimberly Sheperd |
Douglas Carter Beane’s As Bees in Honey Drown debuted Off Broadway over 20 years ago but in our celebrity focused world it is still incredibly relevant today. In Arizona Regional Theatre's production, which opens on April 5th, Seth Tucker is starring as Evan, a writer who is also the bright-eyed talented pupil who is drawn into the sticky trap of fame presented to him by Alexa Vere de Vere, a wealthy powerful manager portrayed by Elyse Wolf.
“It’s a comedy and it is really funny,” Tucker explained. “It’s about a gay writer who is approached by a flamboyant woman who has this incredible life. She goes at a mile a minute, she just talks and talks and talks. She is just hilarious and has so much energy. The show really revolves around her. Well, Evan is infatuated with her and she wants him to write her life story. He starts following her around, they have a connection, but then things go awry.”
“It is a story about fame,” added Wolf, “money, success, power, and lies. It’s an interesting journey for Alexa because she has sort of created herself. She is not who she was born, she is who she wants to be, much to the detriment of the other people in her world. Because she is really just out for herself.”
Through lies and shiny objects, Alexa lures Evan into her fantasy world. Making him think that a life of fame and fortune like the one she leads is what he wants and deserves. Unbeknownst to him, none of it is real.
“It just feels like it pertains exactly to today,” Tucker stated. “Evan just gets swept up in it, she talks about her famous connections, she’s showing him the fancy VIP lounges, and they’re in limos, she is just throwing money everywhere. He gets wrapped up in it, and that is Alexa’s M.O, she sweeps up these young budding promising people and takes advantage of them.”
Not only is Tucker a lead in this production, but he is also directing the play. Directing and leading in the same production is not something that is new for Tucker, he has been doing both simultaneously for quite some time in his career.
“It’s got to be difficult for him,” Wolf assumed. “He has to be able to be in the scene and then step out of the scene and think not only as an actor but as a director too. He’s been doing a great job so it hasn’t been too crazy for me. He has found a really nice balance of being able to think through what he wants blocking wise, and then get up on the stage with me and try it. He is a real collaborator, he is really good at saying ‘how does that feel, anybody have any thoughts’ and as an actor, I thoroughly appreciate that.”
Wolf didn’t know much about As Bees in Honey Drown before Seth reached out. Once she got hold of the script, she fell in love. She was thrilled to become Alexa Vere de Vere.
“I read it and the second I read it I was like 'yes! yes! yes!' ” Wolf explained enthusiastically. “Alexa Vere de Vere is really a challenge and a joy because she is a lot, she is just over the top. She is flowery in language, boisterous in spirit, and she is wordy! She is imaginative, she has created this history for herself because she is not a real person. She has created this whole persona and what’s even more fun, is that she bases her character on some very famous movie characters. People like Sally Bowles and Auntie Mame, all of these iconic divaesque women. It is so exciting to play a character like that.”
“Alexa Vere de Vere is bright and fast,” smiled Tucker. “She loves the finest things. She is one of those people that when you see her, you want to know her. That’s how she draws people in. I think Alexa is good at finding certain types of young impressionable people who have promise. She knows the power of attention and stardom, the desire that these people have for fame and success for money. She is able to capitalize that.”
Having to portray someone so selfish is not the hardest challenge Wolf has had to encounter, as the whole point of acting is to become somebody else. Instead, the biggest obstacle Wolf has had to overcome is memorizing Alexa Vere de Vere’s long intricate monologues.
“I literally am talking for 75 pages,” Wolf stated as she showed me pages full of yellow highlighted lines. “It’s not easy dialogues or monologues to memorize because she doesn’t speak sequentially and she uses very flowery language. It almost feels a little Shakespearian sometimes. The hardest part of this experience is trying to find new ways to memorize. So not only do I have to memorize it but then I have to figure out how to make it a new fresh idea as it is coming out of my mouth, which is a whole other challenge.”
Arizona Regional Theatre is billing the play as “A Witty Comedy that Stings.” This 22-year-old play’s story might be uncomfortably familiar but is still has a biting relevance to society today.
“The lesson, which I don’t think Alexa learns,” began Wolf, “but perhaps is a parable-type thing to the audience is that even when you create the world you think you want, you may still not be happy. She preys on people's desires for fame and fortune and for all the things that people think that they want, but may not actually be happy when they get them.”
“It is a tale as old as time,” Tucker stated. “How easily people get wrapped up in the pursuit of fame, attention, and money. A lot of times people can end up empty-handed, empty-souled, just empty. It puts things into perspective. This character Evan started getting fame when Alexa comes into his life and then he just wants it. He thinks this is the life he should be a part of. But it might not bring any of the things he wanted, it might take everything from him.”
Even though there are some heavy messages that might linger, Tucker and Wolf want to assure audiences that this play is a comedy and that they will still have a wonderful time.
“I think it is a very funny show I am hoping people will laugh,” smiled Wolf. “It is a funny show about a tragic person. She’s not very much a sympathetic character but, she’s damaged and I think people will be able to see that and at least feel sympathetic for that. She is tragic in a very entertaining way.”
CLICK HERE for more information on Arizona Regional Theatre's production of As Bees in Honey Drown, with performances at the Phoenix Center for the Arts, April 5th-April 14th.
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