Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

A puzzling spectacle: The Secret Life of Bees, at the Almeida Theatre, reviewed

Plus: a play about a former Labour cabinet member whose childhood feels like something out of Tintin

The cast of The Secret Life of Bees in their exquisite cotton blouses, matching skirts, fancy hats, silk stockings, high heels and picture-perfect hairdos. Photo: Marc Brenner The cast of The Secret Life of Bees in their exquisite cotton blouses, matching skirts, fancy hats, silk stockings, high heels and picture-perfect hairdos. Photo: Marc Brenner
issue 22 April 2023
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  • The Secret Life of Bees

    Almeida, until 27 May

  • The Only White

    Chelsea Theatre, until 22 April

The Secret Life of Bees is a fairy-tale set in the Deep South in 1964. Lily, a bullied white girl, befriends a plucky black maid, Rosaleen, and they escape together from Lily’s tyrannical dad. After various adventures they take sanctuary at a honey farm run by a commune of astonishingly successful African-American businesswomen.

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