'Funny in a very truthful way': New show to start at the Victoria Playhouse

A new show is coming to the Victoria Playhouse, hittingthe stage June 22.

The Birds &The Beesis a romantic comedy written by Mark Crawford which featuresMartha Irving, Wally MacKinnon, Genevieve Steele and Benton Hartley.

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The play is centred on four characters:Earl (MacKinnon)a farmer,Ben (Hartley) a graduate student doing a study on the dwindling bee population, Earl's neighbour Gail, who is a beekeeper, and her daughter Sarah, a turkey farmer.

"It is heartwarming, it really is," said MacKinnonwhen he and Hartley spoke with Angela Walker on CBC: Mainstreet.

"The first thought I had when I read the script was just how funny it was," said Hartley.

"It was funny in a very truthful way."

'Very exciting for me'

MacKinnonis back at the Victoria Playhouseafter a 20 year hiatus while forHartley, this is the first professional experience going onto his resume.

Hartley is a studying theatre at George Brown College in Toronto, but he grew up watching plays at the Victoria Playhouse.

"To have my first professional credit be at the Playhouse, it's this kind of beautiful full-circle kind of experience," he said.

"This is very exciting for me."

Islanders can catch the play from June 22 to July 30. PerformancesonTuesday throughSaturday run at7:30 p.m.. Sundays will feature a 2 p.m. matinee.

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