The Boy with the Bee Jar

“Sealed in this little space. I’m not sure who’s watching who. Who’s the keeper who’s kept. This world is so tiny.” On a North London estate, a swarm of bees attracts an environmentally minded schoolboy who feels lost now that his father’s no longer around. In the estate’s playground, he is drawn to an old anarcho-punk called Euston, who is the sole witness to a horrific crime. As the city and its residents tear one another apart, these two misfits form an unexpected alliance, as they realise that each holds the key to the other’s salvation. “I don’t want to celebrate this. This thing we share. This lacking. This shame. This inability to do the right thing that should come easy as waking.” “Easy as sleep.” John Straiton’s darkly lyrical play explores a fleeting moment of connection between two very different people, and the surprising bonds forged in times of loneliness. The Boy with the Bee Jar was long-listed for the 2019 Bruntwood Prize.