Me and My Bee is a family show, in the best sense of appealing equally to both adults and children. Like The Muppet Show or The Simpsons there are jokes that sail over the heads of the youngest but reveal a sharp seam of humour embedded in the show for the older attendees. The silly irreverence of what the group describe as a ‘political party, disguised as a party party, disguised as a show’, dramatizes the looming extinction of bees and asks that its audience join the three performers in helping them resist it. A lonely bee looks for a flower to pollinate through a series of dance routines, monologues and audience participation. Politics, ecology and disco converge. The bee’s story is continually framed in relation to his importance to the continuing survival of other species, and as a result of the impact of humans on the eco-systems he relies on.

Just what the extinction of bees would mean for the world is increasingly part of public discourse. The cataclysmic effects of colony collapse disorder (CCD) could result in the disappearance of not only honey but enormous amounts of crops that couldn’t survive without the pollinating insects. As this contributes to a shrinking of the resources of the world, the problems that we already see, of migration and of conflict, will be exasperated. Like the rest of the public, artists are waking up to this and attempting to raise the alarm on behalf of the furry little insects, from Reverend Billy to Black Mirror. The satirical clowning of Me and My Bee deals sillily with an incredibly serious issue, highlighting a pressing ecological issue to its young audience. As they leave, clutching a pack of seeds they’ve been encouraged to plant, they importance of reversing the decline becomes ingrained early on.

- Lewis Church

Links relevant to this diagnosis:

Me and My Bee - ThisEgg

Extinction of Bees – Global Research

Honey Bee Extinction Will Change Life As We Know It - Motherboard

The Climate Change Generation Gap – The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

Reverend Billy Vs Robobees

Black Mirror ‘Hated In the Nation’ – The Atlantic

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Diagnosis Author 2017, Diagnosis Author 2016, Lead Writer

Lewis Church

Diagnosis Author 2017, Diagnosis Author 2016, Lead Writer

Lewis Church is lead writer for The Sick Of The Fringe. He has co-ordinated writers at the Edinburgh Fringe from 2017-2019, at Folkestone's Normal? Festival of the Brain 2017 and 2018, Strike A Light 2018, Manchester International Festival 2017 and at Women and Children First in Ghent (Belgium).

He is a writer and academic based in London, whose work has also been published in PAJ, Exeunt, Loose Lips, East End Review, The Art Story and Something Other. Lewis has also produced commissioned pieces for SPILL Festival of Performance, ]performancespace[ and the Live Art Development Agency, and teaches at Birkbeck University of London. He has previously taught at Queen Mary University of London, the University of Edinburgh and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. As an artist and producer he has worked with Ron Athey, Vaginal Davis, Franko B, Bobby Baker, Split Britches, Shabnam Shabazi, Sh!t Theatre and others.

WEBSITE: LEWISCHURCH.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK

TWITTER: @LEWISACHURCH

Diagnosis Author 2017, Diagnosis Author 2016, Lead Writer

Come and share tea, cake, conversation and feeling cared for – all whilst cutting out paper. This was the intriguing invitation offered by Care Café at Normal?. The concept was created by Lois Weaver of Split Britches with the aim of fostering an ‘attitude of care in an uncaring world’ and allowing people to ‘gather their wits, thoughts and comrades in action’. The idea is to converse open heartedly whilst engaged in some practical activity that may also have an activist purpose, such as making badges or posters. With hands engaged, tongues and ideas may more easily be loosened into meaningful, caring conversation.

In a low key, low lit space filled with tables spread with gingham cloths, I headed for a group who had just called for a new participant and was quickly thrust into the realms of coupledom with companions of four different nationalities. I had held forth about my amateur theories on the deeper purpose of relationships for some time before discovering that one of our party was a professional couples therapist – but it quickly led into surprisingly personal and even metaphysical waters that made us all feel very bonded. Suddenly we were friends. At another table, we started making badges and discussing our lack of craft skills, then seamlessly moved on to talk about family, differences between siblings and daughters caring for elderly parents. When two new people joined us, we quickly got into the emotional triggers for cancer and the significance of sacred geometry. Now that is what I call meaningful conversation – especially when we took it right back to family love and nurturing through the generations.

Which returns to the bigger question of care in society. Care is a two way process and giving care can be as rewarding as receiving - but in Britain we have had a government that is modelling lack of care as acceptable action. Little wonder if we feel the world is uncaring when ideological austerity is systematically withdrawing resources for the care of sick, disabled and vulnerable people and undermining pensions policy. Uncertainty about the availability of income and professional care in later years leaves an ageing population feeling insecure about their future and hence disempowered.

Caring has traditionally been predominantly the province of women, associated with femininity. When society places the work of care at the bottom rung of value, reflected by low pay, zero hours contracts and diminishing resources, then a Care Café can certainly be seen as a political statement. Interesting that it has emerged from the world of arts and creativity as did Ken Loach’s powerful and influential film, I, Daniel Blake. My experience of Care Café was not only fulfilling and thought provoking but also magical and empowering. Every neighbourhood should have one.

- Faith Warn