Barons Court Theatre, London W14 – until 26 May 2019
Reviewed by Antonia Hebbert
3***
A play that strictly limits the number of words that can be said sounded too interesting to miss. Sam Steiner’s 2015 play Lemons, or to give it its full title Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, is set in a world where people are allowed only 140 words per day. We see this through the relationship of struggling musician Oliver (Charlie Suff) and relatively affluent lawyer Bernadette (Jemima Murphy), in intense scenes that hop back and forth in time. (This might be baffling if you didn’t have a programme to explain the 140-word law theme.)
The play raises concerns of power inequality and freedom to speak, and director Hamish Clayton hopefully suggests parallels with Britain’s current difficulty-that-must-not-be-named. This is stretching things – the imagined ‘hush law’ is never explained or debated, so it never feels like a really political thing. We only ever see its effect on two people, although we do hear about protest marches. Lemons is much more interesting on a personal level, as an exploration of the way a relationship evolves over time. Suff and Murphy make this a gripping show – they are thrilling to watch, and their intensity never lets up as they search for different ways to communicate and run the gamut of things that can’t be said, or shouldn’t be said, or should be said that aren’t. Choreographed movements, soundtrack and lighting (Gregory Jordan) all effectively convey the ebb and flow of their feelings for each other. The play could maybe have been a few minutes shorter, but the dense, ideas-packed script leaves you satisfyingly full of things to think about for a long time after.