‘Let’s just talk until it goes.’
You’re going to speak more than 123 million words in your lifetime. What will you do when they run out?
Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons is a tender and funny rom-com about what we say, how we say it, and what happens when we can’t say anything anymore.
Starring Jenna Coleman (The Serpent, All My Sons) and Aidan Turner (Poldark, The Lieutenant of Inishmore), this bold and brilliant play from Sam Steiner (Fingernails, You Stupid Darkness!) is directed by Josie Rourke (Mary Queen of Scots, As You Like It).
__Assisted performance__
Captioned, Tues 28 Feb Evening
Audio Described, Tues 7 Mar Evening
BSL Interpreted, Thurs 9 Mar Evening
Coleman and Turner are endearing together, although they remain cutesy for too long, repeating riffs on their first meeting in a pet cemetery. The script repeats its ideas on protest too but has deft scenes that show how words can conceal and also how apparent banalities can carry value and meaning. There is good use of silence as the couple hit the buffers of wordlessness, and their relationship gathers power when the actors drop their romcom routine and become more real and tender, albeit rather late in the day.
This is a play of ideas, so Steiner won’t waste words on showing how this unlikely new edict is upheld by the authorities. Bernadette and Oliver thriftily cut out pronouns and definite articles to stay within the daily total, turn “I love you” into “loveoo”. Worse, a singsong of Total Eclipse of the Heart trails off when he runs out of words before she does. Every now and then they fall apart.
2023 | West End |
West End |
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