Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons – Harold Pinter Theatre, London

A West End production of a play that started out as a 2015 Edinburgh Fringe hit, Sam Steiner’s Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons works in this new context with a few caveats.

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons

First of all, please forgive me if I choose to call this play Lemons for the sake of this review. I have wordcounts of my own to worry about, otherwise my SEO tool will start to berate me. Wordcounts are the name of the game in this 2015 play by Sam Steiner. In a move that inevitably brings Twitter to mind, as well as some of the draconian removals of freedoms by various governments in recent years, the Quietude Bill limits people in the UK to 140 words per day. Written or spoken. Even if they’re spoken in your sleep.

It’s one of those plots that you have to jump right into and embrace the suspension of disbelief. What happens if you say more words? How is anyone going to know? Are people really reliably tracking this over a day? I don’t know the answer to any of these as the play doesn’t go into it. 140 words. It is what it is, get on board. The two-hander’s characters Bernadette (Jenna Coleman) and Ollie (Aidan Turner) certainly do.

Structurally the play reminds me a lot of Constellations by Nick Payne. Both are a story about the arc of a relationship, told within a specific context. On the one hand, a multiverse and a backdrop of serious illness. On the other, the ‘Hush Law’, as its colloquially known. Both have a fragmented timeline, jumping around so we know the end before the characters do. Both have quick scene changes, with some scenes only a few seconds long. And both are aging quite well as plays, but show the pros and cons of star West End casting.

Suited For A West End Stage?

It’s a tough one. On the one hand, Lemons is a great little play and deserves a wide audience. It’s thought-provoking, witty and touching. On the other hand, I wonder if it works best at a small scale? Firstly I feel like the suspension of disbelief in order to enjoy a play structured around an idea like this is somehow easier in a festival setting or a smaller theatre than a West End one. I also feel like Lemons specifically might work best when it’s about showcasing the writing rather than thinking about an audience who are partly there for the actors.

I don’t know what the answer is, and maybe I’m judging too harshly. I certainly enjoyed seeing this production. I thought Aidan Turner was particularly good, his depiction of Ollie naturalistic with the right amount of arrogance for what is ultimately quite a self-centred character. The relationship between him and Jenna Coleman’s Bernadette is not always one that gets the audience invested, but they chart the course of its highs and lows well. I didn’t quite understand Robert Jones’ set design, which to me looked a bit like an early 2000s museum display. But the lighting by Aideen Malone was impeccable and helped director Josie Rourke to keep up momentum through the many scene changes.

At the end of the day, like I say, I enjoyed my evening out seeing Lemons. The originality of the premise makes it worth seeing, and it has accumulated new layers of meaning if anything in the years since it first appeared on stage. Definitely zesty rather than sour if we’re going for a lemon pun to finish with.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3/5

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons on until 18 March 2023