The Limit – Royal Opera House, London

Sam Steiner’s play Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons comes to the Royal Opera House stage as new dance-theatre work The Limit. What will a new medium bring to the story? Find out below.

The Limit

I saw Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons last year in the West End: a play which started life as a 2015 Edinburgh Fringe hit but has had an increasingly remarkable afterlife. Sam Steiner’s story is essentially about a relationship between two rather different individuals, but has as it’s backdrop the Quietude Bill, a new law which is introduced in order to limit the number of words people can say daily.

To summarise very briefly (today’s theme), there was something about Lemons that I couldn’t put my finger on. I get how it works as a Fringe show, which is often about having an idea that stands up for an hour or so on stage. Seeing it in the West End made less sense to me: we expect a little more from plays at this scale, and Lemons relies on not scrutinising too much. What is the punishment that’s so bad that everyone’s following this new law? And how did everyone get so good at counting words and remembering their count? Just two examples of questions it’s best not to ask yourself if you want to suspend your disbelief and enjoy the performance.

And now here we are at the Royal Opera House for The Limit. Which is Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons in a new medium: dance-theatre. It was an opportunity I couldn’t resist. The Limit is the brainchild of Alexander Campbell, Principal of the Royal Ballet. He also performs, alongside fellow Principal Francesca Hayward. Ed Madden directs, with choreography by Kristen McNally and original music by Isobel Waller-Bridge. How, then, does this work as dance-theatre? Read on, dear friends.

The Limit: Creative Restrictions, Innovative Solutions

It was something in the programme for The Limit that finally made this conundrum click for me. Creative people – writers, actors, choreographers, dancers – enjoy this concept as a challenge. How do you write a play where dialogue is heavily restricted? How do you communicate a character’s inner self without words? How does this artificial restriction of language translate to movement? I think it’s the lure of that challenge that keeps bringing this story back to the stage.

I actually liked The Limit a little better as a production than Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons. Interestingly, for a premise which is anyway all about restraint, I thought cutting down some of the extraneous details eg. from Bernadette and Ollie’s meet-cute, made it cleaner. The two dancers, although not trained actors, handle the dialogue admirably well. And the choreography is intriguing. From fluid and connected in the early, unrestrained scenes, we see their movements become disjointed and sparse. The latter scenes veer between the two. It’s not a literal transliteration of the 140-word limit, but an interpretation of its effect. Rather interesting as an approach.

So what’s next? Lemons as an opera? The Limit as corporeal mime – do away with the words altogether? We shall have to wait and see. But in the meantime for me The Limit was a little like a variation in classical music: taking the idea and transforming it, waiting to see who is next in the artistic dialogue.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3.5/5

The Limit on until 28 October 2023