1000 Tiny Birds

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons

Harold Pinter Theatre, 2023-02-18

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons takes place in a world where, by law, you can only say about 70% of the words in an average one of these entries (that’s 140, for those not paying attention at home). Bernadette (Jenna Coleman) and Oliver (Aidan Turner) are our way into this world, a couple who adjust to life with this new law in place, struggling to communicate the way they need to, told through flashbacks and flashforwards from before and after the law is enacted. There’s lots of interesting ideas in Lemons, but they never really coalesce into a thematically resonant whole. Tossed off notions include the idea of how couples form their own languages that are unintelligible with a new partner, or how 30 years of a relationship under the “hush law” would barely fill two newspapers - interesting thoughts both, but Steiner doesn’t successfully justify the plot around them. The quick-cut transitions are a bit too reminiscent of the 2021 staging of Constellations at the Vaudeville - but I suppose there’ll always be some overlap in conceptual two-handers about love. Coleman and Turner, though, are both very good, filling the physical and emotional space in the room. It’s good, but it’s a shame Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons just doesn’t have enough words to say.