Revu Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons
“Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons”
I first read Sam Steiner's Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons when I was around 16, and was lucky enough to see it in a brilliant production at the Harold Pinter Theatre with Jenna Coleman and Aidan Turner in 2023. I've previously found it difficult to fully enjoy student productions of plays I had already seen great professional renditions of, but I try to keep an open mind as I sit down for Lighthouse Productions' version, directed by Alys Young and Ivana Clapperton.
This episodic play tells the story of the relationship between lawyer Bernadette (Caeli Colgan) and musician-turned-activist Oliver (Kit Rush) as they wrestle with the implementation of an authoritarian new law that limits citizens to speaking only 140 words per day. "Romantic two-hander with a conceptual twist" is a very popular genre at Edinburgh Fringe (which Lemons played for three consecutive years), and groups Lemons together with Constellations, or Bucket List (a 2024 Oxford University Drama Society contribution). This kind of play really relies on dialogue, and its delivery from the mouths of good actors.
Young and Clapperton have made some attempts to broaden the kind of action happening onstage. Much use is made of multimedia projection onto the BT's upstage wall (with video by George Robson), and this has a varying degree of success: sometimes it greatly enhances a scene, but longer sections of video add little but running time to a production that already feels somewhat long. Brief moments of physical movement, directed by Benjamin Phillips and Elektra Voulgari Cleare, also feel less impactful than one would wish (I always love physical theatre, but it needs to be embraced fully in a production, rather than tacked on as an afterthought). Without seriously speculating as to what has actually happened in the rehearsal process, it can feel as if movement directors Phillips and Voulgari Cleare have been invited to play with a selection of brief moments in the script; but kept away from the bulk of Bernadette and Oliver's conversations, which would benefit from more deliberate choreography. All of this to say: Young and Clapperton's directorial innovations using movement and multimedia projection are worthwhile and sometimes effective, but there is no escaping that Lemons depends on two actors sharing a space more than anything else.
“Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons”
So, are Colgan and Rush's performances up to the challenge? Yes and no. Both would benefit massively from greater variety in the delivery of lines and emotional beats, but this is at least partially a directorial issue. More effort towards making each of these short episodes feel distinct, particularly by imbuing moments of argument with much-needed tension and frustration ("Just grow a backbone, Bernadette"), would hugely improve issues with pacing and make emotional beats hit a little harder. Chemistry between the two is also somewhat lacking, and moments of intimacy never quite feel real. But the broadest issue (again, perhaps directorial) is that this production never quite fulfils Lemons' demands as an exercise in naturalism. A little more rehearsal of naturalistic techniques to make these characters more fully believable (easier said than done - it is not my strong suit!) would surely transform Colgan and Rush further from students to jaded working couple.
That being said, both achieve more than a few moments of brilliance, particularly in the play's lighter moments. Rush is amusingly boyish in the relationship's happier periods ("okay so we started calling each other… babycakes"), and Colgan gets some hearty, well-deserved laughs as well ("it’s just all… out there you know… it’s ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"). These characterizations are vivid and playful, and generally provide strong conduits for the telling of Steiner's story.
I don't want to be too harsh here - Young and Clapperton's rendition of Lemons is absolutely a worthwhile watch: a spirited go at a great script. My nitpicks are those of someone who loves this kind of two-hander and knows a fair deal about what makes them tick. A little more rehearsal time and greater attention to pacing and blocking would make this production even more powerful, but Colgan and Rush perform with enough joy to make up for some of these problems. For now, I think my word limit has been reached.
3/5
Thanks are due to my friend Izzy Moore for the insights of our usual post-show chat.
Review by George Loynes
The link to George Loynes’s review blog is: https://roomwithreviewblog.blogspot.com/?m=1&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAadKaD9DWn-5mwBnPczPWh3KXF0Wm5MTE_D9WbXEiWAbpuhhg9yNdnyYWKaYSg_aem_MX4-paKRuQoHXi7vgFXpPw
