Last night Stuart and I went to see Jenna Coleman (yes, her off of Dr Who) and Aidan Turner (yes, him off of Poldark) star in Sam Steiner's Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's glitzy West End.
Short review: The acting is great. The play, less so. Coleman plays lawyer Bernadette and Turner plays musician Oliver. They meet, fall in love, argue and then have to face a change in the law that stops them communicating.
Directed by Josie Rourke, Lemons x5 imagines a world where we’re forced to say less - by law. Only 140 words each per day. A sort of 1984 meets Twitter. So it’s about what we say and how we say it; about the things we can only hear in the silence; about dead cats, activism, eye contact and lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons. It also takes a can-opener to a typical opposites-attract romcom in order to explore wider issues of democracy and free speech.
It's a simple set, a simple illuminated backdrop, no props, just two actors on stage. And 90 mins straight through. Even then, it seemed a bit too long. Covering similar ground, Nick Payne's two-hander Constellations is way, way better.
Go for the stars. But don't expect to be wowed.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.