Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (NHB Modern Plays)

Product Information

Sam Steiner’s 2015 drama is directed by Josie Rourke, and plays at the Harold Pinter Theatre to 18 March 2023. Sam Steiner said: "Writing ‘Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons’ taught me how to be a playwright. The opportunity to revisit and grow the play all these years later and bring it to a larger audience with Josie, Aidan, Jenna and an alarmingly inspiring creative team is thrilling and confounding in equal measure. I hope it speaks to now in a way that I couldn’t have predicted then. And I hope to keep learning." Alongside Josie Rourke on the creative team are designer Robert Jones, lighting designer Aideen Malone, movement by Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster and costume designer by Kinnetia Isidore.

In fact, in this oh-so-talkative play, it’s the physicality which is most striking (superb work from movement director Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster), along with moments when the duo break into song. It’s a compelling argument for art as a means of expression – for when words just aren’t enough. Writing Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons taught me how to be a playwright. I hope it speaks to now in a way that I couldn’t have predicted then. And I hope to keep learning,” said playwright Sam Steiner. Jenna Coleman will star in The Lemons play. She recently appeared in All My Sons at the Old Vic, and is known for The Serpent and Doctor Who on BBC. The Poldark actor Aidan Turner will also take part, returning to the West End after The Lieutenant of Inishmore.And yet, time has been extremely kind to it in other ways. Recent events make many of its ideas feel not just interesting in the abstract, but alarmingly urgent. The government in the world of the play is intent on silencing protestors and censoring free speech, while making an exception from the hush law for Parliament – one rule for us and one for them.

Sound of the Underground is at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court, London, until 25 February Lovers Oliver and Bernadette find themselves living under the rules of legislation that requires them to speak no more than 140 words a day. Lemons is a magnetic and moving look into the importance of what we say, how we say things and what happens when we can’t say anything at all.The play's about a relationship amidst a political and social chaos/crises. There's a bill being passed - that restricts one's 'voice'/usage of words to 140 a day. The couple argues on and off - about everything - but they never have enough words to express themselves. I personally think that their actions 'expressed' enough what they couldn't express through words. So here am I, not only cis but wearing Cos: a natural target in an evening that points out how weird it is to whoop if asked if you are white or straight. Yet being targeted is not what it feels like: the joy and success of the evening is in bringing a sense of enlargement, not only to the stage but to the audience. For once, a piece of work that talks about exclusion does not itself exclude. Some dresses are gorgeous, some like satirical armour, some uncanny. They are so expressive they are practically animate When we talk to one another, what are we really trying to say? The slipperiness and complexity of language gets a rigorous workout in Sam Steiner’s 2015 play Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, an Edinburgh Fringe hit-turned-buzzy new West End production, featuring the starry casting of Jenna Coleman ( Doctor Who) and Aidan Turner ( Poldark). They play a couple grappling with a dystopian new law, the Quietude Act, which commands that no one speak more than 140 words a day.

Watch as Oliver and Bernadette cohabit in a world that pushes their connection to its limits. Testing who they talk to, where they will choose to spend their words, and how many words they give to each other. Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons explores the humanity of couples overcoming the most extreme of circumstances. Sam Steiner’s Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons If one of them stores up fewer words to spend on the other in the evening, does that mean they care less? Both constantly push conflicts away with a “Talk about this later”, not just because they’re out of words, but because they don’t want to face their problems. And it makes them, and us, more aware of telling linguistic tropes – like how Bernadette uses “really” as a qualifier when she’s trying too hard, as in “I really love it” when talking about Oliver’s music. Josie Rourke directs Aidan Turner and Jenna Coleman star in Sam Steiner’s debut play at the Harold Pinter Theatre. I enjoyed reading this play despite how short it was. Although with that said - I wanted more from it, so I couldn't give it a 5-star rating. Also, the timeline was a bit messy. I'd like it better if it was more controlled/neat. I don't know if I'm keen to read more of Steiner's work, but I do think that his idea/concept for this play's brilliant. To me, the ending was a bit - unsatisfactory; I felt it ended quite abruptly and passively. It made me feel like I was waiting for something - but nothing really came/happened. I'd half-guessed the thing that was revealed in the ending - so it didn't surprise me at all or made me feel anything.Josie Rourke directs, with design by Robert Jones, associate costume design by Kinnetia Isidore, lighting design by Aideen Malone, and movement by Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster. Steiner is probing personal and philosophical questions about how we relate to each other through language and whether restricted freedom of speech, crushing as it sounds, might force people to face essentials." The political element(s) in this play reminded me of a book I read recently : A Man'A Man' by Keiichirō Hirano . Both writers worked the political bits into their work in different ways; and I think I appreciate Hirano's method/style much more. I was able to sympathise with Hirano's character more. 'Oliver' in Steiner's play was just a very predictable character. When I think about Bernadette being in a relationship with him, I think of the term, 'consensual violence'. But in this case 'consensual idiocy' is more fitting/accurate. But then it makes me think : isn't contemporary 'love' too much/often 'consensual idiocy' anyway? Coleman and Turner are “both brilliant at making complex things clear and moving” said Rourke. Steiner praised the pair for combining “magnetic charisma with a real humanity and nuance”. Coleman played the Doctor’s companion Clara in Doctor Who and starred in both The Serpent and The Sandman on television; she appeared on stage in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons at the Old Vic in 2019. Turner, best known for playing the title role of the BBC’s Poldark, starred earlier this year as a psychologist in ITV’s The Suspect; he appeared in a 2018 West End production of Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore. Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons is a sad love story subtly enacted by the two luminous screen stars"