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Sam Steiner’s dystopian comedy is a great idea in search of a play. It is performed by Aidan ‘Poldark’ Turner and Jenna ‘Doctor Who’ Coleman with a virtuosity it doesn’t quite deserve. Songwriter Oliver and divorce lawyer Bernadette meet in a pet cemetery and embark on an amiably fractious relationship. She comes from a poor background, he grew up in a castle. He wants a child, she wants to establish a career.
Complications ensue when a government edict limits the daily number of words individuals can use to 140.
This rationing of language is never explained but, as a metaphor for social restrictions and draconian legislation, it is quite brilliant.
Inspired undoubtedly by the original Twitter limit of 140 characters, Steiner’s absurdist rom-com doubles as a social satire.
Or it would do if he knew how to take it beyond the initial concept.
Restricted in verbal communication, the couple resort to gestures and abbreviations much like those used in SMS texts and WhatsApps.
But hearing these is not the same as reading them and repeatedly replaying the same episodes in the relationship, except with fewer words, cannot disguise the fact that this is undernourished and underdeveloped.
Turner and Coleman power their way through a series of short scenes with admirable elasticity but their characters rarely rise above hollow ciphers.
Against a wall stuffed with household gadgets, Josie Rourke directs with a naturalistic verve that exposes the void at the heart of the play.
It needed either the madcap exaggeration of Ionesco or deeper characterisations to make a lasting impact. Stuck somewhere in the middle between naturalism and absurdism, it goes nowhere.
Not so much a play as a telegram, Sam.
- Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at Harold Pinter Theatre, London, until March 18. Tickets: 03330 096 690
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