Review: Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons by Sam Steiner

Sam Steiner's Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons seems to have only grown in impact and reputation since its fringe theatre premiere in 2015. Drama teachers seem to be unanimously enamoured. It's an eminently stageable play, featuring two substantial roles. This is a piece minimalist in virtually every aspect – two actors, the merest hint of a set, with brevity and precision in the writing – but manages to say a lot about who we are as people and what we need from one another.

Bernadette is a proudly working-class lawyer with something of a chip on her shoulder. Oliver, whose background and lifetime of institutional privileges couldn't be more different from hers, is a musician. Their relationship is tense and fraught. He goes on protest marches where he sometimes bumps into his dreaded ex, Julie, whose wealth piques Bernadette's jealousy and rage about class and privilege. So far, so fringe theatre. The twist here is that due to a new dystopian governmental law, the Quietude Act, people are allowed to speak no more than 140 words each day.