Imagine a world where you are only allowed to speak 140 words a day.
While you might think this is a blessing for some people - especially those who witter on about nothing - for ordinary folk, having to cut your conversations to just 140 words a day would be difficult.
This is the subject of the play Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, currently on stage at Manchester’s Opera House.
The two-hander, written by Manchester’s Sam Steiner, explores how a couple interact with each other once a new Bill - the Hush Law - is passed.
The play follows lawyer Bernadette and musician Oliver as they struggle to communicate while restricted in their speech.
The two meet before the Bill is passed, at the funeral of a cat at a pet cemetery. They decide to meet up again in the same place and their relationship blossoms.
On the surface, it seems all is going well for the couple, but there is always underlining distractions such as the different way they approach life - Bernadette is a driven lawyer from a working class background, while Oliver is an easy-going musician with a more privileged upbringing - there is even talk of his family having a castle.
While the two work through their differences, the passing of the Bill brings the cracks to the fore as they work out how to express their feelings for each other.
Pretty quickly, the pair must find different ways to communicate: drumming, Morse code, sign language, anything they can think of.
This intense play might seem a bit light on its treatment of the subject matter - at no time are we told why the Bill is brought in and how it is policed - but it is brought alive by the pair who play Bernadette and Oliver.
Jenna Coleman and Aidan Turner are stars of TV and film and it is no doubt their presence which has seen audiences flock to this play. Whether two lesser known actors would have the same effect, I’m not sure.
Jenna is sharp-witted and plays the gutsy professional lawyer to a tee. She believes in her role in society and defends her right to be able to express herself in the courtroom - which is exempt from the 140 word a day rule - as is Parliament.
Whereas Aidan plays Oliver in a more laid-back way. He is friendly, funny and down to earth.
His character believes in the right to free speech and goes on protests to halt the Bill. He is convinced that the restrictions will hit the working class more and wants to uphold their right to talk.
The couple’s relationship jumps from one scene to the next, going back and forth in time and the actors merge into the scenes with ease - jumping from restricted speech to free-flowing dialogue from one scene to the next.
There are some comedy elements too, especially in the scene before the Bill comes into effect when the couple decide to say all the things they have never said to each other before at breakneck speed. They criticise each other’s families and friends and they way they are intimate with each other before the clock strikes 12.
The two then tell each other every day how many words they have left to speak after using some of their quota during the day. Sometimes it is in the high numbers, other times in single figures.
Both Jenna and Aidan give stand-out performances and are exemplary stage actors. They command the space - which is a stark set with just a door and a background of modern electrical appliances such as speakers, TV, headlights, etc, on a screen.
The lighting on the set is also put to good use as it slides up, down and across to reveal which part of the story we are in - harsh vertical lights for time after the Bill, with warmer horizontal lights to a time before the Bill.
This play, around 85 minutes long with no interval, certainly had the audience spellbound as everyone watched the talent that was on stage.
It runs until Saturday, one to watch if you can get a ticket!
