Theatre / bristol old vic theatre school
Preview: Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, Wardrobe Theatre
For Bristol Old Vic Theatre School’s annual Directors’ Cuts season (May 1-26, Wardrobe Theatre), the school’s four graduating directors each choose a contemporary script in which to direct their acting colleagues.
First up is Caroline Lang, who has chosen to direct Sam Steiner’s acclaimed 2015 play Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons. Here’s Caroline to tell us more about the play – and her time at BOVTS.
Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons is a new play by Sam Steiner that was first performed in 2015 and took the theatre world by storm at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that year. Since then, it has been performed across the UK, lending itself perfectly to smaller-scale venues such as the Wardrobe Theatre.
is needed now More than ever
Director Caroline Lang
The play is about a couple, Bernadette and Oliver, who have moved in together and share snapshots of their lives and their relationship at different moments in time. What gives the story its edge, however, is the dystopian backdrop that Sam Steiner has created for the characters. Bernadette and Oliver live in a world where a new law has just been passed by the British government – namely a law that limits everyone to 140 words a day.
It’s a brilliantly Orwellian commentary on, and discussion of, free speech, censorship and oppression and, ultimately, communication: how we communicate within politics but also with our significant others and the people we love.
I believe this play is incredibly important at this moment in time, where our means of communication are so abundant and assumed that we forget about those who have no way to way to express themselves and are deprived of the freedom to speak, by their governments and the environments they live in.
Actors Kate Reid (Bernadette) and Alex Wilson (Oliver)
During my time at BOVTS, I have had the opportunity to assist Bill Alexander on the School’s own production of The Taming of the Shrew, tour Manchester and Cardiff with Pins and Needles’ adaptation of The Bear, and workshop the Bristol Old Vic’s upcoming production of Touching The Void. I have also directed and assisted on a number of smaller-scale productions including a short film, and will soon be working with Lucy Pitman-Wallace on Welcome To Thebes, which will be performed this summer at Tobacco Factory Theatres.
After graduation, I hope to spend another year enjoying all that Bristol has to offer – and creating more theatre!
Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Tue, May 1-Sat, May 5, Wardrobe Theatre. For more info, visit www.oldvic.ac.uk/whats-on/lemons-lemons-lemons-lemons-lemons.html
Read more: Preview: Directors’ Cuts season
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