Review: Bitter Lemons (Park Theatre)

Review by Harry Bower

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s 8pm. The cast has finished their bows and I am sat in the front row at Park90 feeling like I’ve just stepped off a rollercoaster. My head is swimming with empathy, and as the applause ends I take a minute in my chair to consider the impact of this emotional whirlwind of a play by writer director Lucy Hayes. Freshly squeezed from a sold-out run at Edinburgh Fringe in 2023, Bitter Lemons’ London premiere is beautifully crafted, unapologetically direct, and affronting in the best way.

Two women stand together on the stage as the lights go up. The play tracks the very separate lives of Angelina, a 28 year old analyst in an investment firm, and AJ, a similar age now playing professional football as a number two goalie. Both girls are at a precarious stage in their career development and lives; both feel inadequate in ways which feel real and unfair, and both suffer from imposter syndrome. With their artificial confidence masking their anxiety they both put their best foot forward and tackle their respective pitches. Angelina has the chance to secure a promotion to Senior Analyst by pitching to a client, AJ a promotion to number one keeper for an upcoming cup game. Their stories are told in tandem but never intertwining, and as both women prepare for their big day - they both fall unexpectedly pregnant.

The thing I admire about Bitter Lemons most is its unequivocal, direct normalisation of so many taboos which form its narrative. Pregnancy termination is a core theme, but not the morality or overt indecision beyond reasonable consideration. Instead these characters talk in second person, unabashed, honestly and truthfully about termination and how it feels to read the instruction manual to a process you never imagined would apply to you. Equally, single mothers raising their children, casual sex from a woman’s perspective - topics not treated as tools for drama in themselves, instead normalised as part of the wider narrative. It is a brilliant way to focus the audience on the sometimes overwhelming simplicity of what’s unfolding in front of us. 

The writing is almost poetic, each character’s journey flowing in gorgeous, energetic and vulnerable dialogue that punches through its challenging themes. The piece is paced perfectly and directed by Hayes with aplomb. The set, a suitably basic chess board floor and mirrored boxes that slide into position with precision, is entirely appropriate; and a hung lighting rig which has the power to blind its audience, is used sparingly but to great effect. Costume is used to represent uniform; a suit of armour adopted by the women to add to their mental fortification before heading into battle for their ‘pitches’. A haunting score hums away, creaking and breaking with every ounce of pressure piled onto the shoulders of these performers. Everything is deliberate and subtle and more effective because of it. If I have criticism is that’s for a play that is so certain of itself, the ending felt like a bit of a cop-out. In leaving such ambiguity out there I felt distracted, perhaps even disconnected. Perhaps that’s the intention; after all, how do you end such a powerful piece without it feeling anticlimactic? I’m just not sure that was it.

Shannon Hayes as Angelina and Chanel Waddock as AJ in Bitter Lemons give as good a performance as Finsbury Park is likely to see this year. Both are compelling, convincing, and completely captivating. I will never stop being impressed by performers who are able to inhabit their characters with such commitment that it becomes impossible to see them as anyone else. These two stars display an emotional intelligence in their roles which allows them to tap into something rare; a confident vulnerability which feels simultaneously impenetrable and paperthin. They are a walking contradiction and watching them breathe their characters’ trauma is borderline therapeutic. Both have enormous futures ahead of them.

When I left the theatre into the bright street lights of Finsbury Park, my mind wandered to the unfair tax of just being a woman, that nobody asked for. Living with experiences that can feel isolating or shameful because of societal bias. Feeling that, despite evidence of progress; more women than ever leading Fortune 500 companies, the Three Lions’ Euros win, the world is still nowhere near as equitable as it should be. In fact one of the sub-lessons in the show is that perhaps they never will be. Bitter Lemons shows us that the way women are supported by friends, families, coaches, each other; that’s where real change happens.

Bitter Lemons plays at Park90 until Saturday 14 September 2024. For more information visit: https://parktheatre.co.uk/event/bitter-lemons/ 

Photos by Alex Brenner