Park Theatre, til 14 September 2024

⭐⭐⭐

Though the storytelling is a little rough around the edges, there’s plenty of emotional payoff in this character drama.

Much in all as I’ve enjoyed some of the lengthier plays I’ve been to see, sometimes a gal just wants a quick hit of theatre. The past month has seen me twice drop in to one of my locals, Park Theatre in Finsbury Park, to see two one-act plays that prove you can pack a punch in under 90 minutes. Though unrelated productions, both plays explore some of the same core themes by depicting the parallel lines of two women’s lives; in When it Happens to You it was a mother and daughter suffering from the same demons; in Bitter Lemons it’s two strangers who find themselves facing the same cruel twist of fate.

The two protagonists of Bitter Lemons are Angelina and AJ, both excelling in their careers but in very different fields. AJ is a goalkeeper in the Women’s Super League, finally getting her chance at glory when a teammate’s injury means she can step into the top squad. Angelina has a high-stakes finance job in the city, and is just one good presentation away from a career-defining promotion. Both women face not only the pressure of an inherently difficult job, but the added weight of representing their gender in a traditionally male-dominated field. As the big moment approaches for each of them, personal complications stand in the way of their plans and both must face a big decision to move on with their lives. 

There’s a lot to like about Bitter Lemons. Angelina and AJ are both well-rounded, two-dimensional characters that are easy to emapthise with. Playwright and director Lucy Hayes adds enough colour to make each character seem fully formed and relatable, as we follow the minutiae of their jobs, relationships and daily life. When the crux of the drama kicks in about halfway through, it’s hard not to feel invested in how the women will find their way through. I think Bitter Lemons definitely gets better as it goes along; when Angela and AJ receive their shocking news, the intensity of the story increases and the play is able to make its most powerful commentary about women’s lived experience.

That being said, I do feel that Bitter Lemons suffers from a few poor storytelling choices. For example, for the duration of the play both characters narrate the story by addressing the audience in the second person (“You feel your palms become sweaty as you enter the pitch.”). I think the intention is to encourage the audience to feel as though they are experiencing things from the characters’ points of view, but to me it came across as a bit gimmicky – surely a decent play will achieve that same aim simply with solid storytelling and character development. It was also just plain confusing at times, especially when the cast members adopt different personas. The story also relies a little too heavily on some fairly unoriginal narrative developments, such as Angelina being asked to make coffee by an older male colleague or AJ’s feminine mother not understanding the game of football (Bend it Like Beckham called, they want their storyline back). Even the shared fate Angelina and AJ face that forms the central narrative complication, while obviously necessary for the story being told, is telegraphed too obviously beforehand, and the hint at the end of the characters’ true connection is corny and redundant. 

Hayes smartly opts for simple staging; this is a character drama which means the less on-stage the better. (This is another similarity with When it Happens to You, and indeed The Interview which I saw at Park Theatre last year; minimalism must be the house style.) The movement on-stage emphasises how the two women’s lives mirror one another; they wander around a gridded floor, crossing paths and facing off but never interacting. Of the two-person cast, I thought Shannon Hayes as Angelina was slightly more effective – Chanel Waddock’s portrayal of the cockney goalie AJ felt a little too caricaturish for me. Though when the play reaches its stirring climax, both bring appropriate emotional heft. 

When reviewing plays or films I sometimes worry I come across as a bit of a psychopath – I’m never happy with romance or sentiment and tend to say things like “I enjoyed it when it got really serious.” At the risk of leaning into my own stereotype, I think this play shines the brightest when it delves into its darkest subject matter. There are some less-than-perfect story elements in Bitter Lemons, but there’s enough character development that when the serious drama begins, the emotional pay-off is there.