LEMONS, Lemons, Lemons , Lemons, Lemons is one of many plays from the Edinburgh Festival being replayed at HOME, Manchester.

The award-winning two hander by Sam Steiner, presented by Walrus new writing theatre company, takes us, George Orwell fashion, to a world where the government has introduced a new law – the hush law.

It restricts the number of words permitted to be spoken daily to 140.

Bearing in mind that the average person speaks 123,205,750 words in their lifetime, the new law is, if not torture, the cause of acute mental stress.

Even more so when you are in love and you want to express your affection.

The lovers are divorce lawyer, Bernadette (Beth Holmes) and musician, Oliver (Euan Kitson) Oliver, a political activist, does his best to get the hush law reversed by waving banners and marching. His partner is more laid back Although the chemistry between them is good, they never touch, perhaps because of their difficulty in communicating.?

Under the direction of Ed Madden, the action seamlessly goes backwards in time to their first meeting and forwards to the present.

The script is interesting because it makes the characters say what they mean without waffling - because they have to save precious words to express their feelings of affection.

Beth Holmes as Bernadette and Euan Kitson, establish a rapport by using body language and mime to relate with one another.

And, by the way Walrus, your words have now been reduced to 135. You’ve wasted five in the title not to mention the sprinkling of unnecessary F words.

* This play continues at HOME, Manchester until October 8. For tickets, telephone 0161 200 1500 or see homemcr.org. Star rating: * * *