Written and directed by Lucy Hayes, Bitter Lemons isn’t your ‘run of the mill’ play about ‘women in the workplace’. Sharing the same space on stage, the respective stories of Angelina (Shannon Hayes) and AJ (Chanel Waddock) are intertwined – two women who happen to spend their time in ‘working environments’ that once upon a time weren’t welcoming to women, yet still have barriers of one description or another.

AJ is on the verge of becoming a professional female goalkeeper, but it hasn’t been an easy path getting to the position of ‘first goalie’. But while AJ’s mother has never been her biggest supporter, her father’s belief in her abilities has been invaluable. In contrast, Angelina’s Nigerian mother has always supported her endeavours, but as a single mother working long hours to ‘make ends meet’, she’s never been around as much as either she or her daughter would like. Also, as a ‘woman of colour’ working in corporate finance with a secret boyfriend who went to ‘public school’, Angelina knows that while she is in a ‘privileged’ position, there are no guarantees her circumstances will last forever, which would affect her ability to help out her mother financially.

And nothing turns your world upside down more than finding out you’re pregnant…

The second half of the play deals with the ramifications of this for both women, and weighing up the option of having an abortion. For AJ – asides from the fact that her pregnancy is the result of a non-serious relationship – keeping the child would automatically end her chosen career. But there is a world of difference between deciding on an abortion and physically going ahead with it, without knowing the physical after-effects… Angelina’s choices are on the surface, less straightforward. Having a line manager who is unsuccesfully undergoing IVF treatment makes one think about the finite chances in an average woman’s life to conceive. Also, Angelina’s ‘news’ arrives at the same time as a once-in-a-lifetime promotion. Either way, whatever she chooses will be a crucible for her relationship with Tom, her boyfriend…

Bitter Lemons really brings into focus how women’s relationships with their own bodies affect their choices in the wider world and vice versa. AJ’s career is very ‘of the moment’ – what with the success of ‘the Lionesses’ – but it is the dichotomy in her relationship with her respective parents that will have wider audience recognition. As for Angelina, the multiple balls she juggles with working for a big firm, her own ‘solvency’, ‘office politics’ and so on is something that most people will identify with.

While the careers of AJ and Angelina are very different, their respective experiences as women and the choices their bodies make for them highlight the battles that all women have to endure, whether they talk about it or not. The play itself isn’t didactic and makes no judgement calls about the thoughts and feelings of the central characters. But regardless of their respective accomplishments and their sense of agency, like all women the choices they make regarding fertility and motherhood (or to not pursue this) affects future choices and their sense of identity.

© Michael Davis 2024

Bitter Lemons runs at the Park Theatre until 14th September.