The Limit, Royal Opera House, review: Francesca Hayward never takes full flight in this deft and witty two-hander

A couple find themselves living under a harsh new law that rations speech to just 140 words a day in the Royal Ballet’s new staging of Sam Steiner’s 2015 play

Francesca Hayward and Alexander Campbell performing in ‘The Limit’ (The Limit ©2023 Camilla Greenwell)

In The Limit, speech is rationed – but for a dance show, it’s still a novelty to hear dancers’ voices. In The Royal Ballet’s new work, choreographer Kristen McNally and director Ed Madden blend words and movement in a deft, witty staging. It’s starrily cast with dancers Francesca Hayward and Alexander Campbell, who bring extra glow to physical communication, before and after the words run out.

For The Limit, McNally and Madden worked with playwright Sam Steiner to adapt his award-winning two-hander Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons. A couple find themselves living under a harsh new law that rations speech to just 140 words a day. Weaving together themes of communication, protest and free speech, it’s a portrait of a relationship under the other pressures of insecurities, jealousies, and day-to-day life.

From the beginning, McNally and Madden merge movement and text together. A dance sequence flows through the couple’s first few meetings; under all the hesitations and flirting, the relationship has its own momentum. Midstep, Campbell and Hayward exchange morning-after greetings. For them, it’s a new stage in the relationship, but the dance shows us they’re already flying through it.