Aunt Dan and Lemon

Aunt Dan and Lemon is a play by Wallace Shawn. The world premiere was produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival (Joseph Papp, producer) at the Royal Court Theatre in London, England on August 27, 1985, under the direction of Max Stafford-Clark. This production opened off-Broadway at The Public Theater on October 21, 1985. It received a New York revival off-Broadway in 2004 at the Acorn Theatre, directed by Scott Elliot.The play returned to London’s Royal Court Theatre in 2009 when Jane Horrocks took the lead role. This production received mixed reviews.

Cast

Original 1985 cast

2004 revival cast

Wallace Shawn played Lemon's father and ensemble roles in the original production.

Plot synopsis

Lemon, a reclusive young woman with an unspecified chronic illness, sits in her apartment reading books about Nazism and reliving her life story. But as she tells the audience, that life story consists mostly of stories she herself was told in childhood by "Aunt Dan," a family friend. In flashback we see the miserable marriage of Lemon's parents and the child's eagerness for escape through Dan's stories.