Honey and Lemon: ‘Talent only gets you so far, to stay as a artist it’s resilience’

“When people ask me about getting into the arts today, I always have the same answer: talent only gets you so far, to stay as a freelance artist it’s just resilience,” says Amy Robyn Lyster, one half of creative duo Honey and Lemon.

“It takes an awful lot of patience, you really have to keep pushing and you really have to believe in what you’re doing,” Millie Daniel-Dempsey, the other half of this dynamic pair, tells Róisín Ingle on The Women’s Podcast. “We really believe in the work that we’ve made and that’s why we’ve kept hammering on,” she adds.

The artists, two multidisciplinary entertainers who have been friends for more than a decade, formed their double act in 2020 and last year became dancers in residence at the Civic Theatre in Tallaght. The work in question is Double Act, a new show by Honey and Lemon coming to the Project Arts Centre in Dublin on January 18th. It’s a whistle-stop tour of the history of women in entertainment. Think French and Saunders, The Cheeky girls and Thelma and Louise.

“When we got to thinking what we might like to make a show about, we thought, well what are we,” explains Millie Daniel-Dempsey. “We’re two women, two friends, two performers, let’s see who’s out there, who’s come before us and who’s around now,” she continues.

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The show spans one hundred years and introduces the audience to the likes of the Hilton sisters; conjoined twins who were a musical double act and the Baranton sisters, a sister double act known for juggling tables on their feet.

“It’s been hugely interesting for us and challenging as performers to try and put ourselves in different characters’ shoes, that cross different art forms as well,” says Daniel-Dempsey.

“We want to highlight the extreme talent of some of these people, whether its foot juggling or French and Saunders doing an improv sketch, or it’s Thelma and Louise and their chemistry on screen, it’s effortless and that’s what we want to capture, that effortless dynamic,” adds Lyster.

So when it comes to their effortless double act, which of them is Honey and who is Lemon? Well that’s “open for interpretation” they say. “Like any good double act, I feel like the relationship has to keep morphing and evolving for it to stay interesting,” says Lyster. “We’re in it to bring out the best of each other”.

You can listen back to this conversation in full in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.

Double Act by Honey and Lemon comes to the Project Arts Centre on January 18th 2024.