Autumn Royal NYC Reviews and Tickets

72%

(118 Reviews)

Positive

68%

Mixed

28%

Negative

Members say

Great acting, Funny, Disappointing, Slow, Confusing

About the Show

Siblings face a difficult choice when their lives are put on hold to care for their ill father.

Multi-award-winning novelist Kevin Barry pens his first original play, a dark comedy about familial relations. In it, siblings May and Timothy carry the burden of their father's illness while also wrestling with dreams of their own. Since they are not getting any younger, they question whether it is best to stay and help the father, who has taken to bed, or if it's time to move on. The witty, dark comedy was called "brilliant" by The Irish Independent and marks the reopening of Irish Rep's Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage.

Member Reviews (118)

Entertaining, Absorbing, Dense, Great acting, Slow

See it if You don’t mind a show that takes its time getting to the point. You’re not really sure where you’re going till you’re almost there.

Don't see it if You want some action. This is basically two long monologues, one by each actor. They are well done but by the end, do you really care? Read more

Slow, Resonant, Indulgent, Absorbing

See it if Irish rep puts out a pretty good play about redemption and loving

Don't see it if Can be slow at times and a little lobg

Relevant, Funny, Entertaining, Great acting, Quirky

See it if you appreciate a serious subject about family care issues performed by 2 good actors with strong writing, great sound, lights & projections.

Don't see it if laughing at a serious family issue would bother you. I still have difficulty getting every line with the Irish accents.

Open ended, Irish accents obscure dialogue, Resonant, Thought-provoking, Funny

See it if you love reality based Irish language theater. The production demonstrates a family making a sad life bearable with humor & imagination.

Don't see it if you need to understand every word. A man who walked with a shillelagh bellowed laughter during monologs that I was unable to understand

Story not that interesting, Disappointing, Great acting

See it if you like any stories about children deciding what to do about elders with severe mental ailments.

Don't see it if you want a story that grips you. There is wonderful acting but the story never moved me. I was relieved when it ended.

Bleak, Entertaining

See it if you'll commiserate with the unfulfilled aspirations of two unexceptional souls staving off death

Don't see it if you’re looking for more optimism or a larger scope, not in the mood to piece together family history fragments Read more

Great acting, Thought-provoking, Disappointing, Funny, Entertaining

See it if you like dark comedies with funny lines expertly delivered by 2 fine actors, sad family story where a parent is ill (dementia?); J. Keating

Don't see it if you don't want the emotional story overshadowed by the many funny lines, Irish accents occasionally hard to understand.

Intelligent, Resonant, Great acting, Funny, Clever

See it if you enjoy well written, well performed dark comedy about a dysfunctional family

Don't see it if two siblings imagining getting rid of their abusive, dementia suffering father is triggering for you while dismissing their victim mom Read more

Critic Reviews (4)

The fate of May and Timmy would be tragic, almost unbearably so, but for that fact that so much of their dialogue is spiked with bilious hilarity. When it comes to black comedy, it's always a great day for the Irish.
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"First-time playwright Kevin Barry brings the same full-hearted doom and gloom to the stage in Autumn Royal that was evidenced in his Booker-Prize-longlisted Night Boat to Tangier...In other words, Autumn Royal is the perfect midlife-crisis-cum-Covid play."
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"Autumn Royal is a thinly plotted effort, dependent more on language and atmosphere than dramatic tension. Unfortunately, as directed by the usually reliable Ciarán O’Reilly, the performances come off as just that, performances."
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