Yokes Night NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
A Fringe Encore: Stay Up Late Collective and Bear Trap Theatre present Scott Lyons' Dublin-set drama about what happens when drugs are declared legal for one night. Inspired by real events!
Show-Score Member Reviews (13)
See it if you're looking for a short, unique play that packs a punch
Don't see it if you want a full length show, you have trouble with accents or you hate good theater
See it if You like simple staging. You like vivid storytelling. You want to be immersed in the story. You are not intimidated by a heavy Irish accent.
Don't see it if You are intimidated by a heavy Irish accent. You don't like vivid storytelling. You need a big production. You need fancy staging.
See it if want a show that starts off thinking it will be complete mayhem to something more serious. Actors were great and very committed!
Don't see it if can't understand Irish accents. At times, I was struggling but I would say I got about 95% of the words down. Words are lost in translation. Read more
See it if Enjoy Irish humor
Don't see it if You prefer happy endings.
See it if You want to see a bare staged frenetically paced two-person drama. Themes of drug use, seduction and violence. Narrative story telling.
Don't see it if You want a more fully developed plot and story narrative. You don't like bare bones staging. You don't like themes of drugs and violence.
See it if you like Irish accents, or if you want to see a short drama exploring a darker side of human nature.
Don't see it if Irish dialects are too hard for you to understand, or if you want to see a show with more design elements (there are no props, sets, etc.).
See it if you enjoy Fringe shows and will like to see an unusual 2-people show of young people going berzerk.
Don't see it if you like well developed plots and fully developed characters.
See it if you enjoy Irish storytelling. Thick accent made it hard to understand. I guess it was fantasy but it would be hard to imagine many relating.
Don't see it if you expect a normal story or even a quirky one that ends up being fun. This one left me unsatisfied.
Critic Reviews (6)
"It may only last 45 minutes but ‘Yokes Night’ is a fine play, performed to perfection by playwright Scott Lyons and Zoe Forrester…Harry is a born loser, though at least he has a job. Nirvana for him is Yokes Night, the day last year when Irish law changed to make all drugs legal, even hard ones…The ensuing scenes come straight from a horror movie but are evoked well in Jesse Briton and Dimitris Chimonas’s simple production that races along to a satisfyingly enigmatic conclusion."
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"This fast-paced, poetic production buzzes with the energy of that crazy night and the younger generation’s frustration at the actions (or inactions) of the Irish government and adherence to outdated notions. Great, engaging performances are helped by a simple but effective set...The denouement is perhaps a bit obvious and the game-show trial is a little overused device, but it remains a show to rave over."
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"This riveting two-hander turns into a darkly innocent love story with a couple of surprises along the way…A lot of themes are packed into this new play by Scott Lyons...There’s a whole load of physical stuff going on too, thanks to director Dimitris Chimonas’ finger-on-the-pulse direction. Like 'Midsummer' on MDMA, Lyons and Zoe Forrester, as the strangely likeable couple, generate a chemistry that gets sparks flying throughout in a brace of winning performances."
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"Both actors go at this with the vitality of the young and it is not the worse for it. They have the characters in their heads and what we see onstage is both believable and visceral…The ending is particularly brutal and very surprising…It saves a script that I felt at times was a little lacking in depth but the overall punch it packs makes up for that – perhaps it needs a little more in the rehearsal room."
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"Lyons gives such a strong, enthusiastic and easy performance that we utterly sympathize with his desire to find a soulmate…The energy he brings holds together this extremely demanding and at times incredibly dark tale. The talented Zoe Forrester’s Saoirse takes us in so completely with her naturalistic charm that we simply see her as the harmed creature she portrays…Raw, fresh, challenging and beautiful to behold."
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"There's a lot of superb writing here…Lyons and Forrester as Harry and Saoirse have real chemistry, and some hilarious and touching scenes...But underneath there is a sense of little more than an Adam and Eve for the post-rave generation, and a clichéd warning to avoid the temptress. The volte face feels a little forced and paints the duo's respective denouements into a corner. Nonetheless, 'Yokes Night' is a seething play with two superbly judged performances, and a lot of style."
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