JUST LIKE A PILL // A THEATRE REVIEW OF "YOKES NIGHT"

BY MATEO MORENO

March 11th, 2015, Dublin. The Court of Appeal declared Ireland's 1977 Misuse of Drugs Act void. They did so noting that the new additions to the Act were made without consulting the Irish National Parliament. This meant one very strange, and very surreal thing: for 24 hours, ecstasy, ketamine, mushrooms, crystal meth and a drug oddly called "Jeff" were legal in Ireland. The government acted swiftly and reclaimed the illegal nature by that Thursday, but for a small surreal time, anything goes within the clubs of Ireland. The night was referred to as YOKES NIGHT (Yokes being slang for "pills" in Ireland) and hashtags on twitter rang up almost immediately. #Yokes and #YokesGate popped up quickly and frequently and playwright/actor Scott Lyons recreated the night here, showcasing two young souls meeting by chance in a darkened room when all bets are off.

Lyons plays Harry, a young Dubliner ecstatic about the loophole that is legalizing drugs for a day. He hits the club with two of his best mates, but as they make out in a corner of the club, Harry wanders off and discovers Saoirse (Annette O'Shea). She's bold, beautiful, and just as excited for Yokes Night as he is. They both get high, not just off of pills, but off of each other. They frolic like the two drugged out youths they are, dancing terribly around each other, jumping in a freezing lake and running off to go camping in the middle of the night. It's then that Saoirse spills out a tragic and heartbreaking story, one that seems to be spilling into revenge on a dark and not so stormy night.

YOKES NIGHT shoots off like a rocket from minute one and never slows down. It's a 60-minute thrill ride of emotion, anchored by two outstanding performances. Scott Lyons, working off of his own script, is dynamic and relentless as Harry. He rarely slows down for even a moment and his physicality is quite impressive. Equally as impressive is Annette O'Shea as the troubled Saoirse. Her performance is thrilling and powerful, manic and filled with as much energy as heartbreak. Their chemistry is great, and the simple staging by Jesse Briton & Dimitris Chimonas (no set or backdrop) works completely in this manic show's favour. The script is chock full of great one liners and inspired dialogue and the end drops you off just as quickly as it picks you up. It's a quick night out at the theatre, but an inspired one and one that would rather kick you in the teeth than bore you. Bore you it does not. From Edinburgh to FringeNYC to its Off Broadway debut here YOKES NIGHT will send you out an a high. And it won't even be illegal the next day.

GRADE: A

Written by Scott Lyons Directed by Jesse Briton & Dimitris Chimonas Starring Scott Lyons and Annette O'Shea. Playing now through Sunday October 23rd at: Soho Playhouse (15 Vandam Street, NYC). For tickets: www.sohoplayhouse.com

MATEO MORENO is an actor and a playwright. His plays Happily After Tonight, Within Our Walls, Bohemian Valentine and Paper Airplanes have all been produced in NY and beyond. He is currently workshopping his new play Fairground Attraction as part of Athena Theatre's 2016 Playwrighting Group "Athena Writes" and is on the Board for Athena Theatre. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2015 // A FILM REVIEW OF "JIMMY'S HALL"

BY MATEO MORENO

The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, runs April 15th-26th and features hundreds of features, documentaries, short films, and special events all throughout downtown New York City. The ArtsWire Weekly's three featured reviewers Mateo, Derek, & Chrisena are hitting the festival and bringing the reviews right to you! What you should see and what you should skip...

Ken Loach has always been known for making very personal and naturalistic films, and his latest effor here at Tribeca JIMMY'S HALL again immediately strikes as a very personal story. Here, Loach takes on the true story of Jimmy Gralton, an Irish communist leader who became the first and only Irishman to ever be deported from Ireland. He was deported without trial and has remained an ugly stain in Irish history. Set in 1932, a decade after the end of the Irish Civil War, it follows Jimmy (Barry Ward) as he returns to his native Ireland after speading ten years in the United States. He left his home country originally after there was an uproar from the local Catholic Church regarding his involvement with The Pearse-Connolly community hall, which he founded and ran programs for the locals dedicated to art, music, sports, and all the things that the Church though were entirely frivilous things to teach. So they ran him out of town, only to be disapointed when he returns. He hasn't returned to reopen the hall, but to help out his own mother after the death of his brother. But when he returns the youth attach themselves to him immediately. They've heard stories of Jimmy, and are desperately bored in this small town. They want to dance. They want to play sports. They want to do more than just talk abour religion each and every moment of the day. So after some persuading Jimmy reopens the hall with the help of some friends and they start teaching classes to these kids with great effect. However, none of this sits well with the local Church, especially Father Sheridan (Jim Norton), and he marks on a one man mission to shread all evidence that Jimmy Gralton was ever there.

Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty paint a rich and powerful picture with Jimmy's Hall. You might be able to pick up on a few things easier should you know the context behind the history revolving around the film, but even if you don't, the film is a quiet charmer. Ward is fantastic as the returned hero, who was a man that believed in then "radical ideas" and simply wanted to help and have fun. Norton avoids the mustache twirling villan that in lesser hands his character could turn into, and instead really envelops a character who believed so strongly in his own mind's views that he consistantly overlooked how everyone else felt. Equally wonderful is Simone Kirby, who was Jimmy's girl before he left for the states. She couldn't join him and though she waited for him, eventually she gave up hope and married another. Now he's back and their relationship is powerful, sad, and sweet. Jimmy's Hall is deliberate in its slow pacing and it works (the dance hall scenes feel truly rich and alive). Eligant in its approach, the Hall will cast a spell on you while teaching you a very important part of history. Once that we hope will never be repeated but should also never be forgotten.

VERDICT: MUST SEE

DIRECTED BY Ken Loach WRITTEN BY Paul Laverty STARRING Barry Ward, Francis Magee, Aileen Henry, Simone Kirby, Stella McGirl, Sorcha Fox

 Playing as part of The 2015 Tribeca International Film Festival. For tickets & schedules: http://www.tribecafilm.com

MATEO MORENO recently won a bet on who could hold their breath the longest underwater. He won the bet, having beat local loudmouth Jimmy "Thunderbird" Thomas with a record breaking "fourteen minutes." True, part of that time was him unconscious and the other part was him being revived, but he still counts it, and is now $20 richer. Take THAT Thunderbird! He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

DARK TOUCH - TRIBECA REVIEW

BY MATEO MORENO

In the new psychological thriller DARK TOUCH we meet eleven year old Neve (Missy Keating) living on the Irish countryside with her parents and baby brother.  And not all is well at all in the home, as quick cuts and creepy images show you that there is a good deal of abuse happening to poor Neve from her parents.  Suddenly, and mysterious, mysterious scenes of violence occurs in the house.  Objects one by one attack and eventually kill both of her parents and set the entire house of fire, killing both parents and her younger baby brother (who she tries to save but suffocates due to all the smoke).  Neve escapes and is taken by her concerned neighbors Nat and Lucas (Marcella Plunkett and Padraic Delaney).  They try and help young Neve but she’s withdrawn and the horrors seem to continue to follow the young girl.  Accidents seem to continue to happen around her and Nat and Lucas, along with a social worker, are forced to examine what exactly is happening around them, and is there any way to stop it?

Writer/Director Marina de Van (Don’t Look Back, 8 Women) creates the first half of the movie as a slow meditation on the horrors of child abuse, filled with sparse dialogue and eerie imagery.  The movie is set up as a house of mysteries; what is going on with Neve and is there a way for her to trust an adult again after her horrible abuse?  But what could have become an interesting exploration into the horrors a child can see goes haywire, as the film becomes a third cousin of Carrie and becomes less concerned with answering any questions regarding the abuse story set up and more with a girl and her telekinetic powers.  Most of the last half becomes laughable, and goes from an intriguing set up to not making much sense at all.  With the exception of Missy Keating, who is haunting and affecting, not much can be said for the rest of the acting in the film and by the ridiculous end, you’ll just want it all to be over.  Dark Touch starts off with an interesting idea and quickly ruins it by forgetting what that idea was in the first place.

VERDICT: SKIP IT

Written and Directed by Marina de Van Starring Missy Keating, Marcella Plunkett, Padraic Delaney, Aidan Gilen, Charlotte Flyvhom Country Ireland, France Content Disclaimer (Adult Situations, Adult Language, Violence)  For ticket and screening information: http://tribecafilm.com/festival/tickets

BOTTOM LINE: Starts with intrigue and ends like a TV movie of Carrie but one that makes little sense and adds up to very little.