Tuesday 26 July 2016

Yokes Dramaturgy:Scott Lyons@ Edfringe 2016


YOKES NIGHT

Award winning Stay Up Late Collective in association with
Bear Trap Theatre present
YOKES NIGHT’.

Inspired by true events in Dublin, 11th March 2015, the night all drugs were legal for 24 hours. On this night of rebellion, young Harry finds himself under the influence of the mysterious Saoirse. Wrapped up in the ecstasy of their union, secrets are shared, and the stench of bloodshed looms. 

YOKES NIGHT is a new play by Irish writer Scott Lyons, a revolt against the authorities that have castrated Ireland. It opens a discussion about the profound impact Abortion Laws have on young people in Ireland today, and the social obstacles of the young, broke and bored in Dublin.

Stay Up Late and Bear Trap Theatre fuse cut-throat dialect with stylized movement and spoken word, forging a fresh, progressive theatre experience which is unique to Irish Theatre.

Bear Trap’s Jesse Briton comments:
The reason why I was initially attracted to Yokes Night in the first place is because a lot of shows are trying to be Yokes Night. Trying to be young, and relevant, and politically, and socially aware. Yokes Night marries all of that with a really unique, original voice.”

3th-29th August 2016 - 2.15pm



What was the inspiration for this performance?
When equal marriage rights vote was won in Ireland, this was a sign of significant change in attitude in Ireland. The younger generation were turning it's back to the Catholic Church's involvement within government. For the past eight years, the young Irish generation have been oppressed by the actions of it's government. 

Many of my friends have had to emigrate, and some have committed suicide – to me this is a due to the failure of the State. This anguish that the young generation in Ireland has is what caused me to write Yokes Night.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?
I wrote the play a year ago. From there, we gathered our team of actor, producer and directors along the way. We all come from the same Contemporary Theatre course from East 15 Acting School.

How did you become interested in making performance?
From frustration. I wanted to write a definitively Irish play that I've been wanting to watch for the past number of years, but never have. Most of the great Irish plays that question the status quo of the country have been written decades ago.

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?
Not particularly. The play was born out of a poem written about an experience I had on a night out in Dublin. From there, it formed into many other plays before Yokes Night was finally conceived. Once in the rehearsal room, we wanted to explore the text and action on stage to as much as we could. We have two directors involved in the project. Dimitris Chimonas works very visually as an artist on the stage, while Jesse Briton is the half that works traditionally with the text being performed.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?
With the fast-paced spoken-word element to the play, we want audiences to come out entertained. There's many memorable lines to enjoy listening to. However, because of the themes within the play, we want our audiences to enter a conversation I feel to be pivotal right now. Discussing what it is to be young in our current times within Europe, and understand the consequences of having abortion illegal within a western country.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?
By making a clear, simple story that can be enjoyed by everyone.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?

The play follows some ways of European contemporary theatre, and spoken-word poetry. Ultimately, it's a piece of Irish theatre for the modern day. 

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