Home Rule
Written by Liam Gibbons; Directed by Francis Pace-Nunez
Presented by Dragon Events NYC
Presented as part of the 2025 New York City Fringe Festival
UNDER St. Marks | 94 St. Mark's Place, New York, NY 10009
April 2nd, 9th, 13th & 20th
Theatre festivals are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.
The FRIGID Festival kicks off tonight in NYC and approximately 65 shows will run in rep at 5 different venues. Shows will run a bit under an hour. There will be one-acts and bits of longer works in progress; dramas, comedies and musicals.
Home Rule is another beast altogether. Jump cuts, multiple scenes, multiple locations, the play is set at a frantic pace. In a classic horror motif, the horny young couple encounter an angry spirit in an abandoned old castle. Saint Padraic has unfinished business and needs to borrow a living, human body or two to get the job done. Meanwhile, the IRA wants to protect the coast from the potential British invasion.
While this is supposed to be 1920s Ireland, it has more of a 1970s Scooby-Doo Ireland - vibe. With some of the accents directly out of a box of Lucky Charms, one of the actors gets worked into such a frenzy, they become unintelligible. And what would be a play about Ireland without a drunken priest!
This show would make for a great low-budget horror short film. Wild and over the top, the future of Ireland is in the hands of a teen girl, a worried mom and a drunk parish priest.
With 65 plays, there is something for everyone in this festival. There is exciting new work to be seen. Make a night of it or do a venue crawl, but come out and support live theatre.
Click HERE for tickets.
Review by Nicole Jesson.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on April 6th, 2025. All rights reserved.