Verhoeven shows the humanity and desire behind the extremes, and succeeds in being confrontational and poignant, without being overly explicit.

Simon Baetens in Etcetera (24 April 2023)Lees hier de recensie

Dries Verhoeven's work is always an exercise in plural thinking (...) And if there is one thing neoliberalism won't tolerate, it is plurality: identities that cannot be catalogued, controlled and thus marketed. Watching The NarcoSexuals is watching a form of freedom that has nothing to do with individual hedonism, but everything to do with a resistance to collective self-discipline.

Evelyne Coussens in De Morgen (April 21, 2023)Read the review (in Dutch)

As a spectator, you are a voyeur, witnessing this incredible orgy of horniness, intimacy and loneliness. (...) As far as we are concerned, the best theatre production of the year.

Filip Tielens in De Standaard (April 19, 2023)Read the review (in Dutch)

Verhoeven masterfully translates a sexual indulgence that normally takes place behind closed doors, into the public realm and makes it relatable. Without moral judgement, but with questions about its necessity.

Marijn v/d Jagt in De Groene (28 Sept 2022)Lees hier de recensie

Dries Verhoeven weaves an ingenious ambiguity into his performance The NarcoSexuals. The installation confronts you, non-stop, with your own prejudices […] A ceaseless ebb and flow of beauty and melancholy.

Herien Wensink in de Volkskrant (16 May 2022)Read the review (in Dutch)

The NarcoSexuals is at the same time liberating and uncomfortable in the way it makes taboos transparent.

Sander Janssens in NRC (14 May 2022)Read the article (in Dutch)

The new installation by Dries Verhoeven looks more theatrical and dramatic than I am used to in his work. Swaying between a peepshow and the re-enactment of Grindr sex date, a wonderful game of looking inside and out arises.

Fransien van der Putt in Theaterkrant (13 May 2022)Read the review (in Dutch)

After all, we are dealing with a very refined and intelligent, perhaps even perfidious or somewhat hellish attempt, in which what we watch, this peculiar reenactment of a sex party, is neither apologeticized nor condemned.

Piotr Gruszczyński op dwutygodnik.comRead the review (in Polish)

Verhoeven wants to start a public conversation with The NarcoSexuals about the meaning of chemsex, sex under the influence of drugs, a phenomenon that is especially popular among gay men. But his intentions are broader: he also wants to talk about the relationship between lust and intimacy, and about the fact that where the gay movement used to want to be visible, the chemsex scene flourishes mainly in secret.

Hein Janssen (de Volkskrant) visited Dries Verhoeven in the Studio in Almere and interviewed him during the preparations for The NarcoSexuals (12 May 2022)Read the interview (in Dutch)

The NarcoSexuals strips bare the darkest layers of our society. We are granted a momentary glimpse beneath the sanitised surface, beyond the world where we’re presumed to be health-aware, sane, high achievers. This production takes us far deeper, into a realm of nagging unease, where wired bodies chase happiness, wavering between madness and meaning.

An interview by Jowi Schmitz (Trouw) with Dries Verhoeven during the rehearsals of The NarcoSexuals (12 May 2022)Read the interview (in Dutch)

Verhoeven saw chemsex take off during corona. "The many restrictions had a different effect on families than on single gay men who already have a history of restrictions." There are no restrictions in the reconstructed (performance) house.

Lorianne van Gelder (Het Parool) interviewed Dries Verhoeven during the making process of The NarcoSexuals (10 May 2022)Read the interview (in Dutch)