Stones in His Pockets
Marie Jones
Stones in His Pockets
County Kerry, Ireland. A rural community is turned upside down by the arrival of an American film crew on location to capture ‘real’ Ireland for their latest Hollywood blockbuster. When locals Charlie Conlon and Jake Quinn are employed as extras for the film, they, like the rest of the village, struggle to present the Americans’ romanticised Ireland, a stark contrast to the reality of daily life.
3.8 out of 5 based on 7 reviews
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Omniscore:
|
| Location |
London |
| Venue |
Tricycle Theatre |
| Director |
Indhu Rubasingham |
| Cast |
Jamie Beamish & Owen McDonnell |
| From |
December 2011 |
| Until |
February 2012 |
| Box Office |
020 7328 1000 |
| |
County Kerry, Ireland. A rural community is turned upside down by the arrival of an American film crew on location to capture ‘real’ Ireland for their latest Hollywood blockbuster. When locals Charlie Conlon and Jake Quinn are employed as extras for the film, they, like the rest of the village, struggle to present the Americans’ romanticised Ireland, a stark contrast to the reality of daily life.
Reviews
The Evening Standard
Henry Hitchings
"Some of these characters could be better fleshed out by Jones but the actors are deliciously eloquent. Their interpretations combine panache with real feeling. Gradually we are drawn into a meditation on love and loss that's poignant yet also at times stingingly funny."
21/12/2011
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The Guardian
Michael Billington
"Rubasingham, director-designate of the Tricycle, has come up with a fine revival that puts the emphasis back on the disintegration of a rural community. But, while I welcome this revisionist approach, I still feel it's the tragicomic mix and the platform it provides for two performers that makes this play special."
20/12/2011
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The Daily Mail
Patrick Marmion
"Rubasingham’s ruse is to go beyond the laughs to the quiet tragedy that underpins small-town Kerry when it’s over-run during the making of a Hollywood film. As we follow two unemployed 30-something extras, the comedy of rural life remains, but there’s more sense of the story’s lost soul — a raving drug addict called Sean who drowns himself in a loch having filled his pockets with stones."
30/12/2011
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The Daily Telegraph
Charles Spencer
"Though it is often richly funny, there are sudden glimpses of anger and emotional depth in Stones in his Pockets, too. And the piece seems particularly poignant now that the roar of the Celtic Tiger has subsided to a wounded whimper."
21/12/2011
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The Times
Libby Purves
"Programme notes compare it to both Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Ricky Gervais’s Extras but it is less densely pretentious than the first and infinitely more humane and truthful than the second. Jones leaves us arguing: is it really the movies’ fault for filling tragic Sean’s head with dreams? Or do we all destroy or create our lives by dreaming anyway? "
22/12/2011
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The Stage
Ben Dowell
"Compared with a play like Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem, Jones’ portrait of rural frustrations could be potentially tame and her lament for a lost Ireland expresses itself through what comes perilously close to a caricature of the arrogant Americans and their snooty British crew. But there is poignancy as well as a beautiful simplicity to her writing and director Indhu Rubasingham smartly focuses her directorial vision on the story’s darker and more tragic aspects."
21/12/2011
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Time Out
Andrzej Lukowski
"The device of having Beamish and McConnell perform every single part makes for some good comedy ... but every character bar Charlie and Jake is played as a virtual stereotype, which dulls the satire. Moreover, our view of America has darkened significantly since this play was written, and while pertinent, much of Jones's humour feels overly gentle "
23/12/2011
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