Stones In His Pockets review: Production at Everyman includes appearance from Derry Girls star

Irish Examiner

7 days ago

Stones In His Pockets, Everyman, Cork, ★★★☆☆
First performed almost 30 years ago, Stones In His Pockets by Belfast playwright and actor Marie Jones has been an enduring success, its story of a Hollywood production taking over an Irish village resonating with audiences at home and abroad.
This revamped production by the Barn Theatre from England is something of a family affair, directed by Matthew McElhinney, Jones' son, while she and her husband, the Derry Girls actor Ian McElhinney also make a surprise cameo appearance.
This is a play within a film, so to speak, with Charlie (Gerard McCabe) and Jake (Shaun Blaney) as extras portraying peasants in fictional drama The Quiet Valley, a typically twee and condescending screen version of Ireland.
Ian McElhinney.
Charlie is cheerfully optimistic, hoping his own film script will bring him fame and fortune while cynical Jake has already had his dreams dashed. The actors play over a dozen roles, from an annoying production assistant to leading lady Caroline Giovanni, McCabe morphing into the actress with one flirty flick of an imaginary mane.
While often billed as a comedy, a tragic event, referenced in the title, is at the heart of the play and it also deals with themes including the socio-economic effects of rural decline and depopulation. In this iteration, the play works best in the lighter moments, and doesn't quite manage the tonal shift to pathos, coming off as maudlin rather than affecting.
The script has been tweaked from the original but the language used gives it the feel of a period piece — the characters' constant lewd remarks about the lead actress are particularly jarring while a Kerryman joke draws a few half-hearted titters.
Inserted references to Amazon Prime also sit oddly in a play that features a wise and kindly Christian Brother teacher still using a blackboard, leading to a feeling that this vision of Ireland is as anachronistic as the Hollywood one the play is poking fun at.
Contrary to the more minimal early stagings of the play, the use of digital projection backdrops here allows it more cinematic scope but otherwise the cluttered set lacks polish.
The production as a whole is lifted by the bravura performances of McCabe and Blaney who, contrary to their Quiet Valley billing, are stars of the show. Their Hollywood ending is garnished with an impressive final flourish — a trailer of their own movie featuring a few well-known faces, which proves a hugely satisfying pay-off.
Stones in his Pockets is at the Everyman Theatre, Cork until Aug 10