Stones in his Pockets: Review

When it first premiered in the 1990s, Stones in his Pockets caused a stir. A winner of two Olivier awards for best new comedy and best new actor, the play by Marie Jones has played consistently in the West End as well as endearing audiences abroad.

It’s not hard to see why. The play is a raucous satire on the colonising grasp of Hollywood which turns a nation’s tragedy – in this case Ireland – into saccharine content for the masses layered with blarney and ‘oirish’.

Stones in his Pockets - Octagon Theatre, Bolton — Stones in his Pockets – Octagon Theatre, Bolton

Plot aside, what is perhaps most remarkable about the play is that the ‘cast’ is played by just two characters, Charlie Conlon and Jake Quinn. The actors are called upon to not just play these parts but the director, stage crew, assorted village residents, and at the centre of it all the demanding Hollywood diva trying and failing to perfect her rural Irish accent.

In this production at the Bolton Octagon, Gerard McCabe and Shaun Blaney do a brilliant job of switching between the 15 different characters at the drop of a hat, often to great comic effect. The energy and sheer bravura they bring to the performance had the audience on their feet at the end of the night, if only for their display of comic Irish dancing which would even have left Michael Flatley scratching his head.

Structurally, the play has its faults. It is overlong and relies on our having empathy for a young villager – Shaun Harkin – who has killed himself after drugs and despair destroyed any hopes he had of escaping smalltown rural life. However, Harkin is no more than a cipher for Ireland’s wasted youth and as such has little dramatic heft.

Quibbles aside, this production is notable for its inventive use of AI and a cinematic backdrop which deftly references the Hollywood production at the centre of the story. Charlie and Jake are employed as extras in an extravagant film depicting Irish life at the turn of the century, where peasants dig peat and are overseen by a landlord at the ‘big house’. The film is replete with cliches and when news of Shaun Harkin’s death breaks, it is the final straw for Charlie and Jake who, with troubles of their own, lead a mini revolt to reclaim the right to ‘tell our own story’.

The show has bounce and zips along at a frenetic pace with lots of gags and slapstick set pieces as audience pleasers, as evidenced by the standing ovation at the show’s curtain.

Without wanting to give too much away, watch out for some surprise additions to the ‘cast’ at the end of this joyful show who come up on screen and add a final flourish and delight to this energetic production.