mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Reviewed 1/23/04
In America, Hollywood is the beacon for most who have aspirations of wealth and fame. What a lot of Americans forget is just how much America itself is the aspiration of many in other countries in their attempt to achieve the same goals. When Hollywood goes on location, it is something like the dream machine uprooting itself and coming to them. In Stones in His Pockets, Marie Jones’ quite funny and eventually thought provoking piece, two Irishmen with dreams of something better than their County Kerry upbringing become extras in a glitzy and demeaning Hollywood movie. Charlie wants to bring his own script to the silver screen, while Jake, having just returned in defeat from a quest for riches in New York City, dreams of winning the starring roles for himself. Things seem set for them when the film’s leading lady, Caroline, focuses on Jake, but he soon realizes that the star just wants to use him as a dialect coach and to capture the local flavor. Jake becomes further enraged when his young cousin kills himself after being rudely rejected by Caroline and the director. The production makes a sharp turn to the dramatic in the second act as Jake and Charlie are burned by the bright lights of Tinseltown and begin to plot revenge. In a twist that is rather Irish in it’s thinking, Jake and Charlie portray all of the other characters in the play, from the vain Hollywood starlet to ancient extra Mickey, whose claim to fame is being the last remaining extra from The Quiet Man. To mount this popular script, Actors Theatre has called on three veterans for this two-hander, and a rollicking and pointed evening is the result.
Jon Gentry, a familiar face to AT audiences, is behind the scenes this time around to helm the production. The comedic timing with which he has been blessed is fully evident here in his handling of this production. It’s hard to choose a way in which your actors are expected to morph from one character to another, and Gentry chooses to make the changes with a flourish, a quick move that never has the audience questioning what is happening. He has ensured that the accents, a sticking point in the script, are accurate and consistent. He keeps the actors moving and the stage pictures engaging.
Gentry has cast two greatly talented actors. Several seasons back, Kirk Jackson portrayed the doomed professor in AT’s Oleanna and directed Gentry in last season’s Gray’s Anatomy. As Jake, Jackson is a simmering cauldron of regret and resentment, not given to an excess of talk but when pushed, quick with a witty observation or a sharp barb. He is also excellent at differentiating his various other characters, most notably his hilarious portrayal of the colorful Mickey.
Oliver Wadsworth was an amazing Prior in AT’s productions of both parts of Angels in America, but here shows even more range as Charlie and other characters. His Charlie is full of energy and a perfect foil to Jackson’s Jake. His portrayal of starlet Caroline is a bit disappointing in its obviousness, but he makes up for this with his spot on portrayal of the English director Clem and turncoat Irishman First A.D. Simon.
Paul A. Black’s unit set is an ironic commentary, and his lighting is expressive and offers a few comic moments. Lois Myers’ costumes are solid, and David Temby’s sound is excellent and accurate.
The payoff of this play is not quite earthshaking, but satisfying nonetheless. The humor that marks its start gives way to deeper thoughts in the second act, and it’s always nice to see the fallacies of American’s exposed. This is an evening that highlights three talents and is time well spent.
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