Christopher Burns left, and Bronson Pinchot play Irish extras on a Hollywood film in Marie Jones' 'Stones In His Pockets.'
A Globe Theaters presentation by special arrangement with Paul Elliott, Adam Kenwright, Pat Moylan, Ed and David Mirvish, and Azenberg/Pittelman of a two-act play by Marie Jones. Directed by Ian McElhinney
With: Bronson Pinchot, Christopher Burns.
Bronson Pinchot and Christopher Burns display expansive talents in the San Diego staging of "Stones in His Pockets," which launches a miniature national tour of Marie Jones' hit play about Irish extras during the making of a Hollywood film. While the performances are technically excellent, though, they're not especially soulful, which leaves this work absent a needed charm.
It's an enjoyable evening that should generate respectable audiences -- drawn by the play's reputation, solid notices, its appealing theatricality, and Pinchot's "Perfect Strangers" celebrity --but artistically, "Stones in His Pockets" may well have grown too big for its britches.
Jones' play is set during the filming of a big studio epic, entitled "The Quiet Valley," in an unspoiled part of Ireland. With a nod perhaps to "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," Jones turns those playing the tiniest of roles in the film into the leads of this show. The story itself, about the interactions of the Irish locals with the crew and, especially, with the stunningly beautiful Hollywood superstar, has never been the play's greatest appeal. Rather, it's the highly stylized way the story is told, with the two actors embodying all the characters on an unadorned stage consisting of a backdrop, a couple of dozen shoes, and a box out of which they pull minimal articles of clothing.
This production, directed by Jones' husband Ian McElhinney, is identical to the one that played London and Broadway. It's extremely attractive in its simplicity.
The piece centers on Charlie (Pinchot) and Jack (Burns), two Irish guys who have passed their youth just enough to begin feeling they may be losers. For both, the opportunity to be even this close to big-time success -- which Hollywood glamour so blatantly represents to them -- becomes a last chance at dreaming. Pinchot also plays Caroline Giovanni, the gorgeous star of the film who takes a liking to Jack, as well as the "heavy" who acts as her security.
He's also the film's ultra-pretentious director, the lascivious assistant director and plenty of other characters. Burns plays more of the locals, including the old man Mickey -- whose decades-long history as an extra makes him a semi-celebrity -- and the drug-addled Sean, whose suicide sets up the conflict for the second act and provides the play's title.
Pinchot and Burns played these roles in the West End before bringing them to the West Coast, and their performances are unquestionably admirable if not lovable. This is a small, even intimate piece, that's now being performed in large houses, and that means the actors, by necessity, differentiate the many characters in broad strokes rather than subtle detail. Both actors navigate the Irish brogues, sacrificing the right amount of lilt for clarity, and both demonstrate a fairly elastic physicality.
The casting itself, though, is a bit problematic. For a show that's in part about cultural colonialism, having an American television star play an Irish Everyman dreaming of stardom affects the perception of the work. And it would have been nice to have a bit more physical variety in the two roles to give the characters more texture. There's something ultimately bland about this show, both because the story itself is on the slight side and because, no matter how hard the actors try, the characters never quite come vividly to life.
Set, Jack Kirwan; lighting, James C. McFetridge; production stage manager, Zoya Kachadurian. Opened Feb. 8, reviewed Feb. 16, 2002. Closes March 16. Running time: 2 HOURS, 15 MINS.
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Date in print: Tue., Feb. 26, 2002