Stones in His Pockets

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Stones in His Pockets
Written by	Marie Jones
Date premiered	1996
Place premiered	Amharclann na Carraige DubbleJoint Theatre Company Belfast
Original language	English
Genre	Comedy
Setting	County Kerry in rural Ireland

Stones in His Pockets is a two-hander written in 1996 by Marie Jones for the DubbleJoint Theatre Company in Dublin, Ireland.

The play is a tragicomedy about a small rural town in Ireland where many of the townspeople are extras in a Hollywood film. The story centres on Charlie Conlon and Jake Quinn, who, like much of the town, are employed as extras for the filming. The key point in the play is when a local teenager commits suicide, by drowning himself with stones in his pockets, after he is humiliated by one of the film stars. The script calls upon the cast of two to perform all 15 characters (men and women), often switching gender and voice swiftly and with minimal costume change – a hat here, a jacket there. Comedy also derives from the efforts of the production crew to create the proper "Irish feel" – a romanticised ideal that often conflicts with the reality of daily life.

The play was first shown in Belfast in 1996 and went on to The Edinburgh Festival fringe and to have a successful run in London's West End. The original cast of Conleth Hill and Sean Campion later took the show to Broadway. Having won the Irish Times/ESB Irish Theatre Award for Best Production in 1999, the play also won two Olivier Awards in 2001 for Best New Comedy and Best Actor (Conleth Hill).