Stones In His Pockets

The best scene is Caroline Giovanni emerging from her castle to embrace the man she loves, a simple Irish peasant. What torrid romance! And its cast of thousands is played out by two whirling dervishes, the actors Conleth Hill and Sean Campion. Together they are the entire cast of this latest Irish import STONES IN HIS POCKETS, a parody of Hollywood movies, the people who make them, and the nations that lie prostrate in their wake.

Speaking of wakes, the comedy, imported from London where it recently won two Olivier awards, takes a tragic turn when the Hollywood Diva vamps it up for a local youth. Caroline Giovanni, the singular creation of Conleth Hill, appears by the mere toss of his head. Slightly angling his upper body, the hefty actor oozes the kind of sensuality that could nurture a nation. But when his rear quarters rise up Mr. Hill morphs into her overbearing body guard and when his arm drops to his side he is the dignified albeit frustrated movie director. One of the two Olivier awards, of course, is his. Together with Sean Campion the two actors jump cut from diva to drug addict, supercilious girl on the set to the entire cast of Riverdance.

The stage is mostly bare with a celluloid frame of clouds as a backdrop, the weather of course setting the cast and crew into fits and bouts of turmoil. And our two chameleons bountifully fill the multitudes of shoes that line the back stage wall.

The strength of the story lies in their improvisational quality and in the buddy story…two blokes and the phony celebrities who will apparently represent their desperate straights at movie theatres near you. But as Broadway shows go, this one’s a bit long-winded, never moving far beyond the premise with its obvious themes about individual destiny, faith and expectations.

I’m Isa Goldberg for Theatre Review.