As award-winning comedy Stones In His Pockets raises the curtain on its Dubai debut, Catherine Jarvie chats to the cast about the pleasures - and perils - of a multiple- personality performance.
I'm never going to be a convincing woman,' asserts Nick Barclay down the phone from London. ‘I'm not wearing make-up or a wig or anything like that. But I've found from experience that within about 10 minutes, people completely buy into it.
For anyone slightly confused by the direction this conversation might be taking, this is not a discussion on the vagaries of cross-dressing but an interview for the forthcoming debut of Stones In His Pockets, the West End and Broadway smash about to open in Dubai's DUCTAC Centrepoint Theatre.
The term ‘sleeper hit' could have been invented for Stones (as it's affectionately known). Written by Irish actor-turned-playwright Marie Jones, the show did the rounds of independent theatres in Belfast, London and Edinburgh's renowned Fringe Festival in the mid-to-late 90s, before eventually transferring to London's West End in 2000. It has since garnered numerous awards, been staged in over 20 countries and translated into 16 languages. Quite the success story then.
The story of the chaos caused by a big Hollywood film crew as it descends on a small southern Irish town, the play revolves around two thirtysomething lads, Charlie and Jake, who, each at a crossroads in their personal lives and desperate for their ‘big break', sign up as film extras, hoping that a little glamour will rub off on them.
Essentially a two-hander, the actors playing the lead roles also play the part of every other one of the 15 characters in Stones - from the glamorous star of the movie being filmed (just one of a handful of roles for which Barclay and his co-star Matt Addis need to get in touch with their feminine side), to a host of colourful County Kerry characters, such as Old Mickey - a septuagenarian local whose claim to fame rests in the fact that he's the last surviving extra from iconic Western, The Quiet Man.
According to Barclay, ‘He's just this old curmudgeon who'll basically tell anyone who'll listen that he knew John Wayne', and is one of the actor's favourite roles to play. ‘He's just a hell of a character,' Barclay says with a laugh, ‘and the audience loves him as well.
The value of this can't be underestimated for this production. For while audience response is an integral part of all live theatre, in Stones, their willingness to absorb them-selves into the spirit of the play is crucial. ‘The audience are definitely complicit in this show,' agrees Barclay.
With its quick-fire switching between characters (Barclay likens it to ‘doing an entire repertory season in one night') and lack of costume changes audiences are ‘not sitting there passively.' In fact, Barclay continues.
They're almost honorary members of the cast because we're asking them to do a bit of work, in the sense that they have to use their imaginations. I think they really respond to that. Stones is unique in the way it's written and the way it's performed,' he concludes. ‘I can't think of another play that gets the sort of reaction that this one does.'
And Barclay should know. He's trodden the boards in Stones once before and is looking forward to repeating the experience. ‘I could do this job for a year and not get bored of it,' he says with what can only be described as an audible grin. ‘It's just so challenging and so much fun.'
Co-star Matt Addis, on the other hand, is a first-timer - both to Stones and to Dubai (‘The weather,' he answers without hesitation when asked what most appeals to him about the city). A native Welshman, he is, he notes, ‘no stranger to the Celtic accent', but even he has found the number of roles that he needs to inhabit - and their respective individual brogues - a challenge (‘Something like three different Kerry accents, a Belfast accent, Southern American, French...' he trails, with the air of a man who is very happily resigned to his fate.)
Fresh from the cast of another successful West End hit - slapstick air-steward comedy, Boeing, Boeing - the actor has been employing a little extracurricular ‘research' in a bid to help him capture the spirit of the characters he'll be inhabiting on stage; perhaps most memorably in Limerick, the Irish county situated just east of Kerry, where the play is set.
The spirit of Kerry I think I understand,' Addis notes with the wry laugh of a man who has enjoyed the ‘craic' (Irish for a good time) with the locals. ‘These are people who work hard on the land, but know how to party hard as well.'
Not that Stones isn't without its darker themes and moments as well. While undoubtedly big on laughs (London's Sunday Times called it ‘hilarious and irresistible', while the Daily Mail dubbed the show ‘an unalloyed source of joy, laughter, tears and delight'), at the centre of the play lies a tragedy around which the story turns.
Likewise, many of the characters' individual back stories plug into the play's underlying themes. That Charlie, Addis' main character, finds himself on the set of a major American film production that is threatening to swamp the character and charm of the small Irish town it has overrun mere months after his video shop business went bust after being swamped by - you guessed it - competition from a flash, US-owned chain, is just one example of the somewhat mixed blessings that progress and change bring. While Old Mickey, with his desperate clinging to his own glory days, is the last man standing, in more ways than one.
Such issues are handled with an agreeably light touch, however, shifting gear between funny and poignant with deft ease. As Addis notes, ‘You know when you've found a good comedy - not only will it make you feel massively elated, but it makes you think as well.' Certainly, both actors and their director, John Payton, are confident that the show will be a hit with audiences in Dubai.
Payton's company, Popular Productions, has been staging shows in the emirate for the past two years, and are generally delighted with the reception they receive. ‘Everybody laps it up,' Payton says, clearly excited to be returning to town. ‘That's all that you can ever ask of an audience - that they want to come and have a great time and watch the work that you bring.'
Stones In His Pocket is at the Centrepoint Theatre, Dubai Community Theatre & Arts Centre, Mall of the Emirates, March 12-15. Visit www.stonesinhispockets.co.uk for information and tickets.
| 5 stories | 1 story
The broadcast and production industry is struggling to recruit the professionals it requires.
Hollywood is heading East, with big US networks and studios staking their claim to affluent audiences.
The UAE is investing billions of dollars to cement its position in the global events business.
SURVEYS & REPORTS
Print this page
Email this to a friend
Discuss this article (0 Comments)
zoom
Mobile
