By John Quinn

Irish playwrite Marie Jones understood her people and her country. In her 1996 play, “Stones in His Pockets,” written for the DubbleJoint Theatre Company of Dublin and now being performed at The Performance Network in Ann Arbor, Jones discourses merrily on a sobering theme, “Imagination can be a damned curse in this country.”

“Stones in His Pockets” marks a time when Ireland’s traditional, agricultural economy could no longer support the rural population. The national government offered lavish tax incentives for business investment on the Emerald isle, including the American film industry. One arm of the Hollywood invasion is “The Quiet Valley,” a Hollywood period piece that’s taken over a small County Kerry town.The locals sign on as extras; “40 quid” per-diem and free meals are hard to turn down.

In the endless delays between shots, Jake Quinn takes Charlie Conlon under his wing. Jake is a local guy who lives with his mother after a stint in the U.S. Charlie, owner of a failed video store and screenwriter wanna-be, packed a tent in his car and tags along after film companies.Charlie is from Ballycastle in the far northeast of the Ireland.Kerry is in the extreme southwest. This may be Jones’ way of saying “things are tough all over.” But in Ireland,that’s the status quo.

The glamorous Hollywood star,Caroline Giovanni, has her eye on Jake. She meets him at the pub where she has gone to soak up local culture and the extras have gone to soak up the local brew.Her suggestion that they go back to her room might just be an actress seeking a dialect coach,but the implication of rehearsing between the sheets is enough to drive Sean, Jake’s young second cousin,to take a drug-induced walk into the Atlantic–with stones in his pockets to assure he won’t be walking back.The production company, far from demonstrating its respect for Irish tradition and the local residents, refuses to suspend production for the funeral.

A tour-de-force in playing multiple roles,Andrew Huff plays Jake, and Wayne David Parker plays Charlie. But the two actors give life to some fifteen or so characters with merely a change of hat or posture.To call their performances “energetic” is faint praise.Each artist handles the necessary delineations of character with aplomb; each brings a wicked sense of humor to their cross-gender roles. Parker dons a garish hat or wisp of scarf, slips into a demure falsetto and becomes the sultry Caroline without the portrayal falling off a cliff. Huff, replete in glasses and headphone/mic, summons up a voice that could cut glass to embody a harried assistant director.

In minimalist tradition, John Manfredi’s scenic design largely depends on an assembly of painted flats on wheels as a background. One side depicts a rocky hillside complete with cows; the other, the local pub.That,a few crates and a wardrobe chest is all that’s needed to pull off the play. Daniel C. Walker’s lighting is never simple but always subtle. Once again his design helps define place and time without intruding.

Suzanne Young’s costumes are intriguing in that they echo the underlying tension of the play. The extras’ outfits are Hollywood’s notion of oppressed peasants.They are no more realistic than Caroline’s awful attempt at a Belfast dialect.It’s totally lost on the film company that their extras really are oppressed – by the company.

Dialect coach Lynnae Lehfeldt, who has our dynamic duo speaking artfully in somewhat generic Irish accents, and blessedly made no attempt to specifically reproduce a Kerry accent. “Stones in His Pockets” is simply too entertaining to need subtitles.

SHOW DETAILS:
“Stones in his Pockets”
Performance Network Theatre
120 E Huron St., Ann Arbor, MI 48105
7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 5, 12, 19, 26, April 2
8 p.m. Friday, Saturday, March 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28, April 3, 4
3 p.m. Saturday, March 7, 14, 21, 28, April 4
2 p.m. Sunday, March 8, 15, 22, 29, April 5
$25-41
734-663-0681
www.pntheatre.org

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