by Christian Usera

“Stones in His Pockets” not only drowned a character during the show, but my expectations as well. 

IT’S MARCH, WHICH brings to mind one ubiquitous holiday: Saint Patrick’s Day. It’s that time of year when shamrocks, corned beef sandwiches and green food coloring become the norm. So in this spirit, I thought I’d treat my half-Irish soul to an Irish play: “Stones in His Pockets.” It’s about two Irish “extras” in a movie filmed in Ireland. I was hoping this Performance Network production would make me do a jig, but instead it just made me wish I could have escaped during the intermission.

For what it’s worth, both Andrew Huff and Wayne David Parker played their roles very well, however what they were given in terms of a script and production were what the Irish call, “Shyt.”

For starters, the background was a large scenic painting with cows and hills that looked like something out of a junior high play. The costumes and other props were all on stage and the actors did their scene changes in full view of the audience. This was due to the fact that they were playing “extras” in the script. This was supposed to give the impression that the audience was watching a play within a play. Instead, the scene changes became unwieldy and cattywampus. It was a production that attempted to break the fourth wall in a novel way, however because the play was so hyper-aware of itself, it became predicable and pedantic.

Imagine a two-man show that has all of the trademarks of a bad one-man show (quick character changes) mixed with the annoyance of an improvisation club. All that was missing was the drama coach off stage yelling at the actors, “You’re a stage hand, you’re a beauty queen, you’re a drug addict.” Then the actors scramble to change both physically and emotionally to fit the character instantaneously.

These jarring changes wore thin within the first few minutes. It was so confusing, I didn’t realize that the nasally-voiced assistant, played by Andrew Huff, was female until midway through the production. (I’d assumed he was playing a lisping gay man in order to add yet another obnoxious level of “cleverness.”) One cannot merely put on a shawl or headphones and expect the audience to believe its meeting a new character.

I couldn’t even laugh ironically at the jokes, poorly-executed and imaged character changes or the set. Overall, “Stones in His Pockets” left me scratching my head as to why I cared about any of the characters. Even when there was a tragic death, I didn’t feel anything for the character, because he wasn’t developed enough. The final bit, during which the two characters intend to write a script about the script they’re acting out, came off as pretentious.

In fairness this isn’t the actors’ fault, rather it is the world  of theatre, in general, which has chosen to seek pretense over substance, cleverness over quality and inside jokes over universal comedic themes. Call it “Hipster-itus” or the purposeful over-complication of a production in order to ostentatiously showcase supposed “depth.”

In the end, a theatre production is only as good as its execution (script, themes, set design, acting, etc…) not its ability to create sly levels of complication.  By following this disastrous new trend, “Stones in His Pockets” not only drowned a character during the show, but my expectations as well.

Stones in His Pocket

Playwright: Marie Jones

Actors: Andrew Huff and

Wayne David Parker

Performance Network Theater

March 5th – April 5th 2015

Tickets: $25-$41