Review of Stones In His Pockets At Yale Repertory Theatre

While some plays seem to polarize audiences, Stones in his Pockets, written by Belfast-based Irish actress and playwright (Sarah) Marie Jones and directed by Yale Repertory Theatre resident director Evan Yionoulis, doesn’t appear to be one of them. The Saturday afternoon audience watching the award-winning play was engrossed and enraptured from (figurative) opening to closing curtain.

If the play’s writer and director are women, its two actors, Fred Arsenault and Euan Morton are men, despite playing 14 roles, male and female. But their primary roles are men, Jake Quinn and Charlie Conlon respectively, and the setting is a small village in County Kerry, Ireland in the present (the play debuted in 1996), where a dubious movie called “The Quiet Valley” is being filmed, with echoes of the much better 1952 John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara vehicle The Quiet Man.

According to artistic director James Bundy, Yionoulis’ 12th Yale Rep production is about “global citizenship—both what it means to be from someplace and what it means to meet people from other places.” The play also tackles poverty, desperation, cultural identity, personal pride, resilience and other universal themes. The title is taken from the drowning method of suicide selected by one of its minor characters, collateral damage in the culture collision that transpires during the filming, who becomes a focal point for the characters’ reassessment that takes place in its second and final act.

As the play opens, the set design could hardly be more austere, with a bright orange cherry picker and a pallet jack and pallet loaded with rolls of Astroturf. And except for manipulating the rolls of Astroturf a bit, that’s pretty much the extent of it. Yet the play is so well-written and acted that the audience’s imagination effectively fills in the remainder of the scenery, which toggles between a film set in the countryside and the nearby unnamed village. Droll moments are provided by a few scraps of film projected against a back screen, including a herd of cows chewing the literal scenery and repeated screen takes with Arsenault and Morton, the latter showing that his ability to play women is only enhanced when he is actually dressed and made up as one.

There were a few minor off notes. Costume changes take place with ease, but Nikki Delhomme’s costume design seemed to evoke neither the present nor 1996, even though the characters change out of their costumes intended for the movie within the play. There was a moment, playing a designed reporter, when Arsenault slipped and referred to the movie The Quiet Man when he meant “The Quiet Valley,” but he got it right moments later. And some of the screen references that might have worked in 1996, like McCauley Caulkin’s famous hands on his face, mouth open in shock expression, seem almost as outdated as the clothes.

Throughout the play, the actors slide in and out of their characters so facilely that the audience must stay sharp to keep up. But keep up it does. Scottish-born Morton is particularly gifted, his changes in expression, accent and affect a joy to watch. The play seems to fly by. And despite some serious themes and sad moments, the audience isn’t dragged down to the depths of any character’s despair. Arthur Miller it isn’t. Particularly charming is the actors taking their bows as their 14 characters at the end of the play, gliding in and out of each character for the briefest glimpse with complete ease.

During a recent stretch, the suburban New York Times restaurant reviews adopted ratings of Don’t Miss, Worth It, O.K., Don’t Bother. While these terms were terribly ill-suited for restaurant reviewing and have been abandoned, they work surprisingly well for theater. Despite the fact that this play has finished its Yale Rep run, Stones in his Pockets is a “Don’t Miss”!

“Don’t Miss!”

Stones in his Pockets, Running January 25-February 16, 2013 at Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel Street, New Haven, 203-432-1234, www.yalerep.org