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Caroline is a famous, beautiful
American movie star that fails to ever successfully conquer the Irish accent. Caroline and the other American crew members do not attempt to accurately portray the town and people and only care about finishing the movie on time. Most of the locals are initially excited at the opportunity to be a part of a major film and distracted by the novelty. However, as the film continues they begin to feel abused and the glamour begins to wear off. After a night in the pub, a local teenager, Sean Harkin, is humiliated by Caroline and thrown out into the street for trying to socialise with her. The first act ends when Sean commits suicide by drowning himself with stones in his pockets. The second act continues the story with the town devastated by the loss. Jake begins to blame himself for not reaching out to the boy and Charlie tries to console him and let him not lose hope. Conflict arises when the film crew is hesitant about letting the extras have a break for Sean's funeral. It becomes even more apparent to the town that the film crew has their own agenda and no concern for the people. Jake and Charlie decide to rewrite Charlie's script and make it about Sean's story instead. They present their idea to the American director who in turn tells them the story is not romantic or commercial enough.
235:, by drowning himself with stones in his pockets, after he is humiliated by one of the film stars. The script calls upon the cast of two to perform all 15 characters (men and women), often switching gender and voice swiftly and with minimal costume change – a hat here, a jacket there. Comedy also derives from the efforts of the production crew to create the proper "Irish feel" – a romanticised ideal that often conflicts with the reality of daily life.
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The play began life at the Lyric
Theatre in Belfast with the initial run touring to the small community hall in Ballybeen estate, East Belfast, and the Culturlan on the Falls Road in West Belfast (where it played to roughly five people). The script was modified heavily during the rehearsal period by
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film crew. The play centres around two friends, Charlie Conlon and Jake Quinn, employed as extras on the film. Charlie has aspirations to get his script made into a movie. Jake has recently returned from New York and is mesmerised, along with everyone else, by the star of the movie, Caroline.
288:, a row of shoes (symbolising the myriad characters) and a trunk, a box, and two tiny stools. The lighting design was originally by James C. McFetridge and this design was used in both the London West End and the Broadway versions of the shows.
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The play began life as a
Dubbeljoint Production premiering in West Belfast Festival in August 1996 - the original cast was Conleth Hill and Tim Murphy. The set design, by Jack Kirwan, is simple - a backcloth depicting the cloudy sky above the
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The original version of the play was created in collaboration with theatre director Pam
Brighton (1946-2015), who later sued Marie Jones for co-authorship rights. Brighton lost the case in the high court, and subsequently became bankrupt.
300:, it then transferred to the New Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End. The show, however, proved so successful, its run was extended and moved to the Duke of York's Theatre up the road, where it remained for three years.
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took the show to
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later took the show to
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co-produced a touring production which opened at The Dukes on 25 February 2016 and toured 35 venues between then and 28 May 2016.
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The play was translated to
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in 1999. The show then returned to
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in 2001 for Best New Comedy and Best Actor (Conleth Hill) and was also nominated for three
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in 1996 and went on to The
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about a small rural town in Ireland where many of the townspeople are extras in a
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Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play
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in 2001 for Best New Comedy and Best Actor (Conleth Hill).
440:"GEST - Gothenburg English Studio Theatre - What's On"
51:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
381:For the 20th anniversary of the first production,
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539:"Stones in His Pockets – The Dukes, Lancaster"
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464:Billington, Michael (20 December 2011).
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216:for the DubbleJoint Theatre Company in
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649:(First ed.). London: Nick Hern.
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589:Coveney, Michael (25 February 2015).
517:"Comedy Revived For 20th Anniversary"
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1099:Laurence Olivier Award-winning plays
348:with Mike Rogers and Gary Whitaker.
266:The drama is set in a rural town in
49:adding citations to reliable sources
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1061:Stranger Things: The First Shadow
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615:Purcell, Bernard (19 May 2004).
492:"Stones in His Pockets – review"
466:"Stones in His Pockets – review"
270:, Ireland, that is overrun by a
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405:Authorship controversy
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930:The Play What I Wrote
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340:made a production of
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1094:Plays by Marie Jones
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366:as Jake, and at the
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1053:My Neighbour Totoro
914:The Memory of Water
810:When We Are Married
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212:written in 1996 by
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595:The Guardian
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564:"Tour Dates"
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496:The Guardian
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399:Conan Sweeny
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317:Rupert Degas
309:Sean Campion
305:Conleth Hill
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268:County Kerry
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262:Plot summary
252:Sean Campion
248:Conleth Hill
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101:January 2017
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43:Please help
38:verification
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1109:Two-handers
837:(1989/1990)
626:23 November
600:23 November
519:. The Dukes
372:Robbie Jack
332:Tony Awards
279:Productions
225:tragicomedy
220:, Ireland.
214:Marie Jones
144:Marie Jones
1114:1996 plays
1078:Categories
1002:Nell Gwynn
978:The Priory
778:Noises Off
426:References
210:two-hander
140:Written by
71:newspapers
387:Lancaster
383:The Dukes
334:in 2001.
272:Hollywood
866:Hysteria
770:Steaming
746:Filumena
574:13 March
548:13 March
523:13 March
501:13 March
475:13 March
414:See also
898:Popcorn
850:La Bête
675:at the
444:gest.se
240:Belfast
233:suicide
194:Setting
179:English
170:Belfast
85:scholar
1064:(2024)
1056:(2023)
1048:(2022)
1037:(2020)
1034:Emilia
1029:(2019)
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1013:(2017)
1005:(2016)
997:(2015)
989:(2014)
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957:(2007)
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946:Heroes
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218:Dublin
188:Comedy
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890:'Art'
449:3 May
208:is a
184:Genre
92:JSTOR
78:books
882:Mojo
651:ISBN
628:2021
602:2021
576:2016
550:2016
525:2016
503:2016
477:2016
451:2017
389:and
374:and
368:Tron
319:and
307:and
250:and
153:1996
64:news
385:in
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