Arundel Players tackle cult classic Stones In His Pocket
Two actors will conjure 14 characters between them in a tour de force performance for the Arundel Players as they stage the cult classic Stones In His Pocket.
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Always lovely
00:07 to speak to Dawn and Stuart Smithers. Now Dawn, you are directing The Arendelle Players
00:12 in a play which was incredibly popular 20-odd years ago, 25 years ago, Stones in His Pockets.
00:19 Now there's a particular challenge for this one, that being you just have two in your
00:24 cast. I am indeed. Yeah, so what differences does it make to you when you're directing
00:30 such a relatively small cast? I love it, I just like it because you can really pay lots
00:39 of attention to the two actors, where if you're directing 12 people you have to divide your
00:44 time amongst 12. So with two actors you just work together and it's a big challenge but
00:51 it's a very enjoyable challenge, shall we say. And these are two actors who are really
00:55 stretched because they're playing multiple characters in the story. Yes. It's a Hollywood
00:59 film crew coming to Ireland, set the scene, what kind of play are we talking about? Well,
01:05 two Irish young men are playing extras in a, as you say, in a film, on a film set that
01:11 Hollywood is coming to Ireland. So they play between them 14 different characters, so they
01:16 play seven each. There's a Scotsman, there's a wonderful, wonderful American film star
01:23 who's really over the top. We have all sorts of different accents and dialects and characters,
01:29 so they have to change on the, like that, they have to change into each different character.
01:34 It's a real challenge for them but they do it beautifully and it really is quite funny.
01:38 We have really no set, just a couple of benches, there's no props, there's no furniture, just
01:43 these two very talented young actors. And you say really quite funny, but it's also
01:49 quite dark, isn't it? It is quite dark, yes. We do have, I don't want to give too much
01:53 of the game away, but we do have a couple of young men who, you know, maybe not quite
02:02 straight, shall we say, they're a little bit on the drag side and something happens that
02:07 is quite sad. Hence the name Stones in His Pits. If you come and see the play, it will
02:13 become clear.
02:14 It will all make sense. And how's it coming together? You're just a few rehearsals in,
02:18 but are you getting good sense of the play?
02:20 Yes, I am. Yes, they're nearly off script on Act One, which is brilliant. I don't like
02:25 directing people with script in their hands. One of my actors said he worked for Stephen
02:31 Birkhoff once and he had a script in his hand and Stephen Birkhoff walked off the set.
02:37 That sounds fair enough, doesn't it?
02:40 Well, yeah. I'm 100% behind Stephen Birkhoff. No, but they are brilliant and they work together
02:46 well. They've worked together many times in different plays, which shows that they have
02:50 a good rapport.
02:51 And one of the interesting things is, you're saying you have directed this before, but
02:55 you have to put that from your mind because it was different people, different theatres
02:59 and it's half a fresh.
03:00 Absolutely. I've directed it before with two other actors and in a different space. So
03:05 I've got a different whole perspective on it, really, and two different actors and I
03:10 must just do my best by them and forget about the others.
03:13 Fantastic. Well, it's The Arendelle Players. It's Stones in His Buckets and it's at the
03:17 start of April in the...
03:19 First of the sixth of April, starts on Easter Monday. Six nights, half past seven. Arendelle
03:26 Players website. You can book your tickets from there.
03:30 Brilliant. Well, really lovely to speak to you both again. Thank you very much and good
03:34 luck with the production.
03:35 Thank you, Phil. Thank you.
03:36 Thank you.
03:36 Thank you.