Stones in his Pockets at Rose Theatre was clever and fun

Stones in his Pockets did not appeal to me at first as it was billed as a straight comedy and I prefer theatre with some intellectual meat in it but then  I decided that an afternoon of comedy was a good option and I booked a matinee performance, taking advantage of being retired.

The underused and impracticable pit area of the theatre had been converted to seating and my usual row A had become row J, giving some idea of how far back it is. Seat J28 with a concession for being a Senior Citizen was a reasonable £30. The additional seating reduced the attractiveness of row A/J as the new row in front of it was higher than the previous one. Seat J28 was fine as row H did not extend that far across because of the curvature. I'll be in the centre for the next two shows that I have booked there so I'll get a better idea of any potential problems then. There is always the circle!

To quote the promotional blurb: A small village in rural Ireland is turned upside down when a major Hollywood film studio descends to make a historical blockbuster on location. The story is told through the eyes of two extras.

The two actors also played all the other parts from the film's female star to the grimiest local. They did this with limited costumes changes and made the different characters obvious by over emphasising their different voices and movements in amusing ways. The many quick character changes and the exaggerated characters were a constant source of comedy.

More comedy came from the rich dialogue between the two characters, whichever two they were at the time.

The main story was an unflattering view of how a film is made but there was a dark edge to it which gave it a nice bite; the stones were in his pockets to weigh him down.

Stones in his Pockets at was clever without being too clever and was a lot of fun too, a comedy fit to brighten up a grey Thursday afternoon.