Stones in His Pockets Character Profiles

CHARLIE
A Northern Irishman in his 30s working as an extra on the set of The Quiet Valley. He used to run a video rental store, but was run out of business by Blockbuster. He is a self-professed loudmouth and an aspiring screenwriter who hopes to get his script read by someone important on the set.

CHARLIE
I says to myself...they won’t desert me...my customers won’t desert me...I am one of them, support your own and all that... […] was I wrong…Charlie you have to have more than two copies of a video, Blockbuster has loads...Charlie you want to see the range Blockbuster has...then they stopped saying anything ‘cos they just stopped coming…so I got up one morning...all my plans for the future in a heap of out-of-date movies...I couldn’t start all over again...started over again so many times I’ve lost count...this time I just couldn’t do it...so I closed the door of the shop...videos still on the shelves, nothing touched, threw the tent in the boot and decided to do Ireland.
(Act One)

JAKE
An intelligent, laid back, realist in his 30s. He is from the southwestern Irish town in which the motion picture The Quiet Valley is being shot. He lived and worked in the United States for a while, but recently returned to Ireland due to homesickness; now he is living with his mother and working as an extra on the film. He is a bit lost and leans more toward pessimism.

JAKE
What is it with you, Charlie, eh…every time I say something that might need a bit of serious head stuff, you walk away […] you change the subject, tell a stupid joke…what is going on behind that bloody annoying cheerful chappie eh…you can’t be Mr Clown all the time. […] just want to know what makes you tick […] You have nothing in your life, you are going nowhere and why is it doing my head in and not yours…what is going on, I need to know?
(Act Two)

SIMON
The First Assistant Director on the film. He is an ambitious Dublin 4 (i.e., upper middle-class Irish “yuppie”) type. Though a bit of a sycophant when it comes to the Americans working on the production, he has and shows no respect for his fellow Irishmen.

SIMON
Yeah mate you’re right, because every time you fuck up I get it in the ear from these people... Irish, what do you expect?...Well unfortunately for me they tend to include the whole nation...
(Act Two)

AISLING
The film’s Third Assistant Director. She is a young woman anxious to impress those above her, and who has very little interest in the concerns of those below her. Her father is a film director. She wants to produce motion pictures and has the ambition and capacity to do so.

AISLING
Quiet everyone...settle...that’s a wrap for the extras...we will pick this up tomorrow afternoon...quiet settle...I want all the extras in the turf-digging scene in costume by seven a.m. tomorrow...and make sure you leave all costumes in the community centre... don’t be tempted to go home in them...quiet...settle...that is all the men in scene 37...tomorrow at seven a.m...breakfast will be from six.
(Act One)

MICKEY
A local man in his 70s, a longtime film extra, and Jake’s mother’s third cousin. He is also the last surviving extra from the 1952 film, The Quiet Man, a fact he makes sure to share with anybody who will listen. A heavy drinker and know-it-all, he takes it upon himself to teach the rest of the extras how to properly do the job.

MICKEY
Do you know I’m famous as I’m one of the few surviving extras on The Quiet Man...John Wayne called me by my first name...he would always refer to me as wee Mickey.
(Act One)

CAROLINE GIOVANNI
An American movie actress and the star of The Quiet Valley. She is rather dramatic and self-centered, but takes her craft seriously.  While she professes that she is sick of Hollywood and wants to experience something more real, she rarely goes outside of her own comfort zone.

CAROLINE GIOVANNI
Hollywood is shit John...a crock of shit...look around this place...god it’s just heaven on earth...I love this place...I’m third generation you know, on my mother’s side...I do get a real feeling of belonging here you know that. You people are so simple, uncomplicated, contented.”
(Act One)

NICK
The director of the film. He an American and has very little understanding of the culture and people of the little Irish town. His quiet nature belies his reputation as a taskmaster with a job to do and very little patience for anything or anyone that might get in the way.

NICK
Hi everyone…I’m Nick Curtis. The Director. Ok…now listen carefully…we’re gonna have to go for another take on this, this shot is… well…it’s kinda crucial. Put it this way…...if we don’t get it by tomorrow my balls will be sent to LA on a platter…yeah that critical. It’s the final scene in the move. The big ending.. I know you know the story and you’re confused why we’ve jumped out of sequence…..that’s movies…
(Act Two)

SEAN
17. Jake’s cousin. He is a drug addict with a combative nature and no job. He signed up to be an extra on the film but was turned away. He is dissatisfied with his life in small town Ireland and wants out.

SEAN
Yis all think yis are movie stars, yis are nothing, I’m Sean Harkin and I am a somebody and I fuckin’ know yis are all nothin’... wankers.
(Act One)

OTHER CHARACTERS

JOHN, Caroline’s dialect coach.
FIN, a local young and friend of Sean’s.
DAVE, a Cockney crew member.
JOCK, Caroline’s Scottish security guard.
BROTHER GERARD, a local teacher.
PAT HARKIN, Sean’s father.
INTERVIEWER