Born in Belfast, Marie Jones, the internationally renowned playwright and actress, belonged to Westbourne Church in her youth and made her first stage appearance right here. Later, when establishing herself as a playwright, Marie used the church space as a rehearsal room.
Marie has since gained worldwide recognition as one of the foremost writers for stage and screen of her generation and is perhaps best known for her 1996 play, Stones in His Pockets, which premiered in Dublin and has been staged across the world, including on London’s West End and New York’s Broadway.
The play examines the effect a Hollywood film crew has on the lives of two local characters in rural Ireland and has been celebrated and awarded for its exploration of the Irish experience in the context of a modern, globalised world.
In many of her plays, Marie uses her own experience of growing up during an intense period of political and social turmoil, combining classic Irish wit with deeply insightful social observation and commentary.
Many of Marie’s other plays have been performed internationally, most notably A Night in November (1994), Tribes (1990), Fighting the Shadows (1992) and Fly Me to the Moon (2012).
Marie’s Stones in His Pockets won the 2001 Laurence Olivier Award for ‘Best New Comedy’, she was awarded an Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from Ulster University in 2006 and appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2002.