Playing in the Golden Goose Theatre on 3 and 4 October as part of the Lambeth Fringe, Shoulders written by South London-based playwright Fintan Dineen is described as “a play which asks questions about what men show and hide, about the changing nature of friendship over time and how we let go in the stickiness of the digital age….It’s a comedic, tender and razor sharp look at masculinity, loss and friendship”
Leslie Manasseh talked to Fintan about Shoulders. He explained that it was a project some six years in the making which is based on his experiences in lads’ group chats which are full of “performative masculinity and where, particularly in the transition from 20s to 30s men don’t seem able to express themselves”.
The scene is a group chat between old friends one year after one member committed suicide. The death triggers a range of different responses. Fintan is interested “in what men show and what they hide to each other and themselves. How do guys deal with the grief – what they can and can’t say and how loss affects a group of friends…and how the individuals try to escape the pain”
The death creates enormous pressures on the group itself as individual members seek different ways of dealing with it. There is a tension between the desire to preserve the group and keep the past alive alongside the gradual weakening of bonds as members “fire off in different directions”.
Fintan believes that it is a play for everyone “but targeted at lads at a time when their lives are changing and individuals are going off on their own journeys… the play is about letting go, including of friendships, and understanding that life is a flowing river that changes…
Shoulders promises to take a fresh look at how men connect, communicate, support each other and navigate emotional trauma while having to find a place in the world. Sounds interesting.
Shoulders runs on 3 and 4 October at 8.30 in the Golden Goose Theatre, 146 Camberwell New Road, SE5 0RR. Tickets £10
