Shoulders - Play Reading

Shoulders - Play Reading

In its first public outing in five years, I'm so happy to share my play 'Shoulders' with you all for a beautiful, uproarious and uplifting rehearsed reading at the Omnibus Theatre with a wickedly talented cast.

About

One year since Matty died and Edgy is unravelling: he's on the sauce in the Cock and Bull, his relationship with Kelly is faltering, he only sees his mates Baj, Kaspar and Tommo in the group chat, and his son, Simon, is in communion with an imaginary entity called Manu. As his isolation grows, he seeks out Ellen, Matty's grief-stricken ex, to try and sew the holes his best friend left behind ...

Set largely across an archive of social media chat threads from 2009 - 2018, with seven distinct characters hailing from the outer fringes of Croydon, Shoulders is a comedic, moving and razor-sharp exploration of loss, masculinity and friendship in an age of digital dislocation.
The play received positive feedback from the Royal Court, was shortlisted for BBC Writersroom 2022, and had its first closed-circle play reading with Script Readers at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in June 2024.

Cast

Edgy - Liam James Collins

Ellen - Jesse Bateson

Simon - Jake Wayne O’Neill

Baj - Daniel LeCann

Kaspar - Shaka Kalokoh

Tommo - James Craze

Matthew - Jack Solloway

Cosmic event

Apparently on this day, seven planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, will be in alignment.

What better way to mark this rare celestial occurrence than to revel with seven stars from Coulsdon? And such is the nature of these happenings, it's for one night only :)

I would love to see you down there.

Fintan x

Host or Publisher Fintan Dineen