Theatre review
Men Don’t Talk
Cumbernauld Theatre
Neil Cooper
Four stars
The rise of the Men’s Shed movement has been a rare glimpse of positivity in a landscape of what we now call toxic masculinity. Clare Prenton’s new play for the recently formed Genesis Theatre Productions takes a peek behind the door into one such sanctuary, where three men of a certain age bicker, banter and bond over tea and biscuits as they gradually share what brought them there.
Ex-teacher Ken is letting off steam in-between caring for his wife. Tom is still in mourning for his own spouse. And recovering alcoholic Jimmy may like to joke his way through things, but he is as emotionally raw as his unlikely contemporaries with whom he now shares space.
Opening with a series of out-front monologues from each of the trio, Prenton’s own production of her play draws from real life conversations with shedders to tap into a very real need for men to open up more about their everyday vulnerabilities.
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Prenton has her cast play with the audience a little before sitting them down on Frances Collier’s bothy-like set to mine the everyday minutiae that acts as a front to finding a sense of purpose in a world where they can let their guard down without fear.
There is a gentle wit to Prenton’s depiction of male friendship in all its awkwardness that recalls the likes of The Detectorists or Last of the Summer Wine. Indeed, there is serious potential here for a 21st century sitcom that taps into the fragilities of the male condition beyond macho stereotypes as the trio find shelter on what is described by one off stage presence as “a gang hut for coffin dodgers.”
Presented as part of Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival in partnership with Scottish Men’s Shed Association, Luminate and An Tobar and Mull Theatre, this is brought to life by Billy Mack as Jimmy, Dougal Lee as Ken and Greg Powrie as Tom in at times moving experience. The endless cups of tea make life far easier to swallow in a man’s world that looks a little bit like progress.
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