These Are The Skeletons of Us

Two sex scenes, a butt load of glitter, one little play.

Skeletons is about a broken couple clinging onto the pieces of their relationship as they try to piece
together where it all fell apart. We meet the unnamed man and woman at the end of their battle.
Piece by piece, bone by bone, they tell their love story backwards. Everywhere ‘Guy’ looks there are
reminders of the failures; his two friends help him pick up her belongings while he tries to pick up his
life.

Being in a relationship, one can never tell when the strings start to get tangled into what eventually
becomes an irreconcilable ‘hot mess.’ Being able to sit back and watch, objectively, as the whole
thing is unravelled, allows us to pick apart the individual threads. The little incidents which, alone,
are not so bad (a fart in bed, not being productive with ones day, one too many mentions of the new
guy at work) add up to something entirely unpleasant.

The story takes place in many different locations and each is easily distinguished thanks to some
clever lighting, yet the stage has a fairly simple set up. I loved the mood setting music provided by
live musicians who stay hidden for most of the show.

The cast play each of their roles confidently and bring a natural sense of comedy to the back and
forth banter, I could easily imagine the cast stepping off stage and into the bar post show without
dropping character. Despite the sad plot, the dialogue brings plenty of humour and has the audience
laughing throughout. I certainly didn’t expect to see two sex scenes played out right before my eyes!
I even learned a thing or two about mallards. The script is well written and flows easily from present
to past and back again as the truth unfolds before us. There are some very witty moments and some
very messy ones, I always feel sorry for the person who has to clean up that much glitter.

There really isn’t much more that needs to be said about Skeletons, it’s delightful and heart warming
if, at times, a tad depressing. A show is, after all, entertainment and I was greatly entertained.

This show is no longer showing. For more information see the Bats Theatre show information page