“It is only a game, isn’t it?” Bones opens with Ed scoring the winning goal bringing a nail-biting rugby match to a close. He is being paraded by his teammates, he is more dangerous than climate change, he is the man of the match. He should be pumped on adrenaline, basking in his glory as he leads his team into the semi-finals, yet, as the lights dim on the rugby pitch, Ed looks toward the audience and says, “I wish I was dead”.
Ed, played by Ronan Cullen, has been battling anxiety for many years exacerbated by his mum’s recent death. He constantly looks for an explanation – a “proper” injury – but is unable to find one. Physical injuries generally get better, he says. “But what do you do about an injury that doesn’t heal?” Bones written by Lewis Aaron Wood examines the less glamourous, lesser-known side of sport – the toll the pressure can take on a player’s mental health who, in a testosterone charged environment, is unable to ask for help.
Bones also showcases the toxicity of a culture centred around alcohol. A celebration calls for tequila, commiserations call for beer. Everything in between calls for burping competitions and hangovers. There are several points in the play when Ed is visibly uncomfortable opening yet another bottle of beer but succumbs to the peer pressure of having to conform to the image of the stereotypical alpha male.
But his teammates Will (played by Ainsley Fannen), Charlie (played by Samuel Holt) and Ollie (played by James Mackay) are too busy comparing penis sizes and cracking “yo mamma” jokes to truly notice. On the rare occasion where Ed outwardly refuses a drink, he is called a “pussy” and faces being ostracised.
When Ed finally confides in his friends about how he truly feels, they tell him that they were merely jesting and that he always had the option to opt out. And while that may have been true, it didn’t seem that way to Ed. Nor did it to the audience. The importance of consent within a pub has rarely been discussed on stage before. While people have become more accepting of certain groups or religions refusing alcohol, it was refreshing to see the topic being extended to the white male – not because he had an alcoholic parent or a liver disease, but simply because he didn’t want to, and that, in itself, should suffice.
Production company, Refine and mental health charity, LooseHeadz come together to #tacklethestigma and deliver a necessary and powerful narrative that challenges the idea that a body is just about Bones. “When one part of the scrum breaks down, everything else breaks too”. Research included in the press release for Bones states that 1 in 8 men will suffer with their mental health at some point with nearly half of those polled admitting that this is a subject they would not discuss with friends and family. In a small “pitch” in the Park Theatre, Bones opens an important dialogue about defying gender stereotypes, the true toxicity of toxic masculinity, and breaking the taboo around mental health.
Bones is at Park Theatre until 22nd July
