Since its opening in 2013, The Park Theatre in London’s Finsbury Park is fast becoming one of the country’s most exciting and prestigious new producing houses. With two spaces, Park200 and Park90, aptly named after their seating capacities, often brand new productions begin their theatrical life here before touring across the country or even making it up the road to London’s glittering West End.

It’s now the turn of writer Lewis Aaron Wood’s new play ‘Bones’ to take a monthly residency in the Park90 venue. A piece delving into anxiety in sport, it is co-produced by LooseHeadz, a rugby clothing brand raising awareness of mental health. And that’s exactly what this play does too.

Ed (Ronan Cullen) is the top player in his local rugby team but when they make it through to the semi-finals of the Cup, his off-field struggles with grief and anxiety get the better of him and he’ll do anything to make sure he doesn’t have to play rugby anymore. Even going as far as asking his best friend Charlie (Samuel Hoult) to purposely break his leg. Fascinating insights into Ed’s mind are revealed through movement and physical theatre sequences during rugby matches and eventually Ed gains the courage to play and try to help his teammates.

Cullen is the standout performer of this piece. His natural delivery and honest characterisation is a joy to watch and he holds the production together. His monologues exploring his own mental health were both well written and performed. Hoult as the quiet and timid Charlie is given some good comical lines but the comedy is often missed and James Mackay who impressively multi-roles throughout, has some nice moments as Ed’s Father. It’s a shame the audience are somewhat patronised by him changing his shirt whenever he changes character. The four strong cast are completed by Ainsley Fannen who brings a lot of comic relief to the production – even if the ongoing ‘Your Mum’ jokes wear a little thin.

Wood’s writing doesn’t exactly fly off the page but the subject matter is important and it was a gripping 75 minutes of theatre. Daniel Blake’s direction is slick and energetic and the piece worked wonderfully in-the-round and in its intimate setting. A shame, therefore, some of the movement sequences are a little safe. Given the rugby and physical theatre combination, it would’ve been nice to have seen further brave choreography choices than the expected passing of rugby balls and barging into each other.

Eliza Willmott’s electric sound design aids the production perfectly but often spoken lines were annoyingly lost due to the lack of clarity or volume from the actors. A shame in such a small and intimate space.

Like Ed’s rugby career, I’m not sure of the future of this piece. Maybe an ideal play to tour into schools or charities due to the inexpensive set and production values, which did work well with characters clearing benches and minimal props themselves. I just couldn’t help but feeling its full potential was sadly missed.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️