What is Skeleton Crimes?
Perhaps the world’s largest ever game of Consequences...
Most people are familiar with the childhood game Consequences (a.k.a. The Exquisite Corpse). A person writes something on a sheet of paper then folds it over, and passes on the sheet of paper; the next person continues the story from its edges, and folds and passes it on again to the next in the group. Eventually the paper is unfolded and an entire story is revealed, full of chance conglomerations, nonsense and humour.
Inspired by the random creativity of this game, Surrealist artists of the early c.20 played both the written and drawn version of the game extensively, and Skeleton Crimes furthers this appreciation of playful creation by re-inventing the game anew: a web-based collaborative story, written by you and shaped by chance.
In keeping with the spirit of the game, you will not see the story that has preceeded your contribution, only the end of the previous sentence. However, as Skeleton Crimes progresses, it will be posted on this site and distributed via an optional weekly e-mail bulletin, so that you can read for yourself where the story has been taken, and how your words have been unknowingly developed, celebrated or mutilated by others.
Why play?
Skeleton Crimes has been set up as a fundraiser for a new theatre project entitled The Exquisite Corpse, currently in development by True/Fiction Theatre, for performance at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff in October 2007. The project brings together a host of Welsh writing talent, and uses a collaborative (surrealist) structure to create a fresh and original piece of drama. As an independant production company we are reliant on the generosity of our supporters, so we will charge a small fee for every word that you submit to the Skeleton Crimes story. This money contributes directly to the creation of this unique and experimental performance, and in turn helps us to support the development of innovative new work in Wales by emerging, dynamic practitioners.
To find out more about The Exquisite Corpse and True/Fiction Theatre, or to buy tickets for its performances, please click on the tabs to the left.