While being a clown doctor is a very admirable pursuit, apparently being a clown AND a doctor is a little trickier. People who know you as one don’t believe you could or should be the other. And it’s important to know when you need to be really funny and when you really need not to be.

This dilemma forms the premise of Skeletons, as in skeletons in the closet, a one hour stand up routine by Kirsty Mann about trying to keep these two parts of her life separate, whilst trying also to honour both pursuits – with mixed results. Get it wrong and you really get it wrong. But it’s more than that. Along the way real stories from her experiences as an anesthetist add gravitas to the humour, making for some powerful storytelling moments.

Kirsty is an animated performer who quickly builds an easy rapport with the audience. By way of introducing her dilemma she begins by asking members of the audience what they do. Tonight, amusingly, she finds a retired gentleman who has done so many interesting jobs in his life that she has to shut him down quickly for fear of him taking over the show!

The skeletons in the closet come from her needing to hide part of herself whenever she is asked that same question, which makes things difficult at parties and other social or work situations.

Of course doctors also have their fun, and we get to squirm from time to time as Kirsty presents some examples of the medical equivalent of gallows humour. But then it’s back to hapless comic actor trying to convince her agent that she’s good enough to get that next promising role.

There are no flat spots as Kirsty keeps the story coming at a furious pace, and tonight the audience is with her all the way. For added bonus we all leave with an uplifting message that none of us are just one thing, that we all have different sides to us we should embrace and enjoy.