It is not often that one-man shows in black box theaters stand out for their visuals. But from the first moments of Maurizio Lombardi's one-man show Pugni di Zolfo, or Fists of Sulfur, the recent winner of the Florence for Fringe competition, we are treated to a glimpse of a vanished, claustrophobic world. The minimalism of the set (a single raised platform, a few scattered pieces of clothing) lends itself to infinite versatility. Hauntingly lit, Fists of Sulfur is at its best when it visually evokes the boyhood voyage of its protagonist, the boxer Vincenzo, into the sulfur mines of Sicily. Here, he alongside all the boys of his village sacrificed his youth to backbreaking work, grinding poverty, and unending sorrow.
The sheer virtuosity of the design and direction, which allows us insight into the claustrophobia of the mines without ever becoming heavy handed, is worth a few stars in its own right. As the embittered Vincenzo, Maurizio Lombardi is physically and vocally excellent; every movement he makes suggests the lumbering rage of a lifelong fighter and he portrays the other characters in the story, his mother, his grandmother and the asthmatic boy Vito, with enough distinction to make them clear without rendering them caricatures. Yet the decision to perform the monologue - by Italians, about Italians, and for Italians if the audience demographic is anything to go by - in English proves the piece's ultimate stumbling block.
Lombardi is a powerful presence throughout, but all too often individual words and phrases get lost; the intonation on individual sentences often sounds counterintuitive enough to obscure their meaning. Lombardi's physicality gives us enough of a sense of what is going on, but he seems less comfortable when dealing in words. On those few instances when he is allowed to act in Italian - a lengthy monologue towards the end - he seems far more at ease, and, even with the language barrier, conveys far more nuance than elsewhere in the piece.
