A smash at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe half a decade ago, Shadow Boxing heads to the Greenwich Theatre in London.
Shadow Boxing presents a struggle for dignity and respect. It pulls no punches in its depiction of a boxer facing his toughest opponents yet, his personal demons.
The son of a boxer who couldn’t win, Flynn is determined not to end up like his father. He becomes a successful fighter through utter dedication. But is his gruelling training a way of avoiding aspects of himself he’d rather not face? A crisis builds as he moves closer to a title fight, and the play rushes to a shattering conclusion.
Shadow Boxing presents a struggle for dignity and respect. It pulls no punches in its depiction of a boxer facing his toughest opponents yet, his personal demons.
Shadow Boxing star Jonny Collis said “The show isn’t about boxing as such. It’s about a boxer, dealing with issues that a lot of people face. I’ve never really had any first-hand experience of the issues that gay sportsmen face. However, as a practising fighter, I am very much aware of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that seems to be employed in most gyms. It’s encouraging that modern sportsmen are coming out, we’ve had famous sportsmen in rugby, and Olympic level athletes coming out in the public eye. Fighters seem to be somewhat lagging on the revolution. There are a lot of openly gay female fighters, but for men, I believe it’s the last taboo of combat sports. I’m confident that the world is moving in the right direction for - eventually - nobody in sports to really care about anyone’s sexuality.”
Cross Cut’s production of Shadow Boxing has been performed in various venues around the UK, in Edinburgh, Italy and New York. Director Donald Pulford has been a theatre director for over twenty years, the last six of which in the United Kingdom. He has directed shows in five countries, and in settings ranging from conventional theatres to the back of a truck. In Sydney, he was a founding member of the syndicate of actors, directors and writers that bought and manages the Belvoir Street theatre.
Shadow Boxing is on at the Greenwich Theatre on 13th & 14th June 2015.
Listing info: http://www.broadwaybaby.com/shows/shadow-boxing/70...
