A Total Knockout

e punches in Prize Fighter are painful, yet deeply enlightening on the audience from the onset.

The story of an underdog boxer ghting for more than just a championship is one long past the verge of being clichéd. Plays about boxing have been breathlessly presented since the iconic “Golden Boy”, produced by the legendary Group eatre on Broadway. Cinematically, the theme was triumphantly realised in the classic “Rocky”. What then, is required, to deliver a modern-day Australian production that subverts the clichés of this genre whilst rekindling the ames which made it so compelling? Try a theatrical portrayal of raw humanity with open wounds that bleed truth. Belvoir St eatre’s Prize Fighter enlivens the tired genre with its context of a displaced African refugee who triumphs over the odds in an Australian boxing ring. In short, it works. e physical and visual energy of the play imposes itself

Heavy hip-hop music, courtesy of Sound Designers Felix Cross and Kim Bowers, subdues preshow conversation by causing the precarious audience space of the Upstairs eatre to vibrate and hearts to pump up – echoing the tremulous but staunch cast randomly scattered around the semicircular thrust stage. ey spar with one another and pound punching bags with ferocious determination but little direction, with no obvious division between the stage and the audience seats. Because of this confronting intimacy, the powerful sweat of the actors elicits uneasily accompanying sweat from the audience. Very soon, the music increases in volume, multi-coloured lights scatter over the audience, and the real play begins – no introduction, no warning, nothing. Powerful scripting and strident characterisation drive the play. Writer Future Fidel infuses his own life experience as an African refugee into the story of Isa (Pacharo Mzembe). Barely old enough to escape doli incapax but old enough to witness the murder of his family, his journey as a child soldier and escape from war-torn Congo is stark in its honesty. Boxing helps him adapt to his new life in Australia, but he harbours a burning desire to find his lost brother, who taught him the only thing he knows: ‘jab, jab, duck’. e strength of the cast lies in its diversity; the actors are real-life refugees from Africa, bar theatre icon Margi Brown-Ash. e supporting cast deserve praise for their immense characterisation skills. Brown-Ash, as the eccentric trainer Luke, comically channels the likeable unlikeness of Rocky’s Mickey with great e ect. uso Lekwape, Gideon Mzembe and Kenneth Ransom are dynamically uid actors, able to transform from ashy boxing-ring ghters to Isa’s helpless Congolese family with ease. But the memorable performance comes from Zindzi Okenyo, whose transitions from a crowd-pumping MC to Isa’s scared sister and nally to the tomboyish love interest are so uniquely de ned that one forgets one is watching the same actress in three di erent roles. Unfortunately, Pacharo Mzembe ounders in the lead role of Isa. He faces di culty keeping up with the racing action of the play, providing a thin performance as the timid young refugee but rigorously portraying the character of the audacious boxer, both personas equally key to the story. However, when the actors perform in ensemble contexts, the visual impact is riveting. e chorus sequences give voice to the refugees of Australia, expressing their collective stories of displacement and neglect. e various production elements are appropriately raw and brutal. Stage Manager Heather O’Keefe and Lighting Designer David Walters employ highly stylised props and lighting to complement the strong script. e decision pays o in the sequence when the guntoting Kadogo (Lekwape) describes the act of murdering his own family under ominous red lighting, before revealing his shockingly young age, giving harsher focus to the child holding the gun than the gun itself.

Exits are appropriately minimal – actors step o the centre-stage boxing ring into obscure darkness unless a rare costume change is necessary. e simplicity of costume and set elements allows for swift transitions between scenes, driven by the highly physical movements of the actors. e most powerful aspect of the production is the choreography, with Movement and Fight Director Nigel Poulton bringing a visceral quality to the boxing sequences. Each jab, duck, hook and block exudes a testosterone-building tension that is e ective in balancing the brutally compelling physicality with the delicately wrought vulnerability of the refugees who struggle to survive in a harsh, unforgiving landscape.

At its heart, Prize Fighter is a story of discovery: discovery of strength, of our true desires, of redemption. We enter the theatre expecting a purely visceral, adrenaline-pumping performance.

But we are compelled to realise that sometimes, the most signi cant ghts are the ones inside ourselves. is is the play’s more universal message. Is this production a rehash of the tedious rags-to-riches story of a boxer? Not at all. Does the production leave you wanting more? No. But it leaves you questioning more. at’s what makes it so compelling.

Prize Fighter Belvoir St Theatre January 6 – January 22

Tickets: $72