What a coup for Sunderland and The Fire Station. Wednesday 21st saw the penultimate show of 10 national touring productions of Sucker Punch.
I say coup as the play was preceded by a Q&A with one of the North East's greatest sporting champions, Sunderland boxer Billy Hardy, and sports journalist Graeme Anderson. Apart from being extremely informative, it was a brilliant introduction the play, the articulate Hardy giving a great background to the sport in his day as opposed to today. They certainly covered all the questions I was prepared to ask.
The play is about two friends, young black boys in the '80s, who aspire to become boxers. It begins by introducing Leon, played by Shem Hamilton, and Troy, played by Christian Alifoe. The gym’s owner Charlie, played by Liam Smith, spots their fighting potential and their journeys begin. It is not only a story about their careers but the difficulties black people faced under the shadow of white fighters in the Thatcher '80s amid Brixton riots.
Charlie’s daughter, Becky, played by Poppy Winter, figures largely in the story highlighting the barriers ‘mixed’ couples faced. The cast is complimented by Leon’s father Squid, played by Wayne Rollins, Tommy, played by John Rogers, the original hopeful boxer and Ray, played by Ray Strasser-King, who manages Troy. While the subject is drama-driven it has moments of humour to lighten the subject.
It is set in a run-down London boxing gym with a boxing ring dominating centre-stage, where most of the action takes place. Charlie's office is on a mezzanine, adding depth to the set. The overall set design by Sandra Falase works extremely well, enhanced by Joshie Harriett’s lighting design. Director Nathan Powell uses the staging well and allows the actors freedom, giving the action a natural flow. While not a boxing expert, great credit has to go to Enric Ortuno and Gary Cooke, the fight director and boxing coach, for the realistic fight scenes.
The play was written by Fulham-born Roy Williams OBE FRSL, who grew up in Notting Hill. He was the youngest of four and, after various jobs, he did a theatre writing degree at Rose Bruford College in 1992. He has worked as a writer ever since, writing for stage, TV and screen. Williams has countless awards and nominations to his name, such as Writers Guild Award for Best Play and Alfred Fagon Award.
Born in Sunderland in 1964, Billy Hardy started boxing at the tender age of six at Hylton Castle Boy’s Club. His teacher also suggested he would make a good footballer, but Hardy decided that was not for him. He went on to become bantamweight and featherweight boxing champion, holding the British, European and Commonwealth titles. He won 37 out of his 48 fights, 17 being knockouts. A fitting tribute to his achievements in Castletown is the Billy Hardy Sports Centre. He retired aged 34.
It is always advisable with any accents to slow down delivery when playing in various locations, making it easier to follow. It was hard to understand some actors as their accent and speedy delivery was at times impossible to comprehend. One attempted to read the stage captioning / surtitles, which unfortunately were not in sync with the actors, so only added to the confusion. Many scenes could be followed without text as the animated activity gave one an idea of what was being said.
The play premièred at London's Royal Court in 2010 playing to sell-out houses and still packs a punch today (apologies, could not resist that!). It was therefore disappointing to see the house only half full. It has an important message and well delivered by a strong cast; one hopes their last night will be better attended as it deserves to be.