Reviews for Take the Space's production of White Feather Boxer

Reviews for Take the Space's production of White Feather Boxer
Patricia Murphy’s Review in Oxford’s Daily Info

Distinguished actor Chris Barnes delivers a knockout performance in this complex story about a veteran boxing trainer who takes on a troubled young female boxer, only to find himself confronting his conscientious objector past. Jimmy used to be a contender, a bantam weight renowned as London Boy. But  he is also a Quaker so in World War One he joined the Friends Ambulance Unit rather than take up arms. But when conscription was introduced in 1916, he came home to face the music as an act of solidarity with other objectors and wound up imprisoned in Wormwood Scrubs with hardened criminals. Brutally attacked by the prison guards, he never fought again.

Now its 'the 1960's and when plucky young Jo, the daughter of a dead Polish fighter pilot in World War 2, comes to his gym and begs him to train her, he reluctantly takes her on. But in doing so, he opens up the Pandora's box of past hurts he's tried to suppress. When Jo finds out about his conscientious objector past, she rejects him as a coward. But her own struggles with her troubled family background and growing self-confidence in her boxing prowess set off a dangerous spiral of events that she cannot control. Can she learn the self- discipline Jimmy tries to instill in her, to keep her fighting in the ring? And can Jimmy lay to rest the ghosts of the past that haunt him, the accusations of cowardice that taunt him?

Taking place in one location, the gym, this is an intimate, intense two-hander that wrestles with major themes. Is conscientious objection a valid response to aggression? Can you be a warrior and yet refuse to fight? Can a woman escape her gender role in family structures that oppress and wound her? There are no easy answers, no pat conclusions in this arena of conflict.  Writer and director Siobhan Nicholas packs a lot into an hour and twenty-five minutes, a whole life story and a dramatic plot around Jo's dysfunctional family.

Making her stage debut, young actress Julia Masli brings passion and conviction to the role of the female boxer. She is utterly believable as a boxer, as she parries and jabs around the stage, tense with rage and barely suppressed fury. On the first night, her performance might have benefitted from a bit more light and shade, a bit more pacing. But this was probably down to first night nerves. She is clearly an intelligent, sensitive performer and no doubt her delivery will become more finely tuned. Julia Masli is definitely one to watch.

She is lucky to be able to share the stage with the acting masterclass that is Chris Barnes’ Jimmy. From his broken nose to his limp, he inhabits the part - achingly poignant and compassionate, careworn yet precise and demanding. Interestingly, the actor got his genuine broken nose while training for "Johnny Boxer" decades ago. That’s him on the poster.  That play about tragic Welsh boxer , Jimmy Wilde was directed by the late Michael Bogdanov, the passionate, controversial proponent of visceral, raw theatre, (notorious for "The Romans In Britain") who is credited as an Associate on “White Feather Boxer. Barnes performance is a fitting tribute to his mentor.

In an era of celebrity blandness and high-wire politics, with the threat of nuclear war looming over us, Take the Space, the Art Council and Oxford Playhouse are to be commended for putting on works of moral seriousness. Siobhan Nicholas is to be applauded for wrestling with heavyweight subjects that pack a punch.  This is Nicholas’s fifth play with Take the Space, a touring company that puts the show on the road, opening theatre up to new audiences as well as more established venues. Previous works include Sam and I, a blazing play about Samuel Pepys and his angry wife, Hanging Hooke, a tour de force about Robert Hooke the overlooked 17th century scientific genius, Dolce Via, a riveting homage to Fellini and Stella, a spellbinding play about Caroline Herschel the 18th century forgotten woman astronomer.

Nicholas herself is a hugely talented actress of grace, emotional power and subtlety. All of her work is highly intelligent, meticulously researched, finely wrought and full of insight into character and the struggles of the underdog. This is a remarkable canon for a woman playwright, particularly one who writes about outsiders hidden from history. One cannot help suspecting that if she were a man, she’d be better known and have bigger budgets. With White Feather Boxer, there is a sense that her imagination is bursting out of the small stage and chamber pieces. I for one would love to see what she would do with a bigger canvas.

Reviewer: Roger Paine

Brighton-based ‘Take the Space’ chose Devonshire Park Theatre to stage the world premiere of a new play written and directed by Siobhán Nicholas.  No stranger to Eastbourne, where her plays ‘Hanging Hooke’ and ‘Stella’ have been highly praised in recent years, this latest explores the twin themes of pugilism and pacifism. 

Here the pugilist and pacifist is Jimmy (Chris Barnes) who in 1967, is 71 years old and running a boxing club in London’s East End. Jimmy’s prodigy, who he is training in the noble art, is Jo {Polly Jordan}, a 16 year old girl determined to succeed in her chosen sport, “When I box I feel like a person”.

Despite difficulties at that time for women of any age becoming boxers, Jo is encouraged by Jimmy and embarks on a gruelling training regime.  The stage is dominated by a large punch-bag on which Jimmy teaches her ducking and weaving, straight lefts, right arm jabs and a thumping uppercut.  But it soon emerges that the unlikely duo have many similarities.  Jimmy becomes the father Jo never knew; Jo becomes the son or daughter Jimmy never had.

Woven into this scenario is the story of Jimmy’s life.  A conscientious objector and ambulance driver in World War 1, imprisoned for his pacifism.  These experiences, and being branded a coward, a white feather was the token given by girls to young men who, for whatever reason, refused to fight, have left Jimmy permanently scarred.  This trauma, and his gym in World War II being used to shelter Jewish ‘kindertransport’ children fleeing Nazi Germany, adds another dimension to his life which has been dominated by the expression “Keep Your Anger In The Ring”.  Alongside this is Jo’s own anger.  At her drunken mother and boyfriend who, when he attempts to abuse her, she seriously beats up using punches she has learned from Jimmy.

Jo’s discovery of Jimmy’s boxing champion’s belt, Army medal and love letters, in a suitcase is a poignant highlight.  The story, which encapsulates several inter-related historical topics, could be the subject of a full length novel. Instead, this is a sensitively-crafted play providing unique and thought-provoking theatre.