Bitch Boxer - Fringe
Holden Street Theatre. 12 Feb 2014
That a performer so fresh from drama school should be delivering this sort of dramatic punch is knockout.
The scrapbook of Holly Augustine will be full of just such pieces of heavy-handed wordplay since the piece that the young actress is presenting is 'Bitch Boxer' - the portrait of a young woman determined to prove her worth by becoming one of the first women in Olympic boxing. Women were only included in Olympic boxing in 2012 so the play, written by Charlotte Josephine, is right on the knocker, so to speak.
The aspiring boxer is one Chloe, a pretty tough chick from Leytonstone in the UK. The thing that makes her different is the power of her love for her late father, a devotion heightened by raw emotions at what her mother did to her father. So, while this play is the depiction of a feisty boxer with driving ambition it also, and most potently, is a love story.
On the one hand, it is hard-hitting. On the other, it is deeply touching.
It is, simply, a beautifully conceived and crafted theatre piece.
Not surprisingly, it has been reaping awards wherever it goes - a Soho Young Writer's Award, an Old Vic New Voices Edinburgh Award and our own Holden Street Theatres' Edinburgh Award for 2013 - which is what brings it here for this Fringe.
The one mistake playwright Josephine has made is in its name. Bitch Boxer is a bitch of a name. It is unenticing to a swathe of the theatre demographic. Ironically, it seems to become a good and catchy name after the experience - for the experience is rich and intense. It earned sell-out seasons in the UK.
Staged by Snuff Box Theatre in Collaboration with Richard Jordan Productions under the direction of Bryony Shanahan, it is a play of logistical economy.
There's a camp chair, a duffle bag and a boxing square marked on the black stage in talc. This is Daniel Foxsmith's quietly apt design.
The rest is the most eloquent lighting design by Seth Rook Williams. And the power of Holly Augustine.
She knows all the moves, light and fast on her feet, convincing with the fists. She accompanies her motion with the pattern of oomphs and uhs which represent blows given and received. Head and body whip back from the assault of her invisible opponents.
Her narrative is littered with expletives. It is tough. It is tender. It is sad. It is happy.
As a performer, she is fearless, high-energy and able to swing easily through a broad gamut of human emotions. The audience is utterly engaged. At her first Adelaide performance, the applause went on and on.
Even for one who despises boxing, this is a winning work - and another feather in the Holden Street curatorial cap.
Samela Harris
When: 12 Feb to 16 Mar
Where: Holden Street Theatres - The Studio
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
