Black Theatre Review: Sucker Punch
(c) Chris Nash
Sucker Punch’ is the latest intentionally hard-hitting piece from award-winning playwright Roy Williams. It’s the early 80s in an unspecified London location. Charlie Maggs -or Chas (Nigel Lindsay) is a boxing trainer whose hopes of making it big are vested in his latest protégé Tommy (Jason Maza). After two school friends Leon and Troy (Daniel Kaluuya and Anthony Welsh) break into his gym, instead of going to the police Chas coerces them into helping out around the establishment with the threat of reporting them to the authorities if they don’t fall in line. Troy is smart-mouthed and hot-headed; Leon is eager to please, appeasing to a fault. By pure serendipity Chas discovers Leon’s potential in the ring and decides to become his coach.
On the other hand, Troy who also shows boxing promise keeps having clashes with the local police as he falls foul of their draconian stop-and-search methods more than once. Chas thinks Troy is nothing but trouble and Leon’s loyalty is tested to the limit when his coach asks him to choose between his friend and help getting to the top of the sporting profession. This uncomfortable choice puts Leon on the path to greatness but also sets the scene for future scores to be settled in and outside of the ring. Meanwhile interracial romance burgeons between Leon and Chas’ pampered daughter Becky (Sarah Ridgeway) much to her father’s consternation.
The jokes come thick and fast in Sucker Punch as do the racial slurs and several extraneous 80s references. Diff’rent Strokes, Crossroads, Our Price, Conan the Barbarian, Wimpey’s, MJ’s moonwalk, Thatcher and the miners, the Falklands war…A mention of Mr T and the A-Team seemed inevitable and lo and behold it did come forth. Yes, yes Roy, we get it, the play is set in the 80s. Herein lays the problem with ‘Sucker Punch’-its overall heavy-handedness. This reviewer has absolutely no problem with nostalgia for that very special decade. It’s just that Williams doesn’t have to hint at it every other sentence to maintain authenticity.
A similar sledgehammer approach is taken with the race issue. What should have been a broader discussion of the political climate of a turbulent period in recent history –or at least a more in-depth exploration of the complexities of race relations unique to the British experience- ‘Sucker Punch’ never gets away from seeing the world in black and white. As a result the dialogue is often reduced to quick and easy sound bites. This oversimplified angle reeks of a certain kind of American influence on Williams’ writing. Characters refer perfunctorily to the Brixton race riots, ‘Babylon’ and Iron Maggie, hurl ethnicity-based invectives at each other and a young Afro-Caribbean man tries to date a Caucasian girl (who is happy to make slurs of her own about brown people) whilst those around them disapprove. Somehow covering such familiar territory, and not in an especially groundbreaking way, is meant to suffice yet it’s no surprise that it doesn’t. It’s far too obvious -as well as slightly insulting to the audience’s intelligence. If Williams wants to take us down a path well-trodden, he shouldn’t have to spell everything out. A topic as oft-visited as race needs a fresh voice and perspective, not more clichés.
There’s also a distinct absence of women-most noticeably African/Caribbean women- in the cast. Leon’s shiftless, philandering, disappointment of a father Squid (played by Trevor Laird) for example, pops up frequently. However Leon’s unnamed mother, whom it is assumed has been far more active and involved in the young man’s life, is nowhere to be seen. True: boxing is very male dominated as are most sports but that doesn’t mean women remain invisible once the bell rings.
Despite its flaws Sucker Punch is entertaining. The play really gathers momentum as Leon’s reaction to his success and his ever-growing ego move more into focus. What the script lacks in subtlety is compensated to an extent by Sacha Wares inspired directing, designer Miriam Buether’s set (the stage is a blood-stained boxing ring and the audience its spectators) and some very commendable performances. The most noteworthy turns come from young Daniel Kaluuya and veteran Nigel Lindsay. Wares’ great direction and Kaluuya’s skills converge especially well during Leon’s numerous monologues which double up as running commentary on his fights. To his credit, Williams has done a very good job on his boxing research. The combination of these factors makes Leon’s soliloquies hypnotic to watch. The final showdown between Troy and Leon is also laudably executed; the simulation of the fight given that extra dose of realism courtesy of Leon Baugh’s adroit choreography. Ex-Eastender Gary Beadle’s portrayal of Troy’s obnoxious potty-mouthed American promoter Ray, is worthy of mention too.
Sucker Punch is certainly watchable. Nevertheless it also feels like a missed opportunity to be a nuanced, maybe even innovative work on a prickly, not to mention hackneyed subject.
Sucker Punch
Written by Roy Williams
With: Nigel Lindsay, Jason Maza, Daniel Kaluuya, Anthony Welsh
At the Royal Court Theatre until 24 July
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