Читать книгу Bitch Boxer - Charlotte Josephine - Страница 6

Story of Bitch Boxer

I worked part-time in a coffee shop whilst waiting for acting jobs to appear. Lugging boxes into an office one day a passer-by made a comment about how I didn’t look very ladylike. The kind of thing you can usually brush off but for some reason on that day the comment stung. I wrote a rant on my phone on the bus home, a moan at the world for insisting that women behave a certain way. Reading it a few days later, seeing a character who was really fighting for something, I shaped it into a monologue. A few days later I read that women would be competing in the boxing event at the Olympics for the very first time. The play sort of wrote itself.

Bitch Boxer was developed in the Soho Theatre Young Writers Labs. The very first draft was chosen to be performed as a scratch, by Chizzy Akudolu, at the Soho Theatre in December 2011.

Islington Boxing Club, photo taken by Reggie Hagland

I started training at Islington Boxing Club for research in January 2012. I fell in love with boxing, thick and fast, became totally addicted to training and was invited by IBC to train with the ABA competitive boxers three times a week, where I took my first big hit.

‘You can’t beat this guy’

Photo taken by Reggie Hagland at Islington Boxing Club

I applied, auditioned and won a place on the Old Vic New Voices Edinburgh Season in collaboration with The Underbelly in Edinburgh and supported by IdeasTap. Islington Boxing Club put me in touch with Steve ‘Big Daddy’ Bunce who was kind enough to invite me on his BBC Boxing Hour radio show (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcR7sNeNKXc&sns=fb) and the name ‘The Writer and The Fighter’ was born. Boxing clubs and boxing fans up and down the country heard me on the show and sent me messages of support, links to websites, DVDs and books on boxing. I was also invited onto the Roundhouse Round One radio show (www.roundhouse.org.uk/round1). Writing during the day and training in the evenings, I was lucky enough to have the support of Sarah Dickenson at the Soho Theatre who was invaluable in mentoring me during the script development. Bitch Boxer then won the Soho Theatre Young Writers Award 2012 (http://www.sohotheatre.com/whats-on/soho-young-writers-award/).

Snuff Box started rehearsing Bitch Boxer in June 2012 with Bryony Shanahan directing the play. In true Snuff Box collaborative form, founder Daniel Foxsmith regularly came in and helped shape the show, all working together to devise original moments within the piece. He also wrote and designed the original music/sound – all this whilst on tour, scaring kids up and down the country in The Gruffalo. Seth Rook Williams was our brilliant lighting designer and Kay Ogundimu designed some beautiful artwork.

Rehearsal shot at East 15, taken by Daniel Foxsmith

Dan and Seth, hard at work

We were designated a Movement-Mentor by the OVNV scheme and enjoyed exploring ideas with the lovely Imogen Knight.

Rehearsal shot, taken at East 15 Acting School

Production Shot, Theatre503, by Alex Brenner

We performed two London previews at Theatre503 in late July, both of which sold out, helping us to raise some much-needed cash.

Production shot, Theatre503, by Alex Brenner

People kindly supported us on Sponsume and my coffee-shop boss (Adrian at Street Coffee) and my mum’s choir (Chiltern Ladies Choir) donated some essential money. Go Localise were kind enough to shoot a promo-video (http://www.golocalise.com/blog/?p=881).

We had a brilliant run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, performing sold-out shows. The support from people has been amazing.

Steve Marmion offered us a slot at The Soho Theatre for February 2013. We teamed up with Scrawl Theatre Company to take Bitch Boxer and Chapel Street (written by Luke Barnes) on a double-bill National Tour, after the run at Soho. This is being mentored by the lovely Richard Jordan Productions, who is offering a huge amount of support and advice. A year later I’m still training at IBC; now a carded boxer, doc says I’m fit to fight.

Islington Boxing Club, 2012

Note about the script

This is the original script and differs slightly from the one used in the Snuff Box Theatre production of the play. It’s set in Leytonstone, East London, and is therefore written in that accent, hence the missing ‘ts’ and ‘ings’ in words I felt essential to be spelt like that. I’ve learnt that there are rhythms in boxing, physical patterns essential to keeping good form in the sport and that also create a percussive soundscape. I therefore wanted the delivery of the text to have a rhythm to it. Something that also nods at the spoken-word-world and pays homage to the hip-hop I listened to whilst writing and training. The punctuation therefore is deliberate as a guide to finding the rhythm of Chloe’s accent and attitude. The dashes (/) symbolize a pause that is shorter than a comma.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone for your help and support. First and foremost to Daniel and Bryony, my fellow Snuff Boxers. To Seth and Kay for making us look pretty. To East 15 for giving us a place to play. To IdeasTap, Old Vic New Voices and The Underbelly for Edinburgh. Thank you to the boxers and trainers at Islington Boxing Club and to the female boxers who gave me their time before competing at the Olympics. To all the Soho Theatre team but particularly to Steve Marmion, Sarah Dickenson, Paula Stanic, Jules Haworth and Don McCamphill. Thank you to Curtis Brown and Oberon Books for helping me have my first ever published play to hold in my hand. Last but not least, thank you to my family and friends for putting up with me, to my fairy-god-mother, to my mum and to my dad. Ta very much

– Charlie xx

Please see www.snuffboxtheatre.co.uk for all details about us as a company and the original production. Please contact Curtis Brown Ltd should you wish to perform the play.