This show is a knockout!
It packs quite a punch!
It floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee!
Some of my reviewing colleagues, those who’ve spent more time in the ring than me and have suffered the resultant brain trauma, will probably rely on such clichés.
But they’re all entirely accurate (and I expect to be quoted on them.)
In a snappy, totally engaging 45 minutes, Flynn tells of his career as a boxer. The rub is that he’s gay and no one knows. His plan is to come out – after he wins the national title. The piece worries away wonderfully at the concept of respect: why it’s desired, how it’s measured, how it’s achieved, and what is its value.
Written originally in 1989, James Gaddas’ script is beautifully rich. It takes its rhythms from the world of boxing, its vigorous muscular language in a glorious dance with pace and poetry.
Samuel Addison as Flynn is superb. Under the guidance of director Teresa Izzard, he delivers a performance that is high energy and tremendously physical while simultaneously utterly at one with Gaddas’ brilliant words.
Simple staging, a terrific script and a sensational performance – if boxing were this good I’d be at every bout.
(Did I prove victorious in my fight against cliche? No, I suspect I have lost on points. The reigning champion of reviews remains undefeated. But….)
With productions like this, theatre is the true winner.
Paul Gilchrist
Shadow Boxing by James Gaddas
at the Emerging Artist Sharehouse, Erskineville, as part of the Sydney Fringe
until September 30
sydneyfringe.com/events/shadow-boxing/
Image by Hannah Oliver
Theatre Red 
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