Perth Festival 2012’s boxing drama Beautiful Burnout is not for theatre light-weights.
With reviews in Edinburgh and New York ranging from rapturous to rancid,Frantic Assembly and The National Theatre of Scotland’s Beautiful Burnout has the critics fighting it out as to whether the play has what it takes to deliver a knockout piece of theatre. Using physical theatre techniques to bring to life the passion and the heartache delivered by the sport known as ‘The Sweet Science’, Beautiful Burnout explores the highs and the blows of a group of boxing wannabe’s.
For TaqiNazeer, who plays the ‘flamboyant showboating’ aspiring boxer Ajay Chopra there’s no doubt Beautiful Burnout is a crowd pleaser:
‘It’s a very, very physical show because it’s about boxing, but not only that it’s got a fantastic narrative that runs all the way through; it’s got absolutely amazing lighting and the music’s done by Underworld… so we’ve got an absolutely fantastic techno soundtrack going through it that really gets the audience going as well as the actors and that’s what they can expect in an absolute nutshell – a really high octane, colourful and at times very sentimental, show.’
As a theme, boxing – with its heady mix of heroism, showmanship, tension and tragedy – is unsurprisingly well worn. High profile films from Rocky to Million Dollar Baby have exploited many of the potential storylines suggested by the sport, making it a challenge to break new dramatic ground. When approaching producing a theatre piece about boxing, Frantic Assembly were keen to explore the culture of the boxing world, without delving into cliché. In particular their research focused on the role that boxing clubs play in working class culture, and the seeming paradox of the care, respect and discipline imposed by a sport in which professionals aim to inflict head injuries on opponents.
Nazeer explained, that for working class kids from ‘broken’ homes,going to the boxing gyms ‘ gives them focus it gives them drive and what happens is that the boxing trainer, like in this play, ends up completely becoming their father in a way, teaching discipline and focus and how to work really hard which they don’t get outside. I think that’s a really important story that Beautiful Burnout actually tells, because we all see boxing as a really brutal sport where you’re out for blood but really it’s… it is actually a very compassionate sport’.
‘What’s interesting about this play and what gives it such strength is that it shows you about the choices that bowers make and the choices that trainers had to make and how that affects your outcome and your goals.
‘The choices you make in chasing your dream – is it in the end really worth it? Or, if you’ve done it, and these are the consequences – how are you going to deal with it?’
Despite the underlying existential themes, Frantic Assembly’s approach to boxing in Beautiful Burnout is very much driven by the physicality of the sport. This is not a theatre piece where you can shut your eyes and listen, as Nazeer says, it is ‘ not your typical play where the narrative is actually said and shown. Because it’s physical theatre it’s text through movement’, adding tha,t as thechoreography itself tells the story,‘We don’t need to actually hold the audience’s hands and take them through the journey, the play does it for them.’
Given the significance of movement to the piece, the cast were put through gruelling training schedule in order to develop the required speed of movement and sheer skill of boxers. TaqiNazeer, was so determined to play Ajay, that despite never having boxed before he joined a gym in a ‘rough part of Glasgow’ and started training three month before auditions started. The work clearly paid off, as straight out of drama school he found himself in the thick of nine-hour rehearsal days designed to get the cast fighting fit. The hour and a half warm ups presented by each cast member in turn at rehearsals formed the basis for some of the movement sequences in the production. This approach to developing a theatre piece was critical to the engagement of the performers with their roles, and for Nazeer it was
‘… why this piece becomes so close to us and why we’re so attached to it; because as opposed to getting a just script and going “ok read this and say these lines” it’s not really your work whereas with physical theatre it is our work’
The development of the piece is ongoing, with the cast regularly reviewing performances and movement sequences to ensure that the piece stays fresh for audiences.
The cast are supported by a thumping techno soundtrack from Underworld – best known for their work with the Trainspotting soundtrack, as well as tech wizardry from a revolving stage, wall of digital screens and what’s reported to be some fine work form the lighting rig.
If a troupe of incredibly fit (and we’re not just talking about their cardiovascular rates here…) performers being put through what is by all accounts a gruelling bout of physical theatre at a cracking pace isn’t your bag then perhaps you are better off checking out one of the more overtly cerebral options at Perth Festival this year. But if you like it hot, and you like it hard…. it seems Beautiful Burnout has a ring side seat with your name on it.
Beautiful Burnout, co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland and Frantic Assembly is showing as part of Perth Festival 2012. The show opens February 10 and runs until Feb 25. For a romantic night out, try the post-show artists’ talks on Feb 14 (free for ticket holders).
Find out more at thePerth Festival website
Zoe Carter
