18th Play - 7/18/23 - The Sweet Science of Bruising by Joy Wilkinson

This play was passed on to me by a colleague. Thank you, Kane!!! What a treat this one was to read!

Summary: ''‘When that bell rings, your life is entirely in your hands.’ London, 1869. Four very different Victorian women are drawn into the dark underground world of female boxing by the eccentric Professor Sharp. Controlled by men and constrained by corsets, each finds an unexpected freedom in the boxing ring. As their lives begin to intertwine, their journey takes us through grand drawing rooms, bustling theatres and rowdy Southwark pubs, where the women fight inequality as well as each other. But with the final showdown approaching, only one can become the Lady Boxing Champion of the World. An epic tale of passion, politics and pugilism.” (Stageplays)

Loved: Wow. The whole first act of this play blew me away. Yeah, I'm a sucker for a period piece, but THIS is a love letter to feminism at its finest. It explores the barriers faced by women in the Victorian era, recognizing that the battles done in that era have brought us a long way (still not far enough, sigh). We are pulled in at the beginning of the play as the Professor says, "Please welcome them as they do battle to be name the greatest of them all, the very first, the one and only, Lady Boxing Champion of the World." Each of four women stands up and speaks their name. Then the Professor takes the hand of Violet and says "Violet Hunter, the one and only Lady Boxing Champion of the World... or rather she will be. She's still only a lady and she's barely heard of boxing." Then the play rushes off into the beginning of Violet's story. This structure is echoed with each of the three other women. I loved the way this was introduced, and loved the very clear parallel structure the playwright uses to introduce each of them and their story. Voting rights, the lack of ability of women to become doctors, abusive husbands, operations to cure "hysteria" and more are explored in the stories of these four women. They all find that boxing is the one place where they do have agency. Each woman's story is fascinating, and woefully frustrating, until, of course, they turn to boxing to finally have some control over their lives. In a play where females are obviously the heroines, I also appreciated that each of the males seems to be more than the average Victorian male, until they aren't. There are some shocking turns that I did not expect. The male characters are not at all one dimensional (even though we don't spend much time with most of them), but they are still the enemy in this play which is ultimately about a battle, both literal and metaphorical. Great writing!

What I didn’t Love: So, ultimately all of these awesome women have to fight each other. That was the part I didn't really love. Of course it was inevitable, but I really did not want to see any of them lose, which of course three of them have to. Also, boxing - there's a lot of it (although I did read a review that said boxing fans would want more, so take that with a grain of salt). I personally am less interested in boxing than the journeys of the ladies. The end part of the second act focused more on the battle for "Lady Boxing Champion of the World," which I just liked less. That being said, I appreciated the way the women worked together even when they were fighting, and the way that things are wrapped up is clever. Ha! No spoilers in this one, you gotta read it or see it for yourself!

Overall: I really loved this play, especially in the first act. Such a great exploration of the challenges that women faced at the time and how they each fought against those. Because of their battles (not in the ring, but in each of their lives), I was fascinated by each of them. I appreciated that boxing was the one place where they were able to have the agency they didn't have in the rest of their lives. This play reminds me of another play, Raeanne's Gotta Win by Barbara Lhota, which is also about female boxers. Lhota’s is set firmly in the 21st century, but the boxing ring is still a place where women find agency and power. I also saw an AMAZING production of Girl in the Red Corner by Stephen Spotswood by Broken Nose Theatre in 2019, which was about women in mixed martial arts. I'm sure there are more of these plays out there, and I'm interested in why this idea is popping up so much these days. Perhaps we aren't as liberated as we thought ... (Okay, I know we're not. But that's another story, back to Sweet Success!) Ultimately, the overall battle for who was "Lady Boxing Champion of the World" was less exciting for me, in that I didn't want any of the women to lose. But, I guess a play about boxing has to have the fights and winners and losers, which was not my favorite part, although some folx will LOVE that. That being said, I thought it was handled cleverly and deftly, and this writer is awesome! I want to be in this play, I want to direct this play - I definitely want to see it! Great stuff!

Here’s a link to Google Sheets with more info about the play: Play a Day Sheet

Want to learn more about Joy Wilkinson? Check out her website: http://www.joywilkinson.net/