Sucker Punch, Roy Williams’ award-winning play about being young and black in Britain, might be set in the 1980s - when Thatcherism and simmering racial tensions were the order of the day - but director Nathan Powell tells What’s On its content continues to resonate in 2023... 

Director and writer Nathan Powell might be a boxing enthusiast, but he knows where to draw the line. “I like to think of myself as a casual fan,” he admits. “Because real boxing fans will get angry if I don’t know the answer to a boxing question!”

It’s a sensible stance to take, given that his latest project sees him directing a revival of Sucker Punch, British dramatist Roy Williams’ hard-hitting sports drama about two former friends who step into the ring to face each other as well as their own demons. 

But is Leon Davidson a Black British champion or an Uncle Tom? And is his one-time ally, Troy Augustus, an American powerhouse or just a naïve cash cow?

As well as being a classic underdog story, the drama tackles themes of identity, prejudice and the financial exploitation of athletes - topics just as relevant today as they were in the 1980s, when the play is set. 
Sucker Punch debuted at London’s Royal Court in 2010. An instant hit with the critics, it was nominated for an Olivier for Best New Play and scooped a number of other prizes, including The Alfred Fagon Award and The Writers Guild Award for Best Play.

The plaudits are all merited, according Nathan, who was recently appointed artistic director & joint CEO of the National Student Drama Festival.
“I think it’s such a brilliant piece,” he says. “Roy Williams is amazing at telling really detailed, intricate, big and vast stories for everyone in the audience. He’s such a wonderful creator of characters, but also a great creator of stories.”

Nathan is especially taken with the relationship between the two main characters, but just as importantly with their circumstances and the experiences of black men in this country, which aren’t that dis-similar to the period in which the play is set. 
“It opens up a really useful dialogue between different generations of black people who grew up in the UK. The challenges now, compared to the ’80s, are different but the same, if that makes any sense? There’s a difference in terms of how what we experience today looks, but they’re the same challenges. And it’s all about how we approach those challenges.”

And given that those experiences and challenges are universal to black people all over the country, Nathan is keen to bring the production to regions and audiences not necessarily familiar with the play’s London setting and Brixton riots backdrop.
“I’m a Londoner who’s moved out of London, and I have a real commitment and energy and drive to create really excellent work outside of the capital. 

“This Theatre Nation Partnership with Wolverhampton Grand and all the other partners allows us to tour such an amazing piece of work outside of London. And that’s powerful, and really special to be able to share with as many audiences across the country as possible.
“Taking this type of work out to the regions is really at the heart of this project - that’s the thing that feels really important and empowering. We’ve just come out of the pandemic, and partnerships like this mean that this might be some people’s first experience of theatre, or their only experience of theatre for a long time.”

Nathan is also thrilled at the chance to work with Roy Williams (“one of the country’s greatest living playwrights”) after their paths first crossed in 2020 on an audio play project by Stratford East called 846. The title came from the eight minutes and 46 seconds it took for George Floyd to die in police custody. The project featured short pieces by 14 different writers, including Nathan, each responding to Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter movement. 

“Each was a standalone exploration of racial inequality and oppression, but together they formed a powerful tapestry of voices. That was the first time that Roy and I had worked together, and I’m seriously excited to be working with him again on Sucker Punch.” 

Nathan is also keen to make the show a more immersive experience than a typical stage show. He wants audiences to feel like they’re stepping into a boxing gym and “walking into an event rather than a traditional theatre space” - one in which movement direction is just as important as set design. 
“We can’t turn the performers into professional boxers in a four-week rehearsal period, but that’s what the audience want to see. They want to see the beauty of the art that is the sport of boxing. So it’s really interesting how we can make that big and theatrical, but also how we show off the raw skill and beauty that is in boxing. 

“I think there are some real key elements we can pull out of that to make it a wonderful theatrical feat but also make the audience feel like they’re experiencing those fights.”

Nathan admits the boxing scenes will need to be stylised, but hopes he can find a middle ground realistic enough for audiences to feel like they’ve seen a real fight. As much as there’s a balancing act between satisfying theatre-goers and fight fans, he’s also keen to highlight the genuine drama of the sport. 
“As a boxing fan, I wouldn’t want to watch boxing being acted badly in a play, but I would want to experience the energy of being there at a boxing match. 
“When you’re at home watching boxing on a TV screen, sometimes you don’t pick up on things like the boxers sweat bouncing off other people, or the sound of a punch landing, or the exhale of a boxer as the final bell goes. Those things are what I want to highlight when people come to watch this - that idea of being at a live boxing match. I really want to bring those feelings of seeing and hearing a real fight to this play.”

As well as being excited by the piece, he also wants audiences to leave the theatre with a few things to think - and talk - about.  
“I hope that they have interesting conversations with the people that they came with about what it means to be black in Britain. I don’t want to answer questions for anyone, I just want to encourage talking and people to start a conversation. That’s all I can ask for and that’s all I hope for.”

by Steve Adams