Hot on the heels of success at Edinburgh, Beautiful Burnout finds its natural home in lengendary boxing venue York Hall.
As befits a play about a boxing training club, Beautiful Burnout has a jumped up, pumped up, hyper-physicality throughout. A bold physical style is also what Frantic Assembly, the company who are working with the National Theatre of Scotland on the show, are known for in particular, and Bryony Lavery’s play works well for them.
The play follows the stories of five young hopefuls at a Glasgow gym run by Bobby Burgess, a tough trainer who casts himself as God in their lives, as they push themselves relentlessly in the hope of becoming professional boxers. Hot on the heels of success at Edinburgh, Beautiful Burnout has found its natural home in a real-life boxing venue, the York Hall in Bethnal Green.
The physical action is perfectly choreographed – stylish but with a visceral quality that reminds you that boxing is an often brutal sport, not just a theatrical display. While I'm not convinced a bank of TV screens adds much value, the turning stage is an effective platform; a fight which shunts one boxer into a freeze frame, while their opponent steps out of the scene and dances round them before clicking back into the fight, is a brilliant way to convey the split-second thought processes and decision-making of a three-minute round. And throughout the actors work exceptionally hard, especially in the tightly plotted, dance-like training sessions set to a blistering soundtrack from Underworld. There’s also a degree of verisimilitude however; while I’ve never actually watched live boxing, it feels like this is about as close as you could get on stage. By the end of Beautiful Burnout, I feel I’ve sat through twelve rounds.
But while the cast are constantly on their toes and brimming with energy, the characterisation isn't always as sharp as their hooks. Despite ostensibly being at the core of the narrative, the young boxer Cameron remains lightly sketched. The tough Dina – an excellent, ferocious performance from Vicki Manderson – who refuses to be confined to the world of women’s boxing, appears to make a major about-turn towards the end of the play before suffering her own burnout. But it’s all shown in physical stumblings and feels under-explored.
In contrast, with Cameron’s mum, Lavery makes a few short scenes and brief strokes convey plenty. Possibly because that character doesn't have to step into the ring, words have to do the work here, and Lavery is a dextrous playwright. But while there is some interrogation of the emotional and physical costs of pursuing a career in a dangerous sport, and of the bruised egos, battered personal lives and damaged bodies that pass through Bobby’s gym, the script sometimes feels a little underwritten, and the directors seem too focused on those exhilarating physical set pieces.
That said, in an ending which certainly risks predictability, Lavery’s subtle writing and the cast’s commitment help shift the play up a gear; we move from well executed moves to emotional punches in the final round.
Beautiful Burnout runs at York Hall until 2nd October
Image by Gavin Evans
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