JAMAICAN-BORN Vernon Vanriel has been fighting all his life – inside the ring and out – and his story is told in a powerful new play, On The Ropes, written by Vernon and Dougie Blaxland, and showing at the Park Theatre in London’s Finsbury Park until February 4.
The set is simple – in several scenes just a boxing ring, an effective metaphor for a situation from which there’s no escape. There’s a cast of three, all black – Mensah Bediako plays Vanriel, Amber James takes the female parts (including Vernon’s mother, two sisters and various partners) and Ashley D Gale the males (including several white members of the British boxing establishment). Fight scenes have Bediako in the ring alone, throwing punches, while a cast member gives a TV commentary. It all works, and there’s effective use of music – soul, gospel, reggae.