Will vividly repeated one word to describe the play: obsession. “A story of obsession, with the sport, with perfection, with the glitz and the glam of boxing fame, and the spectacle of the drama.” To the EUC student, the project is a combination of a passion for playwriting and combat sports: “I’ve done boxing for seven years, so I’m very comfortable in creating a play that has something to do with boxing.”
Inspiration
For Will, the possibility of creating his own play felt like ‘the stars aligning’: “I worked on my writing capabilities, I learned from my previous experiences, and had the opportunity to approach the network I had created to receive funding.” He’s no stranger to theatre: “I participated at the EUR Open Stage Nights, performing poems of mine, which led me to become the campus poet.”
What inspired Gloves Off? Will says Samuel Becket’s ‘theatre of the absurd and surrealist’ Waiting for Godot, a play published in 1952, was what first came to mind. Although not boxing related, Will tried to show Waiting for Godot’s repetitive nature through the recurrent trainings needed for the boxing fight. Other than that, Will and his team took designing and aesthetics inspiration from vintage boxing stories, such as the Rocky and Creed sagas. Part of the play is a choreography of a full boxing fight. “It will range from walkouts, to announcements, to press conference and then boxing on the stage”, Will explained. The end goal is to ‘integrate the audience by making them feel like the extra character’.
Creation
Experienced in the field of theatre, Will took a step in the unknown by directing his own play: “I had gone back home to Cape Town and had an abundance of time to write which drove me partially insane.” To him, it felt like ‘gnawing at this giant bone of a story, bringing it to life’.
Along his journey, he received help from Alex, a friend who supported him with the play: “We had long calls, and we worked very regularly to critique the story line by line, getting into the weeds to finish the script.”
Identity
Will poured in many hours into what he considers his ‘perfect project’. So much so that his character, Billy Buccaneer, carries some aspects of him: “Billy is a nickname my parents use for me, and my best friend in Cape Town has always been Joe. I brought this character resemblance in the play.” Although he does specify that Billy is not an alter-ego: “He has his own life, place of birth, wife, family, friends, hobbies and talents which could overlap with me, but also with anyone else.”
That aspect of adapting characters and stories to the larger audience was Will and his team’s main goal when creating this play: “The experience we’ve created is catered towards having the audience feel completely immersed into this world of Gloves Off, to feel as if they would be a part of this spectacle.”
From the play, Will hopes that the guests remain ‘entertained and engaged’: “I want people to talk about how it made them feel and think. The play should have a lasting effect so that people can reignite the story again by discussing what took place, whether it puts a smile or frown on their face.”
