Theatre Travels Presents THE SWEET SCIENCE OF BRUISING

Sydney based theatre company Theatre Travels (The Laramie Project, No: Intermission Festival) prepares to pack a punch with its 20th production since launching in 2018, with the Australian premiere season of Joy Wilkinson's The Sweet Science of Bruising.

Co-producing with Theatre Travels, not-for-profit community organisation, One Good Act, joins the Sydney theatre scene with a mission to utilise Sydney's thriving cultural scene to create cause-focused theatre and meaningful community engagement programs to change the Aussie hearts and importantly, mindsets.

Set in London in 1869, the story may look like a period piece but tells a very modern tale. This hard-hitting, thought-provoking production, featuring a cast of 10 and a production team of a further 13 Independent Artists, focuses on themes of gender equality, equal access to education and domestic violence.

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. A place where their lives, decisions and futures are in their own hands for the first time.

They may each get in the ring in pursuit of the title of Lady Boxing Champion of the World but what each stands to gain from every bout far exceeds any title. The women punch for recognition, they jab for education, they spar for a future, they fight for survival.

The Sweet Science of Bruising is an epic tale of passion, politics and pugilism.

Director, Carly Fisher (In Their Footsteps, Girl Shut Your Mouth, The Laramie Project) said of the production,

"This story is important because it is about the continuous fight for equality. That this fight for equality is coming on 200 years is in itself thought-provoking. The play is set in 1869 and deals with topics including domestic violence and abortion. The news in 2022 deals with domestic violence being at an all time Australian high and abortion legalisation being consistently questioned worldwide. I think of this show as a call to action. If we are not called to question and change our behaviours, attitudes, leaders, etc, will we not be continuing this fight for another 200 years?"

The Sweet Science of Bruising features a cast filled with some of Sydney's brightest performers in the Independent Scene. Kian Pittman (Yellow Face, Romeo and Juliet), Esther Williams (Songs for a New World, The Colored Museum), Kitty Simpson (The Man Who Came to Dinner and the Cherry Orchard) and, returning to the Theatre Travels stage, Sonya Kerr (In Their Footsteps, August: Osage County) lead the cast as the show features four equal female leads. Taking on the role as the infamous Professor Charlie Sharp, Cormac Costello (Morning Star, Life is Impossible) dazzles as the ringmaster of the Angel, Islington. Featuring Michelle Masefield (Nell Gwynn, for which she received the 2020 Broadway World Award for Best Supporting Actress), Raechyl French (BETH, so/lo), Davey Seagle (Fuente Ovejuna, The Angry Brigade), Benjamin Balte Russell (The Angry Brigade, 42nd Street), and Antony Makhlouf (Lady Tabouli, Omar and Dawn), the talented cast of 10 challenge stereotypes common of the period and jump into the boxing ring for this exciting, quick moving play.

Fisher continued,

"This is a big show that calls on the collaboration of a hardworking group of creatives ranging from designers, to a fight choreographer, to an accent and dialect coach, and of course, to our cast, to make it truly shine.

In her foreword of the play, Wilkinson questions 'whose story is it?' And I think that this applies today as much as it did in 1869 - whose story is it? Who gets to tell it? And why? Our rehearsal room is filled with discussion, and with laughs too, as we try to deep dive into discovering the answer to this."

With production designs by Hannah Yardley (Eat Me, The Space Between), costume designs by Bella Saltearn (Three ways to crack an egg, Hate Glitch), lighting by Capri Harris (Cherry, In Their Footsteps) and Associate Lighting Designer, Sophie Parker (Breathing Corpses, As You Like It) and composition by Akesiu Poitaha (A Grain of Sand, Treasure Island), the world of this show explodes on to the Flightpath Theatre stage in an epic production not to be missed.

Performances run 15th June - 2nd July 2022.

Bookings: https://www.flightpaththeatre.org/whats-on/sweet-science-of-bruising

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