“It’s not pretty, but we’ve all got to make a living”

London’s Smoke & Oakum Theatre present this window into the inner workings of the boxing industry.

Mickey and his team of cornermen never seem to have much luck in the boxing world: the fighters they manage always end up losing and, after a disastrous last outing, no one wants to work with them.

Until, that is, they sign Sid Sparks, a young boxer whose fast hands and winning ways catapult them into a world of success they’ve never known. However, you can’t win all the time and soon Mickey must chose between the life he’s enjoying, and the wellbeing of his young charge.

“A right-hook out of nowhere, a real knock-out.” The Stage
“Thrilling to watch” The Scotsman

Here’s Oli Forsyth, Smoke & Oakum’s artistic director and writer of Cornermen, to tell us more.

How much boxing knowledge do audiences require in order to enjoy Cornermen?
None at all: that’s the key thing with this show. When I decided to make a play about the world of boxing, I was really keen not to end up with a macho story of overcoming adversity. We already have Rocky for that. Besides, it’s far from the experience of most boxers, who don’t get major highs and lows, but instead grind out a living by jumping in the ring.
When we first started touring the show, I was worried we would only appeal to a niche audience: but, from Edinburgh to Brighton, we sold out venues and met people afterwards who told us how much they enjoyed being immersed in a world they knew nothing about.

Is the the piece simply a look at the workings of the UK boxing circuit, or are you also drawing parallels between boxing and life more generally?
I think there are definitely parallels with the more routine struggles we face in life. One of the defining features of the play is that the boxer, Sid, is not actually as good as he seems – and both him and his team have to come to terms with what it means to not be the best at something. To me, the realisation that there will always be someone better than you is pretty common to all people.
That said, we do look in detail at how the boxing industry works and how fighters go from damp gyms with leaking ceilings to title shots at Wembley. I’d love to say that was a universal journey but sadly that’s not the case!

I’m guessing UK circuit boxing is one of those fascinating worlds like, say, lower-leagues football, replete with its legends, folklore, anachronistic rules, etcetera…
Absolutely, the world of boxing is wonderfully complex and unique. When I wrote the show in 2014 I was training at a club that had a real spread of talent, from beginners to professionals, and yet the fact that every single person there was stepping through the ropes and trying to better themselves led to this excellent sense of respect and camaraderie.
Every few weeks someone would book a fight – and then the whole club would be in some way a part of getting this person ready, and then either celebrating a win or mourning a loss. For a solitary sport, it’s got layers upon layers of relationships and teamwork behind it. Most people only ever see boxing as two fighters in a ring: but there’s an entire world underneath, and one that Cornermen lets you right into.

Tell us about Mickey, Drew and Joey. When they decide to harness Sid’s talent, is there a hint of exploitation in there or are they just doing what anyone would, when an opportunity presents itself?
Well now, isn’t that the question? Without Mickey and his team, Sid would probably waste his talent and spend the rest of his life thinking of what might have been. These four men enter a world of success that none of them have experienced before, and they make their mark on the boxing world, so in that sense it’s all positive, but it’s only a case of Sid getting punched in the head and, once he retires, they can just find another boxer.
When you look at it like that it does seem exploitative, but if the alternative was never stepping in the ring then maybe we’d look at it differently. As Mickey says, “It’s not pretty, but we’ve all got to make a living.”

How easy is the world of boxing to render on stage?
The key decision we made was not to show the fights onstage. We felt that the picture we could put in the audience’s mind would be far more powerful if they couldn’t see four actors trying to recreate a professional fight.
As a result we see the fight through the eyes of Sid’s team, we place the audience in the corner with Mickey and the cornermen, so every time Sid takes a punch you see the effect it has on them, and in the breaks you’re right there with them as they try to stop his nose bleeding. This gives us far more scope to show the audience just how frantic and highly charged the fights are and gives them a sense of detail you just wouldn’t get otherwise.

One reviewer praises how well you’ve laced boxing trivia into the action. Tell us more..
If you don’t know the difference between welterweight and cruiserweight, or ten- or 14-ounce gloves, or the correct method for sealing a cut under the eye, come and see the show. You’ll find out all about these things, and by the end you’ll be shouting at the team for the decisions they make.
The hardest thing to do when writing about a specific subject matter is to let the audience in on the detail of it without lecturing them. With Cornermen we’ve found a way to do that while also telling a moving and funny story about what it’s like to box for money.

Cornermen is at the Wardrobe Theatre from Feb 7-9. For more info, visit thewardrobetheatre.com/livetheatre/cornermen

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