Shadow Boxing (Feet First Collective), at Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory – 55 minutes

A pugilist’s confessional, Shadow Boxing is tough, gritty and unrelenting.

Samuel Addison features as the boxer, whose father, Errol Sebastian Flynn (who we never meet), also put on the gloves.

His 47 fights produced only eight wins and his son recalls the vitriol directed at his dad as he lay spreadeagled on the canvas with a broken jaw.

He was only a kid at the time and only saw his father once after that.

At school, he was bullied and with his dad offering no protection, he – too – became a fighter.

Photos by Hannah Jennings

He trained hard and pushed himself. He wanted to claim a national title. He did it for the money and to gain respect. He talks about the animalistic instinct and the smell.

Always moving … punching … looking the part.

And then came the setback and the unwanted attention … for being gay in a world where “faggots” were treated like trash.

But 'In Like Flynn' still manages to find a way forward and get his own back.

Writer James Gaddas, himself an actor, wrote Shadow Boxing in 1989 when he was staying in Sydney for a few months. It was after a conversation with a fellow actor that Gaddas agreed to turn his hand to prose.

There is an innate muscularity about Addison’s performance.

The patter is delivered thick and fast, even while doing push ups and hard skipping.

Sweat drips. You get the impression that as the boxer Addison, indeed, has a point to prove – a raison d'être.

The thud, thud, thud of the punching bag is visceral.

The staging is simple, but effective – a black square, indicative of a boxing ring.

It is just a step up from the floor, with a steel bucket, wooden stool and towel on one side, a punching bag on another and a mirror on a third side.

Mood lighting by Christian Lovelady elevates the spectacle, while Bec Price’s sound design inserts a steady, up tempo music beat, from time to time.

The only problem with that is it can subjugate the spoken word … make what Addison says difficult to understand when it is turned up.

The audience is seated on all four sides of the stage and when Addison’s back is turned that, too, muffles clarity.

Still, Shadow Boxing remains a raw portrait of a fight for acceptance, in which Addison often turns to and addresses individual members of the audience.

Directed by Teresa Izzard, it is playing at Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory until 24th May, 2025.