FringeReview UK 2026
Bitch Boxer
Arcola Theatre, Dalston and Watford Palace Theatre
Genre: Contemporary, Feminist Theatre, LGBTQ+ Theatre, Mainstream Theatre, Short Plays, Solo Play, Theatre
Venue: Arcola Theatre, Studio 2
Festival: FringeReview UK
Low Down
It’s 2012, women can compete in Olympic boxing for the first time and it’s just down the road. But so is love, mourning and perhaps being knocked out. The KO though is all in the writing, and packs as sharp a jab as ever. After its Watford Palace Theatre revival last year Charlie Josephine’s 2012 debut Bitch Boxer directed by Prime Isaac runs at Arcola Theatre’s Studio 2 till March 14.
A superb revival. Catch it.
Review
The theatre-space shrinks to a boxing ring, blinding with stadium-lights. A woman spends time limbering up. Chloe Jackson (Jodie Campbell) finds the moment to convey how frustration turns to exuberance then grief. Locked out she cat-burgles her way across gardens to get back to her house. And when she does a phone rings: her father – her trainer, her belief system – is dead. It’s 2012, women can compete in Olympic boxing for the first time and it’s just down the road. But so is love, mourning and perhaps being knocked out. The KO though is all in the writing, and packs as sharp a jab as ever. After its Watford Palace Theatre revival last year Charlie Josephine’s 2012 debut Bitch Boxer directed by Prime Isaac runs at Arcola Theatre’s Studio 2 till March 14.
Subsequent plays like I, Joan (Globe) and Cowbois (RSC and Royal Court) underscore how exuberant and affirmative a writer Josephine is. It’s important since this play’s themes could easily upend into the spiralling abandonment of depression and letting-go of dreams. Josephine refuses parables and the lure of British downbeat. Their writing seems born in a time of brief national uplift and Bitch Boxer fitted the mood. Its quality though has seen it revived several times.
Campbell spends much time changing in and out of gear though Josephine and Isaac don’t often take the opportunity to advance the narrative this way, except with one telling item late on. Chloe’s response to her father’s death is not to cry. Despite her father’s best friend and gym-owner Len – who becomes Chloe’s de facto coach – advising time off, Chloe’s having none of it. Classic grief channelled into work: in itself a good therapy.
Chloe though takes it to extremes. It doesn’t help that a few weeks before her dad died Chloe met Jamie, a girl who offers love even when Chloe’s friend vomits in the street after clubbing. You don’t desert your mates, but “rules are there to be broken” and Chloe’s found Jamie. Her father disapproved. “Plenty of time for that afterwards.” Still, the timing is uncanny.
Though ask Chloe to say “I love you” and it’s as difficult as it is to cry at her father’s funeral. Len fears Chloe’s over-training to burnout. Chloe pushes everyone away and this play could get dark. The match itself is thrillingly done, and authoritative. Campbell’s riding blows is heart-stopping.
Campbell’s a worthy successor to Josephine who created the role to play themselves at Edinburgh in 2012; followed by Holly Aston. Campbell throughout pulses with Chloe’s peak condition. She throws a smile or a snark, even hooks a little fourth-walling. Campbell confides, flicks to aggression and back to Chloe’s relentless routine. The play still grips and doesn’t let up.
The conclusion is a cheer. Ever channelling British downbeat I’d expected some trade-off, some sacrifice. The ends tie up a little too neatly; it ends abruptly. A postlude might allow this to settle. All this might seem a condition of its writing for 2012. Subsequent plays have proved it isn’t: Josephine is almost unique in creating consistently joyous finales. Here though a little more shade might have made an excellent 60 minutes outstanding.
Designed by Hazel Low, the set’s ingeniously compact. The punchbag, used just once, is compact too: composed of old clothes as if the past is continually having blows rained on it, compressing grief and history still further. Campbell only steps out of the ring once and there’s good movement direction by Mateus Daniel: economical, except in the repeat rituals of changing, which lowers the energy a little. Lit like a stadium by Jessie Addinell, it combines to make the space epic and expectant. Mwen’s sound design bounces off gyms sounds and occasionally Rihanna.
Bitch Boxer hasn’t dated. The challenges, rewards and emotional rounds it offers show how prescient it was in 2012. What might have seemed niche is even more urgent now it’s proved mainstream. Despite that slight caveat, this is a superb revival. Catch it.
Movement Director Mateus Daniel, Assistant Director Taya Lovejoy, Stage Manager Grace ‘G’ Hans, Originating Producers Watford Palace Theatre. Photo Credit: Ross Kernahan.
