The Opponent, 59 East 59th St Theater, Wednesday August 20th 2014

The Opponent, 59 East 59th St Theater, Wednesday August 20th 2014

"The Opponent" is a two hander play by Brett Neveu is a great night of masculine physicality and relationships.  It is a Red Orchid Theater production presented at 59E59 St Theater in New York.

The accents are so thick that it took us about ten minutes to adjust our ears and we think that we missed some of the story due to this.

Great acting and a simple and effective set consisting of a boxing ring and the accompanying benches and training bags surrounding the stage.  As this theatre is so intimate with about thirty people watching act one the theatre had about ten seats to spare.  Sadly six people left to miss out on a great act two.  With twenty four people we got to relish these bravura performances.

What I loved about the first five minutes of act two was I did not know whether we were going backwards in time or forwards in time.  This was made clear after this wonderful dramatic device.  I do not know if this was intentional or not but it kept my interest and intrigued me as to where our journey would lead.  (Maybe it was the accents and I missed the key point but I like to think the writing was clever and intentional!)

The two cast include Kamal Bolden as Donell Fuseles and Guy Van Swearingen as Tremont "Tre" Billford are sensationally talented actors who gave one hundred percent conviction.    

Direction by Karen Kessler made the story sharp and alive.  The relationships between the boxer and trainer/coach were dynamic and physically exhilerating.  Their connections both physical and emotional were so honest and captivating.

The fight direction and staging by John Tovar was sublime.  The breathing and footwork and eye contact all were like the spaces and the actions of the words from the pages of the play.  This is a wonderful companion piece for "Rocky" the musical which we were lucky to see on Broadway.

The lighting by Mike Durst and sound by Joe Court created a sense of time, space and location.  It was so atmospheric and masculine without any workout stench.  The two actors provided the aromatic drips of sweat to create "Opponent-essence!"

A great play with wonderful rich performances.  Thank you to Kirsten Fitzgerald from "The Qualms" at Steppenwolf in Chicago for recommending that we see this play.

Superb value for $25 a ticket.  This would make a great play for Red Stitch in Melbourne to consider performing.