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“The first thing a fighter has to learn is to keep their eyes open.
Because when you see a blow coming, your first instinct is to tense up – to just screw your eyes shut and curl up in a ball…”
The unlikely story of Jo, who lives in a threatened coastal resort called Madeuptown.
Jo doesn’t know what to do. Her bosses at the council keep saying they need higher flood walls, to ‘future-proof’ the town against the rising sea. But if those walls are so high that nobody can even see over them, then what’s the point of being a seaside town?
In desperation, Jo seeks advice from the legendary climate warrior, King Cnut. It turns out that this long-dead monarch has developed a strange fascination with Muhammad Ali — so Cnut teaches Jo how to box. In the process, she learns some key lessons about nature-based solutions, and about how to keep going when the punches keep coming.
The Boxer’s Guide lasts about 35 minutes and is designed to work as a conversation starter. A follow-up workshop can be used to unpack spectators’ responses, and to identify possible action points relevant to your context.
The Boxer’s Guide… was commissioned by JBA Consulting, as a means to engage their staff and clients with the company’s climate resilience framework – AWARE, ADAPT, RESPOND, RECOVER. But these themes, and this story, are potentially relevant for many audiences.
To develop the piece, we conducted confidential interviews with a range of JBA staff – varying in role and seniority – to explore their professional expertise and personal experiences. To read about why the company commissioned us, click here.
Or click here to read about why the first public performance of Boxer’s Guide was “an enormous hit”.
The Boxer’s Guide to Climate Resilience is designed to work flexibly in theatre spaces or conference settings. All we need is a stage area, an audience, and some basic lighting cover.
Ideally, we also need to connect to a PA system, to play our sound cues. For smaller venues, though, we can bring our own, portable speaker.
Note: this performance involves a free-standing punchbag that adheres to the floor using simple rubber suckers. These suckers will not adhere to certain floor surfaces (eg carpet), but if need be, we can bring a temporary floor covering with us.
The Boxer’s Guide to Climate Resilience (2023):
Written and performed by Steve Scott-Bottoms.
Direction and dramaturgy by Simon Brewis.
With thanks to Alex Bergin, Denis Flannery, Angel Scott-Bottoms, and JBA Consulting.
