07. “The Fight of the Century,” a play by Denise Duncan

A contemporary full-length drama. Translated from Spanish to English by Steven Capsuto through a grant from the Catalandrama Project. Professional performance rights available.

SYNOPSIS:

Though set in the past, this drama by Denise Duncan (a Spanish playwright originally from Costa Rica) deals with issues that are distressingly timeless: racism, racial profiling, and the experience of being an involuntary immigrant—unable to return to your country of birth but uncertain whether you can stay where you are.

Spain, 1915: African American prizefighter JACK JOHNSON, fleeing from US law enforcement after a racist conviction, has found a temporary haven in Catalonia with his wife LUCILLE.

A striking figure in Barcelona society, Johnson is tall, debonair, and equally at home in fashionable night spots, seedy dives, and boxing rings. He’s a stylish sport, making friends, living large, fighting for prize money when he can, and battling ghosts from his past.

His favorite dive, the Excelsior Cabaret, becomes the setting for an impressionistic exploration of his battles, from childhood to the courtroom, and from love affairs to the racially fueled Fight of the Century (against the “Great White Hope,” JIM JEFFRIES) and beyond. THE KNOCKOUTS, a trio who sing and tend bar at the cabaret, double as people from Jack’s life and as a Greek chorus.

As Johnson explains in his autobiography: “My life… has been filled with tragedy and romance… poverty and wealth, misery and happiness… I know the horror of being hunted and haunted. I have dashed across continents and oceans as a fugitive, and I have matched my wits with the police and secret agents seeking to deprive me of one of the greatest blessings man can have—liberty.”

PRAISE FOR THE ORIGINAL BARCELONA PRODUCTION:

“An outstanding script.” – Vista teatral, 2021

One of the “Best Plays to See in Barcelona.” – Time Out Barcelona, 2020

“Denise Duncan has turned boxer Jack Johnson into a Shakespearean figure.” – Viva Jaén, 2021

“The Beckett’s most ambitious production of its new era… also represents an almost Copernican shift in Catalan theater, given that the author–director Denise Duncan, born in Costa Rica and based in Barcelona, and the leading man Armando Buika are both Black… [This matters amid] controversies over who gets to play who onstage and especially about whose voices get amplified, the power of storytelling and whether Barcelona theater is too white and middle-class.” – La Vanguardia, 2020