On the Ropes review

At the peak of his boxing career, Vernon Vanriel was a champion, fighting in front of thousands at the Royal Albert Hall. Vanriel left Jamaica in 1962 at the age of six. His family made a life for themselves in London, and he forged a successful career as a boxer, but in 2005, after a visit to Jamaica, he was refused permission to return home to the UK. His indefinite leave to remain was revoked because he was deemed to have spent too long outside the country. He was left stranded without access to welfare and healthcare, separated from his family, homeless and destitute. After 43 years living in the UK – his entire adult life – he became a victim of the government’s hostile-environment policies.

In this play co-written with Dougie Blaxland, Vanriel tells his own story. Split into 12 rounds, the action charts his career as a fighter, from his early bouts, his clashes with white boxing promoters and racist police and his pioneering use of entrance music, to his descent into drug addiction. The first half focuses on the evolution of his boxing career, the second on his struggle for justice.

Designer Zahra Mansouri’s set consists of a boxing ring divided into four movable segments that are gradually pulled apart. Director Anastasia Osei-Kuffour’s production intersperses Vanriel’s account of his life with musical numbers – To Be Young, Gifted and Black, Kingston Town – sung by the cast.

Mensah Bediako as Vanriel is the solid centre of the production, a formidable figure slowly weakened by diseases. But it’s Ashley D Gayle and Amber James in multiple roles who add pep and texture to the piece. We’re told at the start that the rehearsal process has been beset by illness, but it hardly shows – the cast holds it together. James is particularly impressive, transforming nimbly from Vanriel’s sister to various rigid government officials before sliding into song, her voice sweet and strong.

Understandably, given his involvement, the play spends as much time on Vanriel’s youthful successes in the boxing world as it does on his struggle. It feels slack in places and the songs sometimes feel like padding. It’s the later scenes that hit hardest. Vanriel spent 13 years out of the UK, after which his citizenship application was denied because he did not meet the Home Office’s five-year-rule – even though that was, in fact, a direct result of its own policies. The government is still failing to honour its commitments to the Windrush generation. This play is a reminder of the human cost of such callous and inhumane decisions, and of this stain on the nation.