Women are boxing clever to punch through the glass ceiling

It’s Victorian London, 1869. At the Angel Amphitheatre, four women are preparing for the battle of their lives.

Polly Stokes has always been a fighter, ever since she was abandoned on a doorstep in Blackburn.

Irish-born Mattie Blackwell lives on the streets, every day is a struggle to survive.

Violet Hunter protests to gain the vote, fights to become a doctor, but no man will agree to either.

Anna Lamb has it all, husband, house, children, servants… but in reality, she has nothing.

Descending into the shadowy world of women’s boxing has given these four the opportunity to break away from the lives that have been pre-ordained for them by society. Held in by corsets, held back by men, the violent release they find in the boxing ring brings them a freedom they have never known.

But at the final bell, there can only be one Ladies’ Boxing Champion of the World.

This March, Theatre Workshop Coulsdon is bringing you Joy Wilkinson’s The Sweet Science of Bruising, an epic tale of passion, power, politics and pugilism, delivered with a knock-out punch.

Showing –

March 21 at 7.45pm
March 22 at 3pm
March 25 at 7.45pm
March 26 at 7.45pm
March 27 at 7.45pm
March 28 at 3pm and 7.45pm
March 29 at 7.45pm

Tickets £12, or £9 for concessions

Joy Wilkinson, pictured right, has written several plays (Now is the Time, Fair and Britain’s Best Recruiting Sergeant), plus numerous TV and film scripts covering a range from sci-fi/fantasy such as Doctor Who and Lockwood & Co through to dramas Suspect and The Pact, via Holby City, Casualty and Land Girls.

• For ticket bookings for The Sweet Science of Bruising and more information about Theatre Workshop Coulsdon, visit their website by clicking here 

• Click here to read Inside Croydon’s review of Theatre Workshop Croydon’s previous production, Animal Farm
• And click here for a peek behind the scenes as TWC prepares to stage The Sweet Science of Bruising

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