I'm Your Man

It’s the smell that hits you first. Entering the Downstairs Theatre at Belvoir St, a powerful wave of sinus-clearing menthol, instantly recognisable as the product of anti-inflammatory lotion Deep Heat, wafts through the low-ceilinged room. Usually dimly lit and black-walled, the space has been painted that shade of eggshell blue so distinctive to suburban gyms everywhere. Newspaper clippings of sweat-drenched men and posters of boxing greats adorn the walls from the moment you leave the foyer. Fluorescent lights and thumping techno, punctuated by the sound of gloved fists landing punches, contribute further to the sensation that we’re not quite in Kansas anymore.

I’m Your Man director Roslyn Oades is clearly a fan of the idea of immersion. From her all-encompassing set design (if you sit on the left-hand side of the seating bank and peer down the passage, you can see the actors’ dressing room has been kitted out to look like a locker room) to her performance methodology (performers wear headphones which feed audio from interviews into their ears, which they must then replicate exactly), Oades’s aesthetic is driven by an almost anthropological commitment to observation and authenticity.

I’m Your Man is drawn from months worth of interviews Oades conducted with boxing legends past and present in gyms around Australia. The final work loosely follows the journey of Billy “The Kid” Dib as he prepares to fight for the IBF featherweight champion title, but contextualises his youthful determination and unshakeable belief in himself by interspersing this trajectory with conversations with past giants Jeff Fenech and Anthony Mundine, other up-and-comers and a very strange, enigmatic trainer from England known only as CJ. The resulting work is a fascinating exploration of determination,  competition, masculinity, and the overwhelming power of ego.