The Opponent

A Red Orchid Theatre, Chicago

(312) 943-8722

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“Passion is universal,” said Johnny Oleksinski in NewCityStage.com. That’s the insight that separates this riveting work from other sports-themed plays, which often provide theater audiences with clumsy “For Dummies” guides to the endeavors of serious athletes. In Brett Neveu’s tale about a struggling Louisiana gym owner and the promising young boxer he trains, gym-world jargon flies by without footnotes, and you’ll be glad it does. “The effect is booming, and immediately relatable, even to the non-athletes among us.” Tre, the gym owner, develops a father-son dynamic with his protégée Donell, but this two-hander is far from sentimental. Neither man “has any interest” in the other’s personal life. To them, all that matters is what happens in the ring.

Which is a lot, said Chris Jones in the Chicago Tribune. Neveu’s recent plays have been metaphor-heavy and slow, but here “the sheer theatricality of the sparring” keeps him focused. It helps that this staging’s two journeyman actors look like they’re “ready to really knock some demons to the floor.” As Tre, Guy Van Swearingen seems admirably stoic as he “sweats, grunts, and flails for nearly two hours,” while Kamal Angelo Bolden exudes “the confidence of an ambitious man in love with his own charm.” And while excessive reserve and excessive chirpiness both have the potential to become irritating, here they create “just the right binary opposition.” The result is “a great new play that dances, parries, and, most important, lands some killer punches.”