“See the world changing around him, forwards is backwards.”
Nina, The Royale
We see that our country has become so divided: blacks versus whites, Republicans versus Democrats, anti-semitism and anti-Zionism versus supporters.
The director Michael Garces has now staged The Royale from scene from one to six. Our negro Heavyweight Champion of the World, Jay “The Sport” Jackson, has the fight of his life with Heavyweight Champion of the World, Bernard “The Champion” Bixby. It is “a fight the likes of which you will never see…not in your’s or your children’s lifetimes…the clash of titans, this exquisite collision of trains, a boxing match of gargantuan proportions, battle of the elements, of water and fire, a contest two-hundred years in the making…the greatest wars were fought on battlefields by the thousands, but tonight we watch one bout”. The boxing ring is surrounded by a crazed group of people who hate Jay because his black color is a symbol of change.
During scene 6, the relationship between the siblings Jay and Nina is most powerful: “Tell them why you want this, [why you are working so hard].” “Every punch I ever threw, every punch I ever took [was for you]”. We finally learn why Jay to became a boxer and the motivation for every fight. His sister. She always wanted to be like the white women that were on the posters. She didn’t want to be herself, and she paid for it literally with “blood”, sweat, and tears.
I desire to know where the entire play is being held: Where are we? Everywhere. Change is everywhere. Violence is everywhere. Jay isn’t fully aware of the floodgates that are about to open, if he wins.
Jay is the only one that is alone in this fight.
Arizona Theatre Company
Tucson: Sept. 13-28 Phoenix: Oct. 3-20
The Cohort Club 