Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester – until 21 September 2019
Reviewed by Joseph Everton
5*****
Rob Ward’s Gypsy Queen is a hard-hitting sparring match between sexuality and sport. The story of two men from the macho world of boxing, known for ring girls, knock out punches and toxic masculinity, Gypsy Queen explores the difficulty of coming out and being openly gay in a world where the very idea remains unspoken.
Set in front of changing room benches, under the cold ring lights, Gypsy Queen showcases the talents of two men. One, playwright and actor Rob Ward as bare-knuckle fighter and traveller George O’Connell. The second, John Askew as gay boxer Dane ‘The Pain’ Samson, a future world title contender and son of a boxing legend who is desperate to keep his son’s sexuality under wraps.
Using verse to tell the story of their glory in the ring, heart wrenching stories of rejection and violence to paint a picture of their childhoods and a flurry of humour to help the audience through a series of dark scenes, Gypsy Queen is well written and masterfully produced. The story moves at pace and characters become familiar and likeable, played deftly by Ward and Askew who slip and weave between nine characters in total; including a comedy Irish mother, a Scouse bit on the side and the ex-pro father who cannot come to terms with his son’s sexuality.
An ambitious clash of homosexuality, sport, religion and bigotry, Gypsy Queen is a heavyweight piece of theatre that is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining. As a love story, it is believable and, when the tale ends with a heart-wrenching tragedy, it is deeply moving.