VOICE-BOX by Juliet Palmer and Anna Chatterton, with Vilma Vitols, Neema Bickersteth, Savoy Howe, Christine Duncan, Julia Aplin, Palmer and Chatterton (urbanvessel/World Stage). At the Brigantine Room, York Quay Centre, Harbourfront Centre (235 Queens Quay West). Opens Wednesday (November 10) and runs to November 14, Wednesday-Saturday 8 pm, matinee Sunday 2 pm. $15-$35. 416-973-4000. See listing.
Writer/performer Anna Chatterton admits she’s never punched anyone in her life.
At least not until she got involved in Voice-Box, in which a trio of women singers and a coach climb into the boxing ring to duke it out and determine who’s the best pugilist.
The idea for the show, presented by urbanvessel and World Stage, began when opera singer Vilma Vitols worked with Chatterton and composer Juliet Palmer on Slip, a 2006 site-specific, multimedia show in the Harrison Baths.
“She’s this really glamorous gal who’s also involved in boxing,” says Chatterton, a touch of wonder in her voice. “We joked when we worked on Slip about doing a show called Boxing Betty, especially after Vilma went on to win her first amateur boxing match.”
Chatterton, who also wrote the libretto for the company’s Stitch, an a cappella opera for three women and a trio of sewing machines, remembered meeting boxer and coach Savoy Howe at a theatre workshop and wanted to involve her as a consultant. Founder of the Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club, the first Canadian club for women, Howe was an obvious source of material and inspiration.
As the production – now called Voice-Box – developed, Howe became a performer, along with Palmer, Chatterton, choreographer Julia Aplin and singers Vitols, Neema Bickersteth and Christine Duncan.
“As we created the piece, we played off the rhythm of the ring, the lingo and the vocabulary of boxing, also known as the ‘sweet science.’
“But working on the show was also a chance for us to face the aggression that we’re taught as women to ignore.
“I learned that there’s a difference between aggression and violence, that you can use the former as a skill in the ring. There’s a joy and a defiance that’s part of acknowledging it in myself, not being afraid of blood or a black eye, and that it’s okay to be tough and to scrap.”
It wasn’t until 1991 that women could legally box in Canada. Jenny Reid, a lawyer and aspiring boxer, won that right for herself and other women.
Don’t think, though, that Voice-Box is all serious bruising.
Composer Palmer’s electro-acoustic score is made up of gym sounds, including the squeaking of ropes, punching and the bells that begin and end rounds. Aplin’s choreography is often tongue-in-cheek: a ballerina confronts a gloved boxer at one point, and in one scene the ladies indulge in a tea party that turns pugnacious.
“The production often juxtaposes stereotypes of masculine and feminine,” notes Chatterton, whose playful text ties the various segments and rounds together. “The entire group is made up of women, and we get to play off the diva against the fighter. Though one’s associated with glamour and the other with sweat, both opera singer and fighter commit to intensive, long-term training to reach their goals.”
Chatterton herself plays the card girl, that feminine figure who introduces the various matches.
“It’s really fun to be flirtatious, but the context is different I’m in a ring with women, not burly men. I’m still the most feminine character in the show, the only one who gets to wear a dress, but the power dynamics simply aren’t the same.”
jonkap@nowtoronto.com
