A strong premise struggles to carry this ambitious re-staging to the final round
It is a clever time to re-stage the titanic fight between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. The topic of sportwashing has never felt more relevant, mainly in football with Qatar 2022 and the plundering of European league by the Saudi Pro League. Certainly, there is potent tension in the air as the President of Zaire heralds how the fight has brought the world to Africa, ignoring any inequality that his country is experiencing. But the lack of any real action to highlight it, this intriguing angle is shuffled to the background while the fight takes centre stage.
Rumble in the Jungle: Rematch lands in Dock X at Canada Water, directed by Miguel Hernando Torres Umba. Atmosphere seems to be the goal, rather than spurring the audience to find their own nuggets of information – for foragers like myself, the sparse set pieces will leave you yearning for the ultra-detail of Punchdrunk’s endless exploration. This leaves much of the story up to the performers, who bring crackling energy throughout. However, I ended up having the same conversation with nearly everyone I spoke to:
‘who d’ya think will win the fight?’
‘not sure’
‘yeah, gonna be a close one’
fin.
They are all characterful and funny in their world-building (especially a reporter, sidling alongside me and hinting at the corruption lurking in the fight’s underbelly) but they feel stuck on a track towards the fight, unlike other immersive shows whose sub-plots create a more engaging ‘choose your own adventure’ style.
The opening consists of quite a clunky shuffle into a small boxing gym, akin to filing intoz school assembly. After an energetic introduction by Zaire locals, we are thrust into a huge warehouse. The size is impressive, but as the initial gleam wears off it feels less expansive and more empty. There is a market stall with some interesting paraphernalia from the region, but the sides of this gargantuant space are mostly lined with bars and food stalls. The eye-watering prices here scream Glastonbury, and considering the hefty ticket price it would be encouraging if this production used food to enhance the atmosphere rather than as a money-maker.
Joshua C. Jackson and Kimane Juneau are formidable as the titular Foreman and Ali, the latter’s jabbering banter juxtapositing the former’s slightly baffled stoicism. In all honesty, trying to match the magnetism of a figure like Muhammad Ali in these circumstances is nigh on impossible, but Juneau does a commendable job and doesn’t drag the production down to an impressions contest, as a lesser actor might have.
The fight itself is handled cleverly, with a projection of the real fight playing whilst the actors box below (Alex Payne with superb, rapid fight direction). It ends how it has to end (no revisionist twists here) and a roll-credits monologue from our chorus seems to belie the admission of sportwashing that pervaded the whole production. It’s a wonky end to a show with some real highlights.
This is most definitely one to come with a group. Due to how vast the space is, the audience brings the energy, and so to romp around with a group of slightly sozzled mates would be a treat. On its own, this determined production lands a few jabs but doesn’t quite live up to the knockout of its namesake.