The Royale

Jay Jackson is a boxer. A fantastic one. He has been training hard and success has reached him. People know who he is and want to see him fight. He is the African-American heavyweight champion.

Marco Ramirez's "The Royale", currently playing at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, is unexpectedly engaging. I mean this only as a non-sports fan. I didn't think I would be as invested as the story as I ended up being. One of my favorite aspects were the boxing scenes. There are never any fake blows delivered amongst the actors. Instead we hear through sound and dialogue what is going on in the ring. It is different and it works wonderfully.

Directed by Rachel Chavkin the story is inspired by Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavy-weight boxing champion. Jay Jackson (Khris Davis) is tough and looking for his next challenge. He knows what he wants and the consequences that may come with it, but to bring about change he knows it must be done.

Of course this isn't the first time a story about Jack Johnson (or inspired by him) has been introduced to the public. I will say I haven't seen anything that has come before, but this one was a powerful story and it haunted me well after it ended. A story that takes place during the time of the Jim Crow segregation usually does.

More of a social drama than a typical sports story we see Jay Jackson fighting for the opportunity to prove he is truly the heavy-weight champion. To do so, Jay must go against the former heavy-weight champion, who is white. The story draws you in as you want to see Jay succeed, but you hear from more than one person that the consequences, for the black community, are too immense if he were to win. Jay struggles with his dream while also thinking about his family back home. You are right there struggling with him.

Poster for "The Royale"

The Royale is a relatively short play, coming it at only ninety minutes. It takes its time to build up the story, but once it does, it hits you hard.

The play begins and ends with a boxing match, but the tones of both are completely different. As mentioned before, there are no blows exchanged between the actors. The audience always knows what is happening, though. We are given a more intimate look into the fight than we would have if there were fake blows exchanged.

We are introduced to Jay as he fights against newcomer Fish (McKinley Belcher III). Both men are determined to win and it almost looks as though Fish will take the battle. Jay is not concerned with a newcomer and gets cocky. When Fish proves to be a challenge, Jay focuses and is crowned the winner. 

After the fight, Fish is asked to join Jay's team as a sparring partner. He agrees and the story proceeds with both characters offering something to root for. 

Jay is surrounded by a great support system. His trainer Wynton (Clarke Peters) is one of the best and wants nothing but the best for Jay. His white manager and promoter Max (John Lavelle) also means well, but most of the time his prejudices peek through. Despite this, Jay feels more alone than anyone realizes.

We get a glimpse into even more prejudices Jay must face as a scene with reporters asking questions comes into the story. They are invasive, but through this conference Jay is able to bring to light his desire to fight Bixby, the heavy-weight champion. This, of course, brings about a lot publicity and Bixby eventually agrees to the fight. At this point we are also introduced to Jay's sister played by Montego Glover. She brings in most of the conflict and Glover also doubles as an unexpected character.

The small cast is wonderful. They are all exceptional. Peters' and Glover's respective monologues are powerful. 

Each character has a charm that make them all likable. You want to root for all of them, but as they conflict with each other you have to choose and it is a hard choice. There is no physical antagonist, but it is there and it weighs heavy on the characters and audience.

Khris Davis does a great job as Jay and while his final choice can be viewed as selfish (and perhaps it truly was) you want nothing more than to see him succeed. Davis' portrayal is charming, but naive and when it comes to making the hard choices, he is stubborn. You never once blame him for the consequences, though. Unfortunately it is an unnecessary evil and you get the feeling he knew it must be done. At some point it would have to be done.

The play isn't without flaws however. It does take a while to be fully invested in the story and some things could have been cut without affecting the end result.

The great things definitely outweigh the nitpick aspects of the show. The technical aspects are also wonderful. They add to the story, but never overwhelm or distract from the story which is proof of a great design.

Boxing is something I doubt I will ever be interested, but stories about boxing? If they are as beautiful as this one, I will be there to watch and root for the underdog.