Written by Bronagh for Theatre & Tonic

Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review

Content warnings: strong language, theme of grief or bereavement, violence, references to sexual acts.

The year is 2012. One Direction are storming the charts, Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee, David Cameron has managed to leave his daughter in the pub… and the United Kingdom are hosting the Olympics for the third time in history. Crucially to Bitch Boxer, 2012 is the first year women are allowed to compete in Olympic boxing. We follow Chloe Jackson (Jodie Campbell) whilst she trains for this historic moment, a journey made more difficult by life events along the way.

A boxing ring dominates the majority of the space in the theatre, a set designed by Hazel Low. The isn’t your ordinary boxing ring, however, also acting as a nightclub and Leytonstone back gardens. Campbell paces around the ring whilst shadow boxing, runs through back gardens as a pitbull watches on, and dances around the club to the delight of her future girlfriend Jamie. At only one hour long there isn’t time for set changes and use of extra props, the ring and Campbell’s versatile nature doing all of the talking.

Bitch Boxer is undoubtedly very high energy, with Campbell portraying the loud, confident and headstrong Chloe brilliantly. We watch as she trains, throwing jabs and lots of (impressive) foot work. We watch as she energetically dances around a club. This in mind, it makes me wonder why some scene transitions were made up by noticeably longer periods of ‘downtime’, considering the short and snappy length of the overall show. Part of me gets in. Boxers need to refuel, they need to rehydrate and of course they need some moments of peace considering they spend their time doing high intensity workouts. With this downtime, I suspect there was actually only roughly forty five minutes worth of content. I get that this is an active show acted out by one person who is active throughout, but I did find myself quite impatient at times and finding the overall flow of the show interrupted. Other scenes make use of Jessie Addinall’s lighting design to break up scenes, which in my opinion was a lot more effective.

There is no doubt that Charlie Josephine’s script is enjoyable enough to watch on the stage, easy to follow and packing a punch in places. Josephine has created a pretty likeable character in Chloe, who makes us laugh as much as we feel sympathy for her when her dad passes away. We crack why Chloe struggles with emotions at times, learning that her mother left her and her dad when she was younger. It is rather lovely to hear of Chloe holding hands with her dad and loving the gesture, so it is a bit of a stab in the heart when she talks about when she grew out of doing this as it was no longer ‘cool’. It’s hard to not want Chloe to become a boxing champion.

Bitch Boxer’s ending unfortunately does feel brief, and almost too convenient. Match is done, Chloe and Jamie’s relationship back on track fuelled by some new trainers. Of course this is lovely to see as we really do want the best for Chloe, however, given grief and turmoil being at the core of this show I felt we could have had a little bit more from this ending.

Campbell alone makes this worth a watch with her absolutely magnetic energy, her fitness levels impressing everybody in the audience, and her ability to portray raw emotion. With a few script changes, further development, and shorter transition periods, Bitch Boxer has the potential to be a champion of the theatre world.

Bitch Boxer plays at the Arcola Theatre until 14th March 2026

★★★

The Latest