This new show by Mojisola Adebayo (‘Moj of the Antarctic’) has a knockout stage design courtesy of Rajha Shakiry. The downstairs space has been made over as a boxing ring, where the historic victories and defeats of Muhammad Ali are re-enacted and where a young gay black girl growing up in 1970s Britain fights (metaphorically) to establish herself in the face of parental and institutional neglect.

Adebayo, who plays both Ali and the girl, is quite a performer: a fine mimic, she’s terrific as the boxer as he undergoes political and religious radicalisation through his involvement with the Nation of Islam; she can also charm your socks off when she wants to. Charlie Folorunsho makes an impressive foil, whether playing the girl’s repressive father or Ali’s trainer.

The ambition is huge. As the show’s own promotional material says, there’s ‘poetry, song, music, movement, magic, integrated British Sign Language, with original fight footage and verbatim text by Muhammad Ali’. You couldn’t ask for more – in fact, you might request a little less, because the girl’s story (and the various social and political issues it raises) gets rather lost in this merry mêlée. We don’t really know much more about her at the end than we did at the beginning. As such, you’re pleased when she triumphs at the end, but her story lacks emotional punch.

Robert Shore, Time Out — 19th November 2008