Emile Griffith, Boxer at Rest

As I was doing my AP Art History homework, I stumbled across a piece of work that reminded me of Emile Griffith, more recently known as the main character in the play Man in the Ring.

Boxer at Rest - Image from Google

This bronze sculpture, Boxer at Rest, comes to us from the Greek Hellenistic period. The artist is unknown, but the sculpture is estimated to have been created anywhere from 330 to 50 B.C.E. It now resides in Rome after being excavated in 1885.

Emile Griffith - Image from Google

Although the features of Emile are not exactly identical to Boxer at Rest, they share the same general physicality. 

The reason the sculpture reminded me so much of Emile is the emotion conveyed by his posture. Still wearing his boxing gloves, he sits slumped over, defeated, and physically wounded. It is believed that the boxer sits between fights, looking hopelessly behind him at his next opponent. 

It is very likely that Emile felt this way as well, perhaps after his fight with Benny Paret. Following Benny's death, Emile did not want to continue fighting, but knew there were opponents in his future just like Boxer at Rest.

I Kill a Man And Most Forgive Me; I Love a Man and This Makes Me an Evil Person

The play Man in the Ring, a semi-biographical piece about boxer Emile Griffith, did an amazing job of giving a well-rounded view of his life; speaking not only about boxing but also mental illness, abuse, and being gay.
The title quote is one that I remembered word for word from the performance. It was spoken by the real Griffith in an interview, and spoke the whole truth about being different while in the public eye.
This was easily one of my two favorite moments, the other being a staging choice made by the theater.

The striking impact of this quote was as Griffith realized the reality of his situation and the toxic implications of "having to be a man." The reason the audience could empathize so well with Griffith at this point was because of a frankly brilliant idea from the playwright: portraying Luis, Griffith's partner, as his doting caretaker first.
I've seen too many pieces where the fact that the protagonist is queer is the sole plot point, and it's used to alienate the character from the "other, normal" people. MitR was able to make Griffith's bisexuality just another thing about him (that happened to have enormous repercussions), and this made him human. From one queer to another, thank you!

The lighting designer was equally brilliant, and, while this was even discussed in the round table discussion after the show, it deserves to be noted.
There is gruesome footage online of the fight that resulted in Benny Paret's death, so the theater had big shoes to fill in terms of the drama to live up to. They decided on switching between a shaky flash of light from a lone lightbulb and total deprivation of sight, making the audience rely only on sound. This made us empathize with Paret literally getting his "lights knocked out."

MitR was a fantastic example of how to make your audience empathize with your protagonist, and how to portray someone who is part of a minority group accurately but not laying it on too thick. I'd love to see more of this!

Batter Up!

Man in the Ring by Michael Cristofer tells the story of the six-time world champion boxer, Emile Griffith. Throughout the play, Emile is plagued by his conflicting desire to create and the raw instinct for destruction a boxer must rely on. He also struggles to accept his own sexual identity in a society that condemns homosexuality. The play uses two actors, often on stage at the same time, to portray Emile. One actor portrayed the young, optimistic, and eventually, corrupted Emile while the other portrayed an older Emile, plagued by dementia and a life-time worth of emotional scarring.

The play is rich with metaphors, one of the most prominent being the use of baseball bats to represent Emile's struggle with his internalized monologue and the views society imposes on him. At the beginning of the play, a young Emile arrives in America with big dreams. Emile wanted to play baseball, make hats, and sing. Throughout the beginning of the play, young Emile carries a baseball bat with him. This baseball bat represents Emile's inner docility and his desire to create. Baseball is a no contact sport, and Emile's baseball dreams are connected to his artistic pursuits, singing and hat-making. Later in the play, Emile is attacked by a group of homophobic men wielding baseball bats after he spends a night with Luis, his boyfriend. This aggressive use of the very tool that once represented Emile's optimism and strive for creativity is very deliberate. It represents society's molding of Emile into an aggressive entity, a killer. Like the baseball bat's intended use is manipulated to become very aggressive, Emile's potential for good was corrupted by society's desire for violence, hate, and destruction.

In This Corner

Emile Griffith was a welterweight and middleweight world champion boxer. However, his life was full of obstacles and hardships that he was forced to deal with as he aged. The play "The Man in The Ring" told Emile's story eloquently through the visions of his elderly self.

One thing that was amazing about the production was the two actors who played Emile. Not only were they in great shape, but they captivated the audience with their presence. Everybody there believed that men who have gone through what Emile has, would act and look like that. Not only that but they did a fantastic job of acting as the same character. Their performances blended together perfectly.

In the scene where it is revealed that Emile was sexually assaulted in his youth there was no a person could not have been on the edge of their seat. That performance was so emotional and well delivered that it left the crowd with goosebumps. "The Man in The Ring" is a phenomenal play about a black gay boxer who could never catch a break.

Male Roles

The Man in the Ring was a fantastic play which brought out the inner emotion of Emile, the main character. The cast was very small in the play which allowed for actors to be several characters. This ability to have multiple characters for one actor was very interesting. Even though the play focused on Emile and the struggles he faced throughout his lifetime through the older and younger actors, I think the actor who played the caregiver and lover of Emile was very important.

In the play, the characters of both the caregiver and lover of Emile were played by the same actor. I think that the creator of the play did a fantastic job of incorporating these two predominantly female roles into the play. Separate, the two roles are still fascinating. We have a caretaker who is a male, assisting Emile in his older age. In Emile's younger stage of life, we have a relationship which was not widely accepted when Emile was alive. When the two are put together and being played by the same actor, it is a bold and rewarding combination. I think that this actor playing both roles flips the stereotype of gender roles. It is not very often that a male is put into a "female" role. I think it was a very thoughtful decision to place these two roles in the play, that we played by the same actor. In my opinion, seeing the transition from female role to female role was very powerful and brought the play an extra subtle sparkle.

The Man in the Ring was a knockout

The Man in the Ring was an amazing production. I was blown away.
Sitting in the front row I honestly felt like I was there with Emile through his entire journey.

The entire show had me feeling very emotional and being so close to the actors I felt such a connection with the story. The transformation of Emile was so heartbreaking. One of the last scenes, was for me a very emotional and good way to conclude the show.

Benny's son meets up with Emile and Louis, and Emile thinks its Benny. He quickly apologizes and asks for forgiveness, pleading letting 'Benny' know he never meant to hurt him. After a while Benny's son says he has no hard feelings, and Emile feels so happy. He wants to tell 'Benny' about his life, but he cannot remember much else, without the help of Louis. To me shows how much Benny's death impacted Emile's life, that even though his memory was shot, he was forever haunted by killing Benny.

This scene along with so many others made this a well produced show. This play covers so many big ' hard to talk about' topics but digs deep and shoves it in your face. It addresses sexuality, race and class divisions, and addresses each individually but demonstrate how these big life obstacles can unify and cause lots of distress.

I can go on for pages about this production, I would see it again!
Very thankful for the opportunity to have seen this play.

The Imagery, Feelings, and Senses in The Man in the Ring

In my opinion, The Man in the Ring´s portrayal of the inner workings of a man suffering from dementia and the flashbacks of his past accomplishments and mistakes was on point to an extent that I´ve never seen communicated on a stage before.

The actor who played the older version of Emile was outstanding. When he was rolling on the floor screaming from a Vietnam-esque flashback of beign beaten by homophobes with baseball bats, his screaming sounded so real it felt genuinely disturbing for me to watch. In fact, everything down to his manurisms when interacting with Luis convey a clear image of an older man losing touch with reality. Also, the transition of younger Emile becoming more like older Emile, while done very simply, was executed flawlessly.

The smaller sized cast, to my surprise, played to the plays strengths as well, taking complete control of the fact that the majority of the play is made up of flashbacks featuring the few people who Emile actually met and bonded with in his life. Actors reprising roles, such as the three reporters being actors who had already played different parts in the play and (<<SPOILER>>the conveyance of Benny Jr. looking like his father by making the same actor play them  (<<SPOILER>>) both work very well, especially when considering Emile´s deteriorating state of mind and failure to remember the faces of people other than those important in his life.

When I originally heard that The Man in the Ring´s main character would be afflicted with mild dementia and had received feedback from professionals of the subject, I became afraid that the play would focus more on showcasing an accurate stage portrayal of dementia than showcasing Emile´s story. My concerns were quickly proven wrong. While older Emile´s dementia is significant to the play´s story, it doesn´t drive it forward, nor does it become too dominant. In fact, one of the biggest ironies of the play is Emile being able to recall his entire past up to the present, but being unable to remember word sequences or the places his clothes should go. This underlying detail, in my opinion, displays Emile´s true inner workings and keeps him unique from any other media portrayal of dementia; while his mind may be falling apart on the outside, he´s still the same person on the inside.

The Stranger in the Ring

After watching Man in the Ring, there was one thing in particular that wasn't wrapped up in a nice bow for me: Benny's family.

Prior to his death, we meet Benny's wife, and hear the story of their unexpected pregnancy. After that, however, we don't meet Benny Jr. until the very end of the play.

For those, like myself, who were not familiar with the story prior to the production, this leaves many questions. Did Emile ever try to get in touch with the Paret family before he slipped further into his dementia? Or did they ever contact him?

Of course, since Benny "The Kid" Paret isn't the protagonist of this play, it is perfectly sensible that the plot doesn't focus more on him. However, that's probably the best part about this play: it covers so much, yet leaves us wondering more.

The Man in the Ring is the Man of the Hour

"The Man in the Ring" covered so much ground, it is hard for me to even begin this post. The play in it's entirety was absolutely amazing and I give so much credit to the actors for pulling the emotion through it so well. Going into this play, I did not have any expectations and assumed that the emotion of the play wouldn't have gotten through to me very well based on the fact that it was just a college level play. However, I was very wrong.

The play covered heavy topics such as rape, dementia, and abuse, and did so in a manner that was effective and not controversial. To me, one of the most striking scenes was when Luis brought Emile home for the first time. It revealed a truth about Emile that we had not seen before, while also showing the many unfortunate events that were soon to follow. With the emotions and connection that was within this scene, it felt uncomfortable to watch and added several questions (Why is Luis Emile's caretaker in the future? How did they end up at that point?). While it added some confusion to the show, it opened doors to other problems that were to be faced later on. This tremendous impact left the audience in shock and on the edge of their seats.

After seeing the show and staying for the commentary from the actors, I will always remember the story of Emile Griffith, and the actors and show will stay in my mind as well.