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!
I agree with you completely! The line you chose as your title has really stuck with me. I also found the choice to portray Luis as a caretaker before partner was very valuable to the plot line and the way the story was presented as a whole.
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