Wildgoose Theatre turn The Basement into boxing gym for knockout play

"No, I haven't, but I tend not to direct plays I've watched, which might limit my choice! But I just read Cornermen in an anthology of plays that had been performed at The Vaults, in the arches underneath Waterloo Station, and decided it was the one we should do next," says Andy, whose York production will run from Monday to Wednesday.

"Oli's play is full of fast-paced humour and delves into the murky world of the 1980s' British boxing scene, so we're going to do it in a cabaret style with seats on three sides of the stage at The Basement at City Screen, which has a very individual look with lots of bare metal, and so it reminds you of a boxing gym."

Written in 2015, Cornermen follows three "cornermen", boxing trainers and managers Mickey, Drew and Joey, who have never had much success and are despairingly on the lookout for the next big welterweight. When they spot Sid at an amateur night, they sign him hastily, and soon his winning ways catapult them to a level they have never known before.

"It's the immediacy of the play that hits you, and so we'll be doing it straight through, no interval, in 75 minutes," says Andy. "All four characters are really well defined, with lots of straight-to-the-audience monologues, and I love theatre like this that breaks down the fourth wall.

"It's a bit – and I mean a very little bit – like John Godber's Bouncers; it takes the Bouncers trajectory with a couple of characters stepping out of character to play another role, such as a chat-show host and fellow guest, a boxing referee, a doctor and a member of the press, which keeps it all moving along nicely. And though it's not as overtly funny as Bouncers, there are funny moments in it."

Cornermen is set in London, with trips to Brighton and Manchester too. "As London is so cosmopolitan, we're not going for London accents," says Andy, whose cast comprises Alexander King as Mickey, Martyn Hunter as Drew, Joe Sample as Sid and Claire Morley as Joey. Yes, you read that right: Claire Morley as Joey, a female in a male role in this age of "gender-fluid casting". Just as she played Henry V in York Shakespeare Project's all-female Henry V in 2015.

It's a knockout! Martyn Hunter, as Drew, Alexander King, as Mickey, and Claire Morley, as Joey, rehearsing a scene in Cornermen

"The honest truth is that Claire wasn't originally auditioning for the play; she was helping me with the casting. We were auditioning in groups of four and there was a group of three where we needed a Joey, so I asked Claire to do it...and she was absolutely spot on. With her hat pulled down, she can look androgynous.

"So it remains a male role, and I know this form of casting is very fashionable at the moment, but it wasn't something we had considered until Claire stepped in at the auditions and she just happened to be right for the role."

Joe Sample is heading into new territory in playing Sid, a 23-year-old amateur boxer with an apprenticeship in fixing electrical items dividing his attention. "Joe hasn't done any boxing before, so he's going down to the boxing gym in Walmgate to do some sparring, though we don't see any boxing in the play, just the training," says Andy, whose own experience of boxing is limited too.

"I've only been to an amateur boxing night many, many years ago, and then when I was safety manager for York City Council, shortly after the Barbican Centre opened, Henry Wharton had a big fight night there. I was there, and I remember the atmosphere, the primal feeling, as he started pummelling his opponent. It was scary."

By way of contrast with Andy, the writer, Londoner Oli Forsyth, does have an insider's knowledge of the pugilistic sport. "He spent a lot of time amateur-boxing, and later wrote the play, played Mickey and directed the production that went up to the Edinburgh Fringe, so it was good to have a brief chat with him, just before the amateur performing rights became available," he says.

Now Andy himself is looking to land a knock-out punch with the York premiere of Cornermen.

Wildgoose Theatre present Cornermen in The Basement, City Screen, York, February 6 to 8, and at Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, Leeds, on February 10, all performances starting at 7.30pm. York tickets can be booked at goo.gl/4HY8Gr; Leeds tickets at sevenleeds.co.uk/events