The Royale at Olney Theatre Center

The Royale

Olney Theatre Center
2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd. Olney

In 1905, Jay "The Sport" Jackson dreams of becoming the first African American boxer to fight for the heavyweight championship. Despite racking up a string of vicious knockouts, racial segregation and his white manager's own reservations stand in the way. Inspired by the true story of Jack Johnson, The Royale breaks new ground by taking us inside the fighter's mind where the disciplined brutality of boxing reveals itself in theatrically-unforgettable bouts. At stake is more than wins or losses, but equality and survival.

Thru - Oct 27, 2019

Wednesdays: 7:45pm

Thursdays: 7:45pm

Fridays: 7:45pm

Saturdays: 1:45pm & 7:45pm

Sundays: 1:45pm

Box Office: 301-924-3400

www.olneytheatre.org/whats-playing/royale-0

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The Royale Reviews

Average Rating based on 4 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Washington Post - Recommended

"...Beautifully orchestrated by Hernandez, the nonliteral staging touches work all the better because they complement richly realized performances. Wright's ebullient and cocksure Jay, who grabs our interest and sympathy from the start, also reveals emotional depths. Genebach's Max is a diverting wheeler-dealer, and Lolita Marie's cool intensity, as Jay's perspicacious sister, Nina, proves essential to the play's message and mood. In a capable performance that belies his recent addition to the cast (after another actor had to withdraw), Frisby does justice to the play's most haunting speech, when Wynton remembers being exploited to fight blindfolded in moneymaking slugfests that left the ring littered with bloody coins and teeth."

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- Celia Wren

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

"...Under the direction of Paige Hernandez, the rest of the ensemble matches Wright's excellence. The play's title comes from "battle royales," in which groups of Black men were blindfolded and set to beat each other bloody while the audience cheered, bet on their favorites, and allowed the last man standing to scramble for coins they had scattered on the ground (a powerful metaphor in itself). As Jay's manager, Wynton, Jay Frisby has one of the finest moments of the evening in a monologue that describes that humiliating spectacle."

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- Bob Ashby

Talkin Broadway - Recommended

"...Much of the 90-minute play consists of stylized boxing bouts, staged by Hernandez and Williams (supported by Kenny Neal's sound design) without actual physical contact. One boxer throws a punch, the other reels back, but they're fighting side by side instead of facing each other. More than an arresting stage effect, it brings the audience into the heads of the combatants. Sarah Tundermann's lighting design, including period fixtures, and Kelly Colburn's projections add perspective."

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- Susan Berlin

DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended

"...If baseball represents the joy of sport - its season concluding with popped champagne corks and ticker tape parades for the winners and the promise of next year for the losers - then boxing represents its tragedy, the loser lying broken and bleeding on the canvas, the winner often in not much better shape, and knowing that the day he, too, tastes defeat is coming. The metaphor extends itself to the application of America's greatest shame, racism, to the sport."

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- Tim Treanor

The Royale Photo Gallery

The Royale at Olney Theatre Center

The Royale

The Royale Reviews

Washington Post - Recommended

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

Talkin Broadway - Recommended

DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended

The Royale Photo Gallery

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