The Belfast boxing community is at the heart of a new stage drama exploring men’s mental health.
Inspired by conversations with fighters including professional boxer Tyrone McKenna, playwright Cathal J Ferris’s new production The Cornerman examines identity, masculinity and the struggles many keep hidden.
The play follows fictional world champion boxer Liam Casey, played by Ferris, who is forced into retirement through injury and struggles to come to terms with life outside the ring, questioning who he is when fighting is no longer part of his future.
Speaking to The Irish News, he said the idea for the production grew out of a fascination with the sport and what happens when athletes are no longer able to compete.
“I spoke to my coach in the gym and boxers like Tyrone McKenna, who has retired a number of times and come back,” he explained.
“I always wondered what brings them back. Why do they retire and then step back in the ring? Where does that need or desire come from?”
Cathal J Ferris says conversations with fighters including boxer Tyrone McKenna helped inspire The Cornerman, a new drama exploring men’s mental health.
Ferris’s interest in boxing stretches back years. While living in London, he attended one of McKenna’s fights after spotting the Belfast boxer’s name on a poster while feeling homesick.
“I saw the Irish flag and thought, that’s a boy from home,” he recalled.
“I actually Instagrammed Tyrone and told him my situation and he sent me a ticket straight away. He’s an absolutely beautiful man.”
The playwright later stepped into the ring himself and has since competed in four amateur bouts, including a draw against a former All-Ireland champion.
If you want to feel better, go to a boxing gym. Meet the community there, learn, listen and put everything you’re feeling in that moment into a boxing bag
— Cathal J Ferris
He said the experience helped deepen his understanding of both the physical demands of the sport and the strong sense of community that exists within many local clubs.
“The key message is that those boxing gyms are a beautiful community,” he said.
Tyrone McKenna beat battling Dylan Moran at Windsor Park. Picture By Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing (Mark Robinson/Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)
“If you want to feel better, go to a boxing gym. Meet the community there, learn, listen and put everything you’re feeling in that moment into a boxing bag.
“It’s not the stereotypical macho environment some people think it is. Coaches always tell you their first job is to look after their fighter. It’s not to teach you how to fight.”
While boxing provides the backdrop for The Cornerman, Ferris said the themes explored in the play extend far beyond the sport itself.
Central to the story is the question of identity and how people cope when a role that has defined them for years suddenly disappears.
“When fighting is all you know, what’s left when you stop? I think that’s the real question,” Ferris said.
“For Liam, boxing is more than a sport – it is the thing that has shaped his life, his routine and his sense of self – but that experience could apply to anyone in any field.”
The Cornerman follows fictional world champion boxer Liam Casey as he struggles to come to terms with life after retirement from the sport.
“If you got let go tomorrow, what would you do? Would you go and find another job in the same thing or would you try something new?
“Once you were there and now you’re not there anymore. How do you regulate your emotions and be okay with that?”
That struggle forms part of a wider exploration of mental health and the tendency for many to suffer in silence.
Ferris said he wanted to challenge what he described as a long-standing “say nothing” mentality that has often discouraged men, in particular, from talking openly about their feelings.
Read more: How a Belfast community used theatre to heal, unite, and inspire
Belfast playwright Cathal J Ferris believes boxing gyms offer a strong sense of community and support, themes reflected throughout The Cornerman.
“One of the lines in this is don’t say nothing, say something,” he said.
“The say nothing, the man up, the just carry on mentality is a huge part of this.
“Because generally men don’t talk about our feelings, which I think is potentially a generational thing that we’ve maybe learned through our dads and their dads as well.”
Those ideas are reflected in the relationship between Liam and his coach, Marty.
Ferris said the character represents a different approach to masculinity and resilience, having already come to terms with life after boxing.
“Unlike Liam, Marty is comfortable with the choices he has made and now focuses on helping the next generation,” he explained.
“He wants to train the next fighter, but he also wants to educate the new fighters coming through and help them learn how to be good men rather than just good boxers.”
Although the play tackles serious themes, audiences can also expect humour throughout, drawing on the dry wit and familiar Belfast characters Ferris believes are central to the city’s identity.
“Belfast is a character in this,” he said.
“I just think our sense of humour and that whole ‘sure if you didn’t laugh you’d cry’ mentality is so special and unique to us and that definitely bleeds into the play.”
The production came about after Ferris attended a discussion on the challenges facing Northern Ireland’s arts sector and began exploring ways to bring the boxing-themed play he had been developing to the stage.
Cathal J Ferris will also take on the lead role of Liam Casey in The Cornerman when the production opens at Theatre at the Mill.
After contacting local politicians to discuss support for emerging creatives, those conversations eventually led to a meeting with Theatre at the Mill and an opportunity to develop the project with the support of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.
Now preparing to cast the production ahead of rehearsals, he said he hopes audiences leave with a greater understanding of the issues explored in the play and the importance of talking openly about them.
“I want the audience to take away that message that it is okay to be not okay, as cliché as that sounds,” he said.
“This is just an honest piece of theatre that will hopefully get people thinking and maybe having more open conversations about what’s going on in their lives.
“It’s also a bit of a love letter to the boxing community, Belfast and the people of Belfast because, despite everything, we are good, honest people. Solid, fun people.”
The Cornerman will run at Theatre at The Mill in Newtownabbey from October 8-10. For more information visit theatreatthemill.com.