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'FACT and fantasy are fatally confused in Docker Starkie, who is Peterson's central character.
In fact, he is an ageing ex-champion making a comeback in a second-rate fight because he needs money.
In fantasy he is back in his boxing heyday, trying to believe he needs just the "feel" of the canvas under his feet, to recapture all his old skill.
The two become as one in the ring, where Starkie dies.
That is just the main thread of the story. Before Docker makes his last journey to the ring we see a stream of "pre-lim boys"–the youngster blinded by resin from his opponent's gloves and wisely deciding to go back to the paint factory; the punch-drunk old-stager in danger of losing his reason altogether; the flashy spiv who is to earn his money by "taking a dive"; the cheerful Cockney on the way up; and the bear-like moron.
Through it all runs an unspoken indictment of the boxing racket.'
Source:
'Sydney Writer's London Stage Hit', Sunday Herald, 26 October 1952, p.12.
Adaptations
-
form
y
The Square Ring
( dir. Basil Dearden
)
England
:
Ealing Studios
,
1953
8132746
1953
single work
film/TV
An adaptation of Ralph Peterson's play of the same name, which had premiered successfully in London in 1952.
-
y
The Square Ring
London
:
Arthur Barker
,
1954
Z181920
1954
single work
novel
-
form
y
The Square Ring
( dir. Bill Hitchcock
)
United Kingdom (UK)
:
ITV
,
1959
8132109
1959
single work
film/TV
An adaptation of Ralph Peterson's The Square Ring, which takes place exclusively in the dressing room during a boxing match.
-
form
y
The Square Ring
( dir. Raymond Menmuir
)
Australia
:
Australian Broadcasting Commission
,
1960
8132356
1960
single work
film/TV
An adaptation of Ralph Peterson's play The Square Ring.
-
form
y
The Square Ring
Australia
:
Australian Broadcasting Commission
,
1965
8131210
1965
single work
radio play
A radio adaptation of Ralph Peterson's play The Square Ring, which was itself based on a radio series.
Notes
-
Notes on staging:
- The play has a single set: 'A boxer's dressing-room, shoddy, badly equipped and decorated with cracked and fading prints of old-time champions'. The play never leaves this set: ' The fights are not shown. Their progress and the effect on those in the dressing-room are conveyed by the shouting of the mob.'
- The play had a single female character when it was trialed in Brighton in September 1952, but Peterson wrote her out before the London debut: 'the play never seemed to jell. It got wacky and the girl seemed to be distracting attention from the main story.'
- Peterson also emphasised that he didn't have any compression of time in the story: 'The running time of the play is exactly the period it would take a boxer to arrive in his dressing-room, to wait for his bout, and to complete his fight. It goes on without a break.'
See: 'Sydney Writer's London Stage Hit', Sunday Herald, 26 October 1952, p.12.
-
The play is often described as an adaptation of Come Out Fighting, which is how it has been indexed here, but the direct narrative correlation between the two (especially given that Come Out Fighting was a long-running serial) has not yet been been clarified.
Production Details
-
Premiered in Brighton for a trial staging in September 1952, after which Peterson wrote out the only female character (see 'Sydney Writer's London Stage Hit').
Staged in London from Tuesday 21 October 1952.
According to contemporary newspapers, the work first came to the attention of Anthony Quayle, who then passed it to H.M. Tennent Ltd (agents), who produced and staged it (see 'Sydney Writer's London Stage Hit').
The play involves thirteen characters, all male.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Ten Old Australian Plays Worthy of Another Look
2023
single work
essay
— Appears in: FilmInk , 6 March 2023;
-
Ten Old Australian Plays Worthy of Another Look
2023
single work
essay
— Appears in: FilmInk , 6 March 2023;
