FLYWEIGHT

Tue 22 July 2025 - Wed 23 July 2025

A multimedia exploration of the poetry of boxing. FLYWEIGHT is a new live literature production written and performed by award-winning poet Maggie Sawkins, that explores the unlikely theme of boxing, and in particular, female boxing. Combining poetry with nuggets of research and complemented by entertaining visuals and video sequences by filmmaker Matt Parsons, as well as audio contributions from boxers themselves, this is an engaging poetry show that really packs a punch. As one audience member remarked: "You don't have to like boxing or poetry for it to resonate". Directed for LLL Productions by Mark C. Hewitt. Maggie Sawkins, based in Brading on the Isle of Wight, was winner in 2013 of the prestigious Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry for her multimedia production, Zones of Avoidance, also directed by Mark C. Hewitt. Speaking on behalf of the judges, Denise Rlley said of this work: “This is an ambitious multimedia presentation using film, voices and sound, which works exceptionally well. It is a challenging, painfully open account of a daughter’s addiction, yet it’s an account which also offers graceful good humour. Beautifully written and uncompromising, it’s a modern story that we felt the writer was compelled to tell; it acts as a vivid witness of harsh experiences which aren’t often described in poetry, and Maggie Sawkins’ illuminating descriptions will prove helpful for others to hear.” FLYWEIGHT revisits the same techniques to create something altogether different.