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With masked gangs of angry men currently on British streets, Ava Pickett’s riposte to toxic masculinity, which transposes the aftermath of the Trojan war to contemporary Essex, couldn’t feel more timely. This is an early play by the writer whose 1536 won a Standard Award and took the theatre world by storm last year. It’s less polished but still urgent and muscular.
Pickett’s flair for rich, heightened dialogue, and for puncturing high drama with sudden humour, are already thrillingly present. Like 1536, Bloodsport is built around three strong and complex female roles, embraced with relish in Lisa Spirling’s punchy production by Downton’s Michelle Dockery, Gavin and Stacy star Laura Aikman and the always-watchable Maimuna Memon.
