'A talented young boxer, Isa, is preparing for the biggest fight of his career. On the line is the national title and the promise of fame and riches beyond his wildest dreams. What unfolds is a modern-day fable of a Congolese boy orphaned by war and forced to become a child soldier by the very people who killed his family. His powerful left hook offers a new life in Australia, but his greatest obstacle is not his opponent – it’s his past.
'La Boite Artist-in-Residence Future D. Fidel writes with the undeniable force of authenticity. Fleeing the Congo as a child, he lived in a Tanzanian refugee camp for eight years before being granted refugee status in Australia. Prize Fighter is inspired by his own story and those of people he has known.
'We are thrilled to present in the lead role one of Queensland’s most talented young actors, Pacharo Mzembe (The Mountaintop, Underbelly), who brings years of boxing training to the stage.' (Production summary)
Prize Fighter
Sydney
:
Hachette Australia
,
2018
14357905
2018
single work
novel
'A Congolese refugee getting by in the Australian suburbs, Isa has a background that seems unimaginable in his new country - a childhood as a boy soldier. Now, Isa's a brilliant boxer, but his most difficult opponent isn't in the ring - it's the terrors of his past. The powerful debut novel from acclaimed playwright Future D. Fidel.
'Isa Alaki is not from here.
'At ten years old, Isa's life in the Congolese city of Bukavu changed forever. The streets were burning. The town was mostly silent, like a ghost town, until the yelling started. At school, Isa knows he has to get home. The soldiers would be looking for his father.
'The sound of gunfire, the sharp smell of blood and the screams of his sister still echo in his head.
'Back then, he had a choice to make. Death or a gun. He picked up the gun and became a child soldier, forced to fight for the same forces that massacred his family.
'After years of horror, Isa escaped, and he is given a chance of freedom when he travels to Australia. He brings with him papers that grant him refugee status, the hope that he can find his brother, Moise, and the scars of a brutal war.
'Here, the fighting skills Moise taught him when he was a boy see Isa become a talented young boxer. He spends his days punching away the past, punching away the demons in his mind, literally trying to punch his way to a better life. His powerful left hook promises much, but the demons he is wrestling with have a power all their own. The question for Isa is ... will the past ever let him free?'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Additional Awards:
Green Room Awards:
Pacharo Mzembe (performer): nominated.
Ensemble: nominated.
A La Boite and Brisbane Festival co-production. Performed at La Boite’s Roundhouse Theatre, Kelvin Grove, Queensland : 5 - 26 September 2015.
Director: Chris Kohn.
Cast including Pancharo Mzembe.
A La Boite Theatre Company & Brisbane Festival production presented in association with Sydney Festival. Performed at Belvoir Upstairs Theatre Surry Hills, New South Wales : 6-22 January 2017.
Director Todd MacDonald.
Dramaturg Chris Kohn.
Designer: Bill Haycock.
Lighting Designer: David Walters.
Composer & Sound Designer: Felix Cross.
Video Designer: optikal bloc.
Movement & Fight Director: Nigel Poulton.
Cast: Thuso Lekwape, Gideon Mzembe, and Pacharo Mzembe.
Produced again by La Boite and Brisbane Festival at Logan Entertainment Centre in 2018, and at Studio Theatre (Darwin Entertainment Centre), 16-19 August 2018.
Crew same as 2016 production.
Presented as part of La Boite Encores (a play-reading series revisiting La Boite's centenary by returning to plays from the archives), La Boite Theatre, 23 June 2025.
'The author of this first novel is a young playwright from Brisbane by way of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The narrator, Isa Alaki, is a young prize-fighter who’s ended up in Brisbane by way of the same place, but there the biographies diverge.' (Introduction)
'The author of this first novel is a young playwright from Brisbane by way of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The narrator, Isa Alaki, is a young prize-fighter who’s ended up in Brisbane by way of the same place, but there the biographies diverge.' (Introduction)
