A new play celebrating the boxing legend, Sir Henry Cooper, will open at Lewisham’s The Fellowship Inn in May, writes Tom Appleby…
“Dancing In The Mirror” follows the life of the young boxer, and will be performed in the icon’s former training ground.
His nephew, opera singer, Neal Cooper, will play his uncle in the production on 22-23 May.
The show will be directed by Thomas Guthrie, an award-winning British director and musician, and is written by Rhik Samadder, the Sunday Times best-selling author, in his playwriting debut.
The performance will also feature a cast of professional actors as well as 40 community members of the Lewisham Creative Chorus.
Guthrie said: “Working with Rhik, the Lewisham Creative Chorus and the whole creative team here has been extraordinary. We can grow from project to project in a way that isn’t possible in a one-off production. Dancing in the Mirror is the fruit of many lives’ work – and an enormous joy.”
Sir Henry, who passed away on May 1 2011 aged 77.He is the only British boxer to have been awarded a knighthood. He was twice voted for BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and is best known for his 1963 fight against Muhammad Ali.
Henry later became friends with Ali, who passed away in 2016. Ali admitted he was hit so hard in fight that “his ancestors in Africa felt it.”
In 2008 Sir Henry Cooper unveiled his own Blue Plaque at the Thomas A Beckett pub, a place where in his own words he “sweated for many an hour and lost loads of blood”
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The Blue Plaque scheme, run by the ‘News’ and Southwark Heritage in association with Southwark Council, commenced in 2002 and by September 2008 40 plaques had already been erected in the borough, with Sir Henry’s being the first to be put up on the Old Kent Road.
A host of old boxers and dignitaries gathered to honour the boxing legend, whose family lived in Elsted Road, Walworth, when he was born. Later on in life he lived at Daneville Road, Camberwell, and was clearly delighted with the award from the people who live in the borough he cherished. He said at the time: “It just a pleasure to come back here and see so many familiar faces. They are older but they all have their hearts in the right places. It is great to be honoured in this way.”
Speaking to the ‘News’ after the ceremony Sir Henry explained that although he moved out of the borough as a young boy, he would often return, not just to train but to visit his many relatives that lived near the boxing gym.
The production “Dancing In The Mirror” also marks the centenary of the theatre and pub, The Fellowship Inn. The community arts hub has hosted concerts by Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.
The play will take place at 3pm and 7pm on 22 and 23 May, at The Fellowship Inn with tickets at £17.00.
