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‘Keep him hydrated at all times’, a woman barks. ‘And hold his spit bucket.’ I’m in a room full of people I’ve just met, helping a boxer named Bam Bam prepare for a big fight. The words ‘Lose your head, lose the fight’ are scrawled on a blackboard – we’re told to repeat this mantra to help get our man pumped up.
I’m at ‘Fight Night’, an interactive, immersive boxing match by Exit Productions, which returns to the Vault Festival after winning the Innovation Award at the festival last year. It’s definitely an original concept – over the course of about 90 minutes, the audience is immersed in the shadowy side of the boxing world. At the start, we’re split into two teams (determined by our allegiances to north and south London) and we’re supposed to root for our boxer. I say supposed to, because it’s soon clear that there are lots of dodgy dealings going on – and it's every man for himself.
We’re given chips to place bets throughout the night – and there’s even a prize at the end as a fiver is handed out to one lucky audience member. Between fixing the odds and spreading rumours (one audience member tells me to place a bet against our boxer as he’s just lied to the bookies about him being injured), the audience is given the power to influence the result of the fight.
It’s very much dependent upon you to get involved, though, which means it’s easy to feel a bit lost. While I wandered around with a few other audience members hoping to dig up some dirt on the boxers and trying to get sucked into the drama, my boyfriend got whisked into the VIP area. He was sipping prosecco and having his picture taken with the boxers, and at one point, he donned some boxing gloves for a coaching session. It felt a bit like I was on the outside of a great party, looking in. By the time I caught up with him, he was plugging merch for some underhand deal he’d struck up with the promoter.
It all comes to a climax with the big fight, which is impressively choreographed and performed. The show ends with the final punch. It’s a fun concept and there are lots of interactive elements – it’s just hard to feel properly immersed at times. It wasn’t quite a knock-out for me.