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The Production Exchange and Park Theatre present the World Premiere of 

On The Ropes

By Vernon Vanriel and Dougie Blaxland

DOUGIE BLAXLAND 

Dougie Blaxland is a Playwright whose work has been staged across the UK at venues including The Everyman Theatre Cheltenham, Nottingham Playhouse, The Belgrade Theatre Coventry, The Minack Theatre Cornwall and The Greenwich Theatre London. Most recently N​17​ - a radio programme that he wrote for The Windrush Festival - was Shortlisted for Best Arts Project by The National Campaign for the Arts 2021. In addition, Unknown ​- an audio play about homelessness commissioned by The Big Issue - was highlighted by ​The Guardian​ as one of their readers’ ‘favourite plays of 2020’. The recipient of three Peggy Ramsay Grants, Dougie won the Raising New Voices Award 2010 for N​ever Any Fruit ​- published by Stagescripts
Other recent writing credits include: When The Eye Has Gone​ - National Tour 2016/17 - National Tour 2016/17; The Long Walk Back​ - National Tour 2019; Getting The Third Degree​ - National Tour & Winner of the Salford Star Best Play of the Year Award 2019. Dougie’s other nominations and awards include: Winner of Best New Play for M​oving in and Taking Over​ - The Pomegranate Theatre 2004 - published by Stagescripts. Winner of Best New Play for ​A Degree of Compulsion-​ Oxford Drama Network 2007. Nominated for Best New Play for ​Chauntecleer and Pertelotte​ - Brighton Festival 2009. Shortlisted for N​ever Any Fruit​ (revisited) for WordPlay 2020.

VERNON VANRIEL

Born in Westmoreland Jamaica on 10 July 1955, Vernon Joshua Vanriel came to Britain with his family aged 6 in 1962 under the 1948 Commonwealth Nationality Act which afforded citizens of former British colonies permanent residency and citizenship. Along with his brother and three sisters he was brought up in Tottenham, attending Markfield Secondary Modern School before going on to Tottenham Technical College where he qualified with distinction as a trained electrician. After a brief amateur career in boxing he was signed by Ernie Fossey and had a meteoric rise towards the top of the British Lightweight rankings, defeating such leading contenders as Peter Eubanks, Glyn Rhodes and Billy Vivian. It was in January 1983, however, that he really came to prominence when he knocked out the much-fancied American lightweight Sammy Lee Young in the second round at The Royal Albert Hall. This fight was significant for the fact that it was the first time a Black British Boxer had stood his ground against the promoters to ensure that ticket prices were at a level that ordinary men and women (including members of his own Afro-Caribbean community) could afford. Having defeated Des Gwillam in 1984 Vanriel was officially ranked Number 2 in Britain but his outspoken criticism of the “White Cartel” that ran boxing led to the British Boxing Board of Control blocking his opportunity to fight for the title.

In 2005 Vanriel went to Jamaica on an extended visit and because of a change in Home Office immigration regulations he was denied the right to return to the UK for 13 years. Trapped in a foreign country without accommodation, money or access to medical care for a serious heart condition, he was only able to return to the UK in 2018 following the intervention of his MP - David Lammy. In December 2021 he won an historic High Court victory over the British Government when Justice Bourne ruled that the Home Office had acted illegally in denying his right to British Citizenship.

ANASTASIA OSEI-KUFFOUR

Anastasia Osei-Kuffour is a Director, Writer, Producer and Poet. She trained as a director through the Young Vic Directors Programme, the National Theatre Directors’ course and as an artistic director on the Artistic Director Leadership Programme. She was Stephen Williams’s assistant on the Searchlight feature film Chevalier filmed in 2021 and is Artistic Director of Wrested Veil Production Company.

Direction includes: Faith, Hope and Glory (BBC Radio 4) series 3, ep.1, series 4, ep.2 and ep.3, Precious Little Thing (BBC Radio 4); Typical the film (Soho Theatre On Demand); Seeds (UK tour, Leeds Playhouse, Live Newcastle, Derby Theatre & Warwick Arts Centre); Typical (Soho Theatre & Pleasance Courtyard Edinburgh Fringe & Audible version); Cuttin' It (Royal Court, UK schools tour-19 schools); Footprints on the Moon (Finborough Theatre); An Adventure (an excerpt, Bush Theatre ); Cell (Young Vic); Here Comes the Bride (Black Lives, Black Words at Bush Theatre); All the Ways to Say Goodbye (Young Vic); Hosea’s Girl (Talawa Studio Firsts); Dishonour, You Know That I’ll Be Back & Universally Speaking (Theatre503). 

Associate and Assistant Directing includes: good dog (Spring 2019 National Tour); mixed brain (Roundabout, Summer Hall Edinburgh); Macbeth & Romeo and Juliet (National Theatre Dorfman, Stratford Circus, UK schools tour); Cuttin’ It — Young Vic’s Jerwood Assistant Director Programme, supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation (Young Vic, Royal Court, Birmingham REP, Sheffield Theatres and The Yard); Flowering Cherry, Alpha Beta & Andy Capp(Finborough); Three Generations of Women (Greenwich); Plaques and Tangles (Royal Court); Idomeneus (Gate); Henry the Fifth (Unicorn); and — as Boris Karloff Trainee Assistant Director — A Doll’s House (Young Vic).