Theatr na nÔg has been finding new and innovative ways to bring Welsh culture to children across the country, and their new play is set to be one of their most exciting and hard-hitting yet. Hari Berrow speaks to director Kev McCurdy about Geinor Styles’ new play The Fight.
The Fight is the latest offering for schools from Theatr na nÓg. Set in 1930s Merthyr Tydfil, it recounts the case of Cuthbert Taylor: a mixed-race boxer denied the opportunity to represent Britain in the sport due to the colour of his skin. Kev McCurdy, also an actor and fight director, makes his directorial debut here with a story he says resonates with him deeply.
“The guy had 477 fights in total and got knocked down once. When he turned professional, he had 213 fights, won 151, lost 70. There’s no other fighter in this era that can match this record. The more we went into it, and the more we found out, it’s just an amazing story that needs to be told – and being a Black fight choreographer and actor, it is absolutely right for me.’

The story also means a lot to Geinor Styles, The Fight’s writer and Theatr na nÓg’s artistic director. “Geinor found this story by accident,” McCurdy explains. “She was in her mother’s house and saw a photo of a Black girl in a white school; her mum told her it was Anna Taylor – daughter of Cuthbert Taylor. When she asked who Cuthbert was, she told her the story, and she’s been researching since, for over 10 years.”
The company worked with Taylor’s family in the course of producing The Fight. “We have been in long conversations with them,” the director says; “they don’t want any compensation, nothing like that – they just want an apology, simple as that. They want an apology on a piece of paper so they can laminate it and put it on Cuthbert’s grave. That’s all.
“We don’t know if the British Boxing Board Of Control [who introduced the colour bar preventing Taylor from representing Britain] have said anything. We understand that something may have been said, but we don’t know. Hopefully, what we do here may generate a small wave that will get bigger and start off new conversations.”
Theatr na nÔg also did workshops with schoolchildren in Merthyr to develop the play. “The kids were absolutely amazing!” says McCurdy. “They threw themselves in. A lot of the kids there – 11, 12 years old – were already learning to box, so it was great going in and saying, ‘when we box to a stage this is what it’s like’. They all knew the story of Cuthbert, the history of Merthyr and the boxing that had gone on in Merthyr, which was huge at one stage. It’s also great to educate other young people.”

McCurdy hopes that the play will get young audiences reflecting on systemic abuses of power. “I want audiences to leave the show with a new sense of how an establishment hasn’t been forthright. I want them to sit there and get a realisation of how much pain and injustice has been caused. I want them to sit there and say, ‘we’ve got a homegrown boy and his family that has been classed as one of the best in Europe, the best in Britain – a homegrown talent that hasn’t been allowed to fulfil his potential.’
“It’s been great to say ‘here it is’. This is a part of it and we are going to hit you with it full-force, so you can make your own judgement about what’s going on. We can’t force anything onto [theatregoers]. This is what happened, the family will carry on fighting for this apology, and together we will hopefully be able to generate something to get that apology.”
The Fight, Dylan Thomas Theatre, Swansea, Thurs 26 Sept; Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon, Tue 19-Thurs 21 Nov.
Tickets: £15/£13. Info: here
words HARI BERROW