As the Commonwealth Games return to Glasgow this August, a new verbatim theatre production exploring the experiences of women in Scottish boxing will tour three community venues, taking performance straight into neighbourhood gyms.
Created by Glasgow-based company Theatre Alliance, The Standing Eight runs from 7 to 9 August as part of the Glasgow 2026 Festival. The production is avoiding traditional central theatre spaces, opting instead to perform inside working sporting environments in Pollok, Easterhouse, and Glasgow’s Southside.
Documenting women in Scottish boxing
The script draws entirely from interviews conducted with eight women involved in Scottish boxing. The interview group includes active competitors, coaches, and grassroots club members.
Verbatim theatre depends on transcribing taped interviews word-for-word, retaining the natural speech patterns, pauses, and idioms of the interviewees. Theatre Alliance is looking to weave these recorded accounts together with movement sequences based on the daily physical routines of boxing training.
The text addresses issues of access, identity, and the practical barriers female boxers encounter within a sport traditionally dominated by men. It records recent growth in female participation while noting where structural obstacles persist.
Theatre Alliance was founded in 2020 by Marlisa Ross and Stuart Bird. The company works primarily across physical theatre, dance, and new writing, with a focus on non-fictional source material. With The Standing Eight, the creative team opts for spoken testimony over dramatised narrative, letting the recorded voices of local athletes structure the hour-long piece.
Staging in neighbourhood sports venues
The production opens at Pollok Community Centre on Friday 7 August, before moving to Phoenix Easterhouse Boxing Club on Saturday 8 August, and closing at Kynoch Boxing Gym on Sunday 9 August.
By mounting the show inside active training facilities, the production is bypassing standard theatre infrastructure. Audiences sit directly within working gym spaces, surrounded by ringside equipment and concrete walls rather than conventional stage settings.
The choice of venues reflects a deliberate effort to decentralise festival events. Staging work in neighbourhoods with established boxing histories brings professional performance out of central city institutions and straight into local communities.
Commonwealth Games cultural programme
The Standing Eight will form part of the final weekend of the Glasgow 2026 Festival, a ten-week cultural programme managed by Glasgow Life to run alongside the Commonwealth Games. The wider festival fund was increased from £250,000 to £1.25 million following high application numbers from local organisations, receiving backing from Creative Scotland, sportscotland, and the Scottish Government.
Where the main Commonwealth Games focus on elite international competition, The Standing Eight examines the grassroots facilities underpinning local sport. The production highlights the role neighbourhood boxing clubs play as community hubs, documenting how women are altering the internal culture of these spaces from the ground up.
Featured Image: The Standing Eight – Commonwealth Games
Performance details and booking
The Standing Eight runs at the following venues across Glasgow:
- Friday 7 August 2026, 7.30pm – Pollok Community Centre
- Saturday 8 August 2026, 7.30pm – Phoenix Easterhouse Boxing Club
- Sunday 9 August 2026, 7.30pm – Kynoch Boxing Gym
Running time is approximately 60 minutes. All tickets are priced at £6 and can be booked in advance online via TicketSource.
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