Chinese Boxing
Wednesday 1 July · 19:30–21:30
- Price
- TBC — on booking site
- Format
- Booking required
- Where
- The OSO
You’ll be taken to osoarts.ticketsolve.com
About this event
What do you get when an ex-British ambassador, a Qing Dynasty rebellion, and a dash of unexpected roleplay collide? You get ‘Chinese Boxing’, a smart, stirring, and slightly surreal solo show that digs deep into the complicated history between China and the West. The setting: July 1912. The Republic of China is barely five months old. Sir Claude MacDonald, former ambassador in Peking, is in Barnes to give a talk to the local Royal Asiatic Society. Topic: ‘China and the West Today’. But things take a theatrical turn fast. Instead of a straightforward lecture, you’re whisked back to Peking in 1900, smack in the middle of the Boxer Rebellion – a bloody, chaotic siege where Chinese rebels surrounded the foreign legations for 55 days. Sir Claude was there. He led the defence. Now he’s re-living it. But here’s the twist: the audience is mistaken for a visiting foreign delegation to the Imperial Palace. They hear the Chinese side of the story – and it might upend everything you thought you knew. Mark Kitto spent nearly two decades in China. ‘Chinese Boxing’ is part memoir, part history, part mind-bender. It isn’t just a history lesson. It’s a sharp, immersive ride through a turning point in modern Asia – and a reminder that there’s always more than one side to the story.
Getting there
The OSO
Station Road, Barnes, London SW13 0LF
4 min walk from Barnes
More fitness nearby
Hosted by OSO Arts
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