Sean Mahoney

The Story

Three minutes boxing.
One minute break.
Three minutes boxing.
Try to impress dad.
Three minutes boxing.
Play Sega Dreamcast.
Three minutes boxing.
Parents break up.
Three minutes boxing.
Fail your GCSE's.
Three minutes boxing.
Sing in a car.
Three minutes boxing.
Break.

Told through spoken word and within timed boxing rounds, Until You Hear That Bell is a story about amateur boxing and family. It's about doing something for ten years, and slowly getting good at it.

The Show

At the age of eight Sean Mahoney was gently cajoled into the boxing ring by his father. By the time he was thirteen he was hitting the gym three times a week. Fast-forward to years later and Sean was lifting his first youth titles.

With Battersea Arts Centre's support, Sean - a protege of spoken word artist Polarbear - was able to quit his job in a pie shop to turn his attention towards developing his first solo performance. Until You Hear That Bell is timed to precision, as the metallic cry of the boxing bell unleashes three-minute spoken work torrents, moving through childhood reminiscences and rites of passage, spliced with sequences of lightening quick rope-work, jabs and mighty uppercuts.

Until You Hear That Bell was developed through Battersea Arts Centre's scratch process and was first performed at Battersea Arts Centre in 2014. I has also been performed at The Place, London in 2015.