Muhammad Ali and Me consist of short snappy scenes that resemble a boxing match. Each round of the fight is intense, quick-paced, and powerful. This play examines institutional racism and sexual violence. Paralleling the journey of a young girl to womanhood with that of Muhammad Ali’s life narrative is nothing short of exhilarating brilliance. We watch as the world beats down upon them round after round attempting to make them admit defeat. However, it is only in the play’s final moments that we see that Mojisola Adebayo is masterfully using the boxing ring to show us the reader that we are stronger than we imagine ourselves to be - we are champions!

ACT 1 SCENE 1 – SHORT OPENING RITUAL

The writer Mojisola Adebayo leaves the interpretation of the short opening Ritual in the hands of the director. During this opening, we are introduced to Mojitola / Muhammad Ali as the Referee leads them into the boxing ring and they prepare for a fight.

Q: Why do you think the writer decided to choose one actor to play both roles: Mojitola and Muhammad Ali?

Q. The writer refers to the preparation of the fight as a ritual, how it is a ritual? What rituals do you perform every day or regularly?

 

ACT 1 SCENE 2 - CHILDHOOD IN THE 70S

A medley of songs from the 60s and 70s is sung by Mojitola and the Corner Man. The audience is transported from the boxing ring into Mojitola’s home on her fifth birthday. The Corner Man is now Mojitola’s African Daddy who makes his appearance known by calling her by her full name “MO-JI-TOLA” when he catches her being rude. This is the first time we hear her full name being called in the play. Daddy gifts her with a new bike and sings a Nigerian-style Happy Birthday song. Her bike is stolen by another child. She panics and desperately calls out for her mummy and a referee. The Corner Man / Daddy insists that she needs to learn how to fight.

Q: Why does the writer use the set of the boxing ring to represent her experience growing up in the seventies?

Q: Why does the Corner Man / Daddy say that Mojitola has to learn how to fight? 

 

ACT 1 SCENE 3 - THE FAMILY HOME- A FLASHBACK /FLASHFORWARD

The Family Home. Flashback. Mojitola is frozen in shock as she witnesses her Daddy hitting her Mummy, who is represented by a punching bag and later played by the Referee. Mojitola’s Mummy leaves the home (exits the ring) without her. Mojitola’s bike is returned. Happiness settles in. Flash forward. Daddy is called to fight in a war in Nigeria. Mojitola is put into foster care and sent to the Black Friars home of Mrs Groom (later referred to as Mummy Angie). Before she is separated from her father, they read from the Old Testament, the book of Ecclesiastes, as family photos from the 70s are projected. 

Q: How are The Corner/Daddy words in the previous scene ‘learn how to fight’ relevant to this scene?

Q: Why does the writer use the book Ecclesiastes to replace the father’s parting words to his daughter?

 

ACT 1 SCENE 4 - THE FOSTER HOME

The Foster Home. Mummy Angie decides to call her Susan instead of Mojitola. When left alone with Mummy Angie’s son, Jimmy, tries to get Mojitola to touch him inappropriately. She screams, calling out for her father to save her. The bell rings. Muhammad Ali appears.

Q: Why does Muhammad Ali appear instead of her Daddy?

Q: In Muhammad Ali and Me the adults in this world of the play are supposed to take care of Mojitola but fail her. What are some of the ways they do this?

 

ACT 1 SCENE 5 - MUHAMMAD ALI’S SURPRISE APPEARANCE

Muhammad Ali’s surprise Appearance. Muhammad Ali magically appears to Mojitola at a time when she feels alone, scared and vulnerable. They both confide in each other: Ali tells Mojitola about his decision to no longer fight due to having Parkinson’s disease and Mojitola reveals to Ali her fears and confusion about her identity. She asks him to tell her a bedtime story. Ali agrees to tell her the greatest story of all time. 

Q: In this play, Muhammad Ali appears when Mojitola finds herself alone and feeling scared. Why do you think Muhammad Ali appears in these moments? 

Q: What is the greatest story of all time?

 

ACT 1 SCENE 6 - THE GRIOT’S STORY

Mojitola learns from Daddy Griot about the legendary Olympic Boxer Cassius Marcellus Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali) and his fight against world champion Gorgeous George and how he faced and dealt with racism.  

Q: What is a griot? Why does the writer include a Griot in this play?

Q: In Muhammad Ali and Me, Ali talks about dealing with racism at a segregated diner. Why does Muhammad Ali throw his gold medal in the river? How does Muhammad Ali’s story relate to Mojitola’s experience? 

 

ACT 1 SCENE 7 - GORGEOUS GEORGE

The fight between the World’s Boxing Champions Gorgeous George and Muhammad Ali is watched on TV by Mojitola and the Referee. Gorgeous George publicly insults Muhammad Ali calling him a sellout.

Q: How does Mojitola watching her hero being insulted on national television impact her?

Q: Why does the writer decide to juxtapose a personal and public cross-generational experience of racism and bullying?

 

ACT 1 SCENE 8 - ALI TALKS TRICKS

Mojitola and Mummy Angie watch Muhammad Ali use playing cards to predict the outcome of his fights on TV; twenty-one of his predictions are correct. Jimmy tries to assault her again, but she stands up to him. It is Mojitola’s seventh birthday. Mummy Angie gifts her with a teddy bear. Jimmy threatens to continue the abuse.

Q: Mojitola stands up to her abuser at age 7, what statement is the writer making regarding the power, agency and strength of a young person and where they get their courage and voice from?

Q: This is the first of many magic tricks that Ali performs throughout the play, how does the writer implement magic and imagination in the play?

 

ACT 1 SCENE 9 - YACUB AND THE SPACESHIP

Muhammad Ali tells Mojitola about the breakdown of the relationship between him and Malcolm X which he now regrets after no longer believing in the bigoted teachings from the leader of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad. Muhammad Ali was never able to apologise to Malcolm X before his assassination. Daddy Griot sings an African mourning ritual song as a clip of Malcolm X performing Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy.

Q: Why has the writer titled this scene ‘Yacub in the Spaceship’?  

Q: Can you think of any other examples of when a leader has used their influence negatively against a group of people or individuals?  

 

ACT 1 SCENE 10

Sunny Liston/The Bear. Ali faces the ultimate fight that will make him the first Muslim Champion in the world. He reveals to Mojitola that he has kept his faith a secret and seeks council in prayer. Mojitola tries to cheer him up by giving him her teddy bear. The sound of the bell morphs into a West African rhythm. Ali beats Sonny. Mojitola reveals her secret of abuse to Mummy Angie but is told to eat her spaghetti letters.

Q. Why is Ali hesitant to disclose his religion? How is this related to Mojitola’s revealing of her truth?

 

Q.Why does Mummy Angie tell Mojitola to eat the spaghetti letters?

 

 

ACT 1 SCENE 11 – TELLING SECRETS

Mojitola finds new ways to speak out about the abuse; spelling Jimmy’s name using the spaghetti letters. Jimmy is fearful that she will tell her father and convinces Mummy Angie to not let her call him to avoid the expense. Ali publicly renounces his Christianity and his birth name Cassius Clay as a ‘slave’, announcing his new name ‘Muhammad Ali’ to the world and thus his allegiance to the Nation of Islam. Both Muhammad Ali and Mojitola receive backlash for revealing their truth.

Q: When is telling a secret a good thing? How can the revealing of a secret create a greater sense of identity, self-acceptance and agency?

Q. What does speaking truth to power mean? Why is it important to be able to speak truth to power?

 

 

ACT 1 SCENE 12 – MAGIC FLIGHTS

Ali’s ‘magic punch’ sends Sonny Liston to the floor in the first few minutes of their fight. Some journalists thought the fight was ‘fixed’ believing that Liston had been paid to take a dive. Despite naysayers, Ali is revered as the person to beat and fights on, winning more fights with his magic punch and thus raising the financial stakes. A hesitant Floyd Patterson is up next to fight Ali but against Ali’s demand to be called by his new legal name, he defiantly refers to him as Clay.

Q: Why does Ali continue to fight after the media speculations?

Q: Why does Floyd refuse to call Ali by his new name?

 

ACT 1 SCENE 13 – SHUFFLE TO SCHOOL

Mojitola is getting bullied at school for having an African name and an absent father, she is forced to go to school by Mummy Angie. At school, she punches the school bully, demanding that her name is pronounced correctly. We cut to Ali’s fight with Ernie Terrell. (The boxer who continued to call Ali by his ‘slave name’ ‘Cassius Clay’ and who Ali famously slapped in the face and ordered him to ‘call me by my name Muhammad Ali’).

Q: Our names are a distinctive way to reflect our identity, and to show respect for another person’s ethnicity and culture. It is a form of racism to rob someone of their name. What do you believe are the negative impacts of having a person’s name mispronounced, avoided or misnamed?

Q: In Muhammad Ali and Me, the Referee uses sign language throughout the play. What do you think the importance is of utilizing sign language throughout the play? How does it open the piece to a larger audience?

 

ACT 1 SCENE 14 – ASSEMBLY

During assembly, Mojitola proudly sings the 1931 children’s hymn ‘When the Knight Won His Spurs’ by Jan Struther as she imagines Ali’s fight against Cleveland William which is projected on the screen. The bell rings. 

Q: Why does Mojitola proudly sing the lyrics from the children’s hymn ‘When the Knight Won his Spurs’ in this scene? What is the significance of the hymn in the play?

Q: The sound of the bell is employed multiple times throughout this play, what do you believe is the symbolism behind it, and what it means as a device throughout the play?

 

ACT 1 SCENE 15 – FIRST LESSON

Mojitola is singled out in the classroom as the teacher asks about her homework while dressing Mojitola for a boxing match. Mojitola names the oppressed and oppressors which ends with a gum shield in her mouth shutting her up. She is pushed to the center of the ring and reenacts a fight by slowly punching herself and reacting to punches – the bell rings prematurely.  She calls out that the fight was fixed and spits out her gum. The teacher calls for detention. Mojitola becomes Ali as The Referee, now an Army doctor/Government Official violently examines and tests him, and for the first time, Ali struggles to work out the answers.

Q: How are Mojitola and Ali robbed of their voices by authority figures who are entrusted to serve, care and protect them in this scene?

 

Q. Why do you think the writer chooses to have Mojitola reenact a fight on her own? What do you think the writer is trying to communicate to the audience?

 

 

ACT 1 SCENE 16 – EXAMINATIONS

In the professional world, people continue to call Ali by his ‘slave’ name against his wishes, including the doctor who makes Ali take an Army IQ test. Ali’s IQ is low due to his dyslexia, exempting him from serving in the US armed forces.

Q: During this scene, we realise that Ali has a hidden disability which means that he struggles to read, why do you think it was important for the writer to include this in the play?

Q: In Muhammad Ali and Me, Ali has to take an IQ test for the military. Do you believe that standardized tests are appropriate indications of intelligence or worth?

 

ACT 1 SCENE 17 – SECONDARY SCHOOL

Mojitola’s first day at St.Martin-in-the-fields High School for Girls. In the geography class, Mojitola is left to question where she fits in the world as a dual heritage girl when classroom bullies Michelle and Donna divide the room into black and white classmates. Feeling like she has to choose between her black and white heritage, Muhammad Ali encourages her to embrace both sides.

Q: Do you agree with Muhammad Ali and if so, why? And if not, why not? 

 

ACT 1 SCENE 18 – THE HISTORY OF THE SHUFFLE

Mojitola tells us the meaning of her name ‘I wake up to wealth’. We learn about the history of the Shuffle, a boxing technique created by Ali that is rapid footwork that can be used to confuse the opponent and how it was rooted in slavery, and introduced to the dance floor. As the writer suggests, the shuffle is more than a movement, it is a state of mind. End of round one. The referee rings the bell which becomes the sound of a telephone ringing.

Q: How does the history of the Shuffle relate to the main themes of the play?

 

Q: Mojitola’s name means ‘I wake to wealth’, Ali legally changed his name to Muhammad Ali to show his allegiance to the Nation of Islam. What is the importance and meaning of your name? In your opinion, what are valid reasons to keep or legally change a name?  

 

ACT 1 SCENE 19 – THE PHONE CALL

Mojitola and Ali have life-changing phone calls that disrupt their world forever. After ten years in foster care and no contact with her father, Mojitola initiates a conversation with Daddy on her birthday and leaves a desperate message for him to rescue her from the foster home. Meanwhile, Ali is informed by a Sports Illustrated reporter of the potential to be reclassified to the army due to them lowering the IQ level for the Vietnam war and he responds by refusing to be drafted into the army.

The calls disturb the natural order of things and result in backlash. Ali is called unpatriotic and a black supremacist by the media and Mojitola’s burning desire to leave the foster home to attend university so that she can follow in the footsteps of her proud educated African family is met with hostility, insults and a physical altercation by Jimmy as visuals of Ali being knocked out by Henry Cooper is seen on the screen.

Q: Muhammad Ali refuses to be drafted to serve in the Vietnam War, do you think he was right for refusing to join the war? Do you think military service should be mandatory?  

Q: Mojitola’s aspirations exceed those of her foster family. How would navigate this situation if you were Mojitola?  

 

ACT 1 SCENE 20 – THE LAW

Ali and Mojitola continue to fight for what they believe in at the police station/courtroom. The stakes are high for both of them. Ali, a black male Muslim fighting against the war is sentenced to five years in prison, fined ten thousand dollars and stripped of his fighting license, passport and title. Unable to fight in the boxing ring, Ali uses his voice in universities answering questions from lecturers and students.

After years of abuse, Mojitola enters the police station and reports the sexual abuse by Jimmy in foster care and the abuse she witnessed between her parents as a child to the Police/Daddy. Mojitola’s case is taken to trial.

Q: Ali Is imprisoned for speaking truth to power, what do you think is at stake for Mojitola for speaking her truth in the courtroom?

 

Q: Sexual violence is considered the most under-reported violent crime, with many child survivors waiting years or decades before telling anyone, what do you think motivated Mojitola to go to the police?

 

ACT 1 SCENE 21 – ALI UNIVERSITY

Ali sets the record straight by revealing his true feelings about the state of America, the Nation of Islam teachings and race relations when being questioned at universities. Similar to Mojitola, he experienced abandonment by the Nation of Islam when they turned their back on him but adopted a new family in boxing. After three and a half years of exile from boxing, the Supreme Court overturn the decision against Ali.

Mojitola also wins the court case against Jimmy. However, Jimmy never spends a day in prison due to running from the police and dying after jumping into a river. Mojitola declares she is going to university. A proud Mummy Angie offers a gift to Mojitola which she refuses to accept.

Q: Do you believe that you can create your family or is family only biological? 

Q: Why does Mojitola turn down the driving lesson gift from Mummy Angie?

 

ACT 1 SCENE 22 – SMOKIN’ JOE FRAZIER

Muhammad Ali fights Joe Frazier to regain his boxing title. Corner Man and Referee sing as visuals of Ali and Frazier’s play. However, the singing comes to a sudden halt as Muhammad Ali is knocked down. 

Q: In the previous scene, Jimmy never served prison time for the abuse and in this scene, Muhammad Ali loses the fight to regain his title, why do you think the writer made this decision to present these two losses in this part of the play?

 

 

ACT 1 SCENE 23 – TO FAIL

Mojitola experiences institutional racism after she performs the famous ‘To be or not to be’ speech from Shakespeare’s Hamlet in her acting class for her first-year exam.

Q: What are the positives and negatives of colour blind casting?

 

 

ACT 1 SCENE 24 – THE HEART

Mojitola and Ali have a heart-to-heart conversation about the racism she experienced at university. Ali encourages her to look beyond the acting class and to focus on her self-worth. Their conversation moves to personal romantic relationships as Muhammad Ali offers to give her dating ‘tricks’ for attracting ladies but Mojitola has already acquired some skills of her own.

Q: What are the dangers of only seeking validation from other people to gain self-worth?

 

ACT 1 SCENE 25 – THE RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE

Daddy Griot tells us about Muhammad Ali’s experience in Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo) where he experienced the feeling of ‘home’.

Q: Muhammad Ali travels to Zaire and feels like he is at home. What statement is the writer making regarding what and where ‘home’ is? And why is this important for Mojitola to know?  

 

ACT 1 SCENE 26 – THE DRESSING ROOM – “I AM GOING TO DANCE”

Mojitola is now a professional actress. She is escorted onto the stage by the stage manager. Using the same words as Muhammad Ali before his fight with George Foreman, Mojitola takes off her robe and gets ready for the final battle.

Q: Compare this scene to the opening scene of the play, how is Mojitola different, how have both Mojitola and Ali grown throughout the play?

 

 

ACT 1 SCENE 27 – THE ROPE-A-DOPE

Inspired by Ali’s use of The Rope-A-Dope boxing technique, Mojitola attempts to have a heterosexual sexual encounter with George which leaves George exhausted and Mojitola is left unsatisfied. The winning manoeuvre is when Mojitola’s lover steals her attention away from George as they dance together in a public performance to the backdrop of Ali’s Rumble in the Jungle fight with Ali taking the win to rapturous applause. Muhammad Ali proclaims he is a three-time champion. Mojitola takes her bow concluding her first professional performance. But things take a turn when Mojitola suddenly starts to shake uncontrollably and Muhammad Ali is advised by doctors to stop fighting.

 

Q: The dance between Mojitola and her lover takes place with the sound of boxing. Why do you think the writer made this choice?

Q: What does living in your truth mean and what are the possible risks associated with doing so?

 

ACT 1 SCENE 28[SHD8]  – A NEW FIGHT

The boxing ring. A 50-year-old, shaky, jaded actress, Mojitola, sits at her dressing table. After years of fighting adversity and trying to overcome the abandonment of her father, she has grown into a drunk, disgusted with her looks, life and the people around her. As she weighs herself images of Ali’s final fights and health deterioration are shown.

Mojitola moves from the dressing room to the TV set, she confronts the Corner Man and the Referee for failing her, the arts industry for not valuing her for her talents and brains, and in the words of Ali she demands that the world remembers her as a Champion.

Q: Do you believe that Mojitola is a champion? Is a champion someone who is remembered for consistent wins or someone who has had moments of greatness? 

 

ACT 1 SCENE 29 – RETURN

Daddy returns. Mojitola asks him one final question which is met with a response from the same bible scripture from Ecclesiastes. Mojitola realizes that she does not need her dad to validate her and decides to free herself. Ali arrives, full of pride. Their time together has come to an end. His last trick is levitating away. 

Q: Why does Daddy respond with a bible verse?

Q: Why has her time with Ali come to an end?