Produced by Ontroerend Goed, the Border Project, Vooruit, Theatre Royal Plymouth, and Richard Jordan Productions. At the Cultch's Historic Theatre on Wednesday, October 19. Continues until October 29

Fight Night couldn’t have a better debut than the evening of the final debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. As the world watched with mouths gaping while a presidential candidate for the United States of America argued that he couldn’t possibly be guilty of sexually assaulting women who aren’t “attractive enough,” politics as performance art seems quite fitting.

And to their credit, this young group of theatre artists have crafted a clever, entertaining and immersive production, even if its commentary is not as pointed or sharp as they think it is. The premise is simple: five candidates are trying to get the audience’s votes to win “the game”. The host, played with snarky perfection by Angelo Tijssens, takes the crowd through a series of votes and asks the candidates questions about everything from their platforms to the types of people they hope will vote for them.

Words like loyalty, winning and manipulation are thrown around frequently, and as the audience votes, round after round, the questions vary between the basic (male or female—although a third, non-binary option is essential in 2016) and the intimate (pick one that best describes you: a little bit racist, a little bit sexist, a little bit violent, none of these flaws). The answers are anonymous, but the results are tabulated and displayed in helpful circles that correspond in size to the percentage. About 48 per cent of the audience on opening night described themselves as “a little bit racist,” and confronting that on a glowing display screen might be the most nakedly self-aware Vancouver’s ever been.

Fight Night is fascinating when the audience is divulging and learning things about itself, and reassessing its opinions of the candidates based on immediate reactions to each new piece of information. But, as candidates are voted off, and as the piece builds to its big climax — Democracy! Anarchy! Apathy! — the text (credited to director Alexander Devriendt, Tijssens, and the rest of the talented cast) becomes less nuanced, devolving into something more idealized and that has good intentions but lacks grit. I left feeling a little let down, but I was immediately curious about what a different crowd might mean for the show, how the politics would play out with different audiences. Perhaps this is Fight Night’s accidental left hook: it makes the political personal, even though it’s actually trying to achieve the reverse.