Stretching Towards Splits

How do you perform high kicks to prove you’re a “real martial artist”? Even educated and experienced stunt coordinators look for leg flexibility when choosing who will perform well in fight scenes. Why? Mostly because the public demands it. So, you have to increase your flexibility to give the people what they want. The Best…

Read More... from Stretching Towards Splits

Theatrical Combat without Theatre

It's nice to read inspirational happy stories that encourage you to train harder and feel great. It's also nice to get clear information and details to help your chosen studies. Normally, I try to give you both. Today, I have to draw your attention to bad news. Vancouver Playhouse Closed I saw one of their…

Read More... from Theatrical Combat without Theatre

Boxing on Stage with Sordelet

Here's an excerpt from Ring of Truth: In Studio Theatre’s Sucker Punch, the Sweet Science Is an Art by Chris Klimek   Roy Williams’ script sketches most of its fights lightly, using only few words of stage direction. Not until the climactic bout does the 44-year-old British playwright offer a round-by-round prescription of how goes the war.…

Read More... from Boxing on Stage with Sordelet

Knap Time!

"If you can talk brilliantly about a problem, it can create the consoling illusion that it has been mastered." - Stanley Kubrick Intro to Stage Combat Sunday, February 12, 2012 2pm-6pm In this intensive 4-hour workshop, we’ll cover the basics of stage combat, including: ▪Slaps ▪Punches ▪Chokes ▪Push and fall ▪Sword parries and footwork ▪Sword…

Read More... from Knap Time!

Scenes of Violence

Most actors learn stage combat for a specific role while in rehearsal. My belief that every performer before leaving acting school should have Basic Actor-Combatant certification with Fight Directors Canada does not have widespread support. Therefore, the majority of actors already have a scene to fight to. But actors who are taking the full stage…

Read More... from Scenes of Violence

Fantasy and Practical Stage Armour

Armour serves two purposes, as does most clothing: protection and fashion. On stage and in film, if you can see the armour, it's for fashion, and if you can't, then it's for protection. The Illusion of Practicality From the blindingly reflective plate on Zeus to the leather scraps on orcs, armour should match the character…

Read More... from Fantasy and Practical Stage Armour

Stage Combat Priorities 3: Storytelling is Not a List of Events, Stupid

We all know that stage combat's first priority is safety, as we learned in Safety...Boring. We also know that many actors like stage combat classes because they learn cool-looking flourishes and how to look like a bad-a__ which we explored last time in Style and Expertise. Both of these are in service of our main…

Read More... from Stage Combat Priorities 3: Storytelling is Not a List of Events, Stupid

Stage Combat Priorities 2: Style and Expertise

The overall goal of stage combat, as we discussed in episode 0: The Illusion of Violence, is creating a violent scene that is safe for the actor and believable to the audience in the context of the show. Last time, we broke down some of the ways in which our first priority, Safety, plays out…

Read More... from Stage Combat Priorities 2: Style and Expertise

Stage Combat Priorities 1: Safety... Boring!

This is really the first post in my series on the basics of stage combat and how it is applied in real productions. Last time, I talked about the illusion of violence, and how the effect to the audience must match the rest of the production (a fairy tale should be magical and melodramatic, while…

Read More... from Stage Combat Priorities 1: Safety... Boring!