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The Art of
Stage Combat Stage Combat is a crucial story-telling tool in modern theatre, television, and film. In order for stories to reflect the human world accurately and fully, in the wide spectrum from joy to horror, we must confront our own human tendencies toward violence in all its forms. Stage combat is a specialist skill that enables performance practitioners to commit fully to character, story, and extreme circumstances while keeping the artists emotionally and physically safe. Stage Combat combines the best of actor training with the adrenaline of athletics to create the illusion of violence on stage and screen in the service of narrative and character. There is no clearer demonstration of the translation of “intention” into “intensity,” of character into kinetics, of “objective” into “target” than the line from the point of a sword to its goal, and no choices more bold and more expansive than the physical commitment and precision, combined with spatial awareness, required to act violence fully, realistically, and yet safely. When performed well, stage combat can lift the story off the stage or screen and create a visceral, emotional, communal experience for an audience that rivals anything from music or sporting arenas. Stage combat teaches respect, responsibility, and the crucial importance of reaction and repetition as tools for the actor—respect for the art, for the work, and for each person’s journey. For actors to be vulnerable emotionally and to feel free to make extreme physical choices, they must feel safe, supported, and trusting. The safety of everyone in the classroom, on the set or stage, is the responsibility of everyone present—hence safety is the guiding principle at all times. As teachers, we must not only encourage bravery but also manage risk. The successful stage combatant must learn to be 100% in technical control physically and emotionally while acting the exact opposite. Like any martial art, the learning curve demands time and dedication, for all, whether the student/actor is physically confident or not—and it is exactly the same for teachers and choreographers. Amongst current training programs for actors, the term “technique” has often been relegated to a back row seat, but the very foundations of stage combat must be built on the mastery of basic techniques, both in the management of each weapons discipline or historical style, and, more crucially, in the understanding of the principles of safety at the core of all we do. The path of study has no end. There is no substitute for work and curiosity. We must always be learning, in order to be better practitioners, better communicators, and better human beings. As a fight director, combat teacher and performer, I have been fortunate enough to carve out a career that has often kept me sane, not to mention kept me fit, and has given me some of the greatest artistic opportunities and collaborations of my life. I am convinced that stage combat is not only a wonderfully exciting element of physical storytelling in all its forms and media, but that it is a foundational part of actor training that builds skills. I have been a proud member of SAFD for 38 years, just as I have of AEA (indeed, combat skills helped me get my union card), and the training I pass on to my own students and fellow actors comes cloaked in the passion and excitement I have for this craft. Sincerely, Nick Sandys, SAFD FM/FD/CT |
Podcast Interview: The Creative Muscle. @ LowRes Studios, 6/28/2019 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lyric-opera-fight-choreographer-nick-sandys-makes-violence/id1220676318?i=1000443049452 "Lyric Opera Fight choreographer Makes Violence Look Real... for the good of the World." |