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Stage Combat (Or, Punching Someone In the Face)

I’m sure that anyone who has seen multiple plays has seen scenes with fights.  They may be physical fights, like a fist fight, or a fight with weapons.  This is something that happens a lot in many different shows, from ancient plays to Shakespeare to the modern age, and everything in between.  Fights happen a lot in shows.  Sometimes they’re mirroring real life, where we see these things happening.  Sometimes we’re watching something that would have happened in the past, like a sword fight.  But no matter what you’re watching, when you see a fight in a show, there’s a ton that goes into it.


Stage combat is a pretty basic term for all of that.  It’s how actors portray a fight, making it look real while staying safe on stage.  Staying safe is the key thing here.  Obviously, when you see one actor punch another in the face, they’re not actually punching someone in the face.  Of course, the goal is to make it look like they’re being punched in the face.  It’s pretty obvious when stage combat is off and it doesn’t look real…and no one wants that to be the case.  Stage combat is important, and it’s important to learn the tricks.


For most shows involving fights, someone who specializes in stage combat will be pulled in.  I think it’s super cool that some people choose this to be their forte in theatre.  I’ve met a handful of people who specialize in stage combat, and I can definitely say it’s not an easy job.  Stage combat is super difficult, whether you’re teaching it (I assume, as I’ve never really taught it) or learning it (which I can definitely affirm, as I have done a lot of stage combat workshops).  But if you want your fights to look real, you definitely need to find someone who knows what they’re doing.


Something like stage combat requires a lot of work.  There’s so much that goes into every single move.  Like I said, safety is stressed so much when working on these things.  Whether you’re staging a fist fight or someone is getting stabbed with a knife, the person choreographing needs to ensure that their actors are going to be safe.  The actors need to be paying attention, and making sure they know what they’re doing.  Props need to be handled properly, and all safety measures ensured.  It’s easy for things to go awry if even one part of the fight goes wrong.


My first stage combat workshop was when I was thirteen.  It was my first New Voices show, Metamorphoses.  They brought in a stage combat specialist, partially as an experience for us, partially to teach us some skills, and I’m sure for less obvious reasons as well.  It was a really interesting thing to learn, and we all got really into it.  To the point where we would be faking fights during breaks.  We were all really good at it, too.  There was one point where some of my fellow ensemble members got yelled at for fighting by a wedding photographer.  The photographer was clearly as baffled as we were.


Things like fights with weapons are completely different.  Lots of the times, they’ll use specialized props, like dulled sword and knives that push in.  But you still have to be careful.  Just because it’s a specialized prop doesn’t mean it can’t be dangerous.  We definitely heard a lot of horror stories about props not working the way they’re meant to or accidents happening with props.  I think I’ve heard stories about accidents with props happening in The Scottish Play (Macbeth, to those who aren’t overly suspicious) about a million times in my time in theatre.  Obviously that’s not the only one, but it’s definitely a warning we hear a lot…both about Macbeth and accidents with props.


For as serious as stage combat is, it doesn’t take away from the fun and the thrill of working on a carefully choreographed fight.  I’ve always had a lot of fun working on scenes that involve stage combat in one way or another.  It’s definitely a challenge, but a fun one.  And I think part of the fun is also how much stage combat I’ve seen in my life…I know they’re probably up there having fun as well.  Having fun is a part of theatre in general, but there’s nothing like learning how to “throw a punch” or “choke someone”.


How do we make it look so real, though?  Well, I don’t want to give away all the tips and tricks of stage combat…that would make watching fights on stage a little more boring.  Just like any other part of theatre, stage combat is a magical thing that we’re probably always going to keep to ourselves.  It’s a fun thing to share backstage, or in rehearsal, or on stage working on a staged scene ourselves, but the audience doesn’t necessarily need to know our secrets on this one.  But I will say…if you ever get the chance to learn some stage combat, especially from an expert, you should take that chance.  You’ll walk away having had a lot of fun, and definitely learning a bit more about the magic we make.

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