Stage combat
Stage combat, fight craft[1] or fight choreography is a specialised technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet productions. With the advent of cinema and television the term has widened to also include the choreography of filmed fighting sequences, as opposed to the earlier live performances on stage. It is closely related to the practice of stunts and is a common field of study for actors. Actors famous for their stage fighting skills frequently have backgrounds in dance, gymnastics or martial arts training.
History[edit]
Ancient[edit]
The history of stage fighting and mock combat can be traced to antiquity, with Aristotle quoted as noting that tragedy is conflict between people[2] or indeed it may be traced to the origins of the human species and primate display behaviour. Display of martial aptitude is a natural occurrence in warrior societies, and ritualized forms of mock combat often evolve into war dances. Whether it is the struggle between the men and women of Aristophanes' Lysistrata in Ancient Greece or Ancient Egypt where Herodotus in his Histories talks about a religious festival in which they beat each other with staves but no one dies, staged combat has always existed.[3] As it doesn't make sense to sacrifice citizens in rituals, many ancient civilizations turned to symbolic gestures of combat through dancing or bringing a weapon to someone's throat or neck without actually touching them to symbolize death or an act of violence.
Post-classical[edit]
Fights staged for entertainment may also be in earnest for the combatants, as was the case with the Roman gladiators, and any public duel, such as the judicial duel of the European Middle Ages. The medieval tournament and joust are a classical examples of competitive ritualised mock combat. The joust from the time of Maximilian I developed into a sport with enormous cost involved for each knight and correspondingly high prestige attached, comparable to contemporary Formula One races, while at the same time minimizing the danger of injury with highly specialized equipment.
In the Late Middle Ages, staged fencing bouts, with or without choreography, became popular with fencing schools. Some German fechtbuch ("combat manuals", literally 'fight' or 'fence book') have sections dedicated to flamboyant techniques to be employed in such Klopffechten ("knockabout fighting"), which would be impractical in serious combat, and the Late Medieval German masters distinguish mock fights (fechten zu schimpf, 'rant fighting') and real combat (fechten zu ernst, 'earnest fighting').
The history of European theatrical combat has its roots in medieval theatre, and becomes tangible in Elizabethan drama. Richard Tarlton, who was a member of both William Shakespeare's acting company and of the London Masters of Defence weapons guild, was among the first fight directors in the modern sense.[4] Sword duels depicted in plays showed how popular the pastime was in actual life. Before 1615 in England, many plays featured duels and the duels were regarded as highlights of the show. As opposed to after 1615, when dueling was publicly condemned by King James and the duels were used as a last resort in regard to the plot.[5]
Modern[edit]
During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, stylized stage combat has been a staple feature of traditional performing arts for centuries, such as in Japanese Kabuki theater (as tachimawari "fighting scenes"), Chinese Beijing Opera and Indian theater.
Fencing masters in Europe began to research and experiment with historical fencing techniques, with weapons such as the two-handed sword, rapier and smallsword, and to instruct actors in their use. Notable amongst these were George Dubois, a Parisian fight director and martial artist who created performance fencing styles based on gladiatorial combat as well as Renaissance rapier and dagger fencing. Egerton Castle and Captain Alfred Hutton of London were also involved both in reviving antique fencing systems and in teaching these styles to actors.[6]
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, scenes of swordplay in touring theatrical productions throughout Europe, the British Commonwealth and the United States were typically created by combining several widely known, generic routines known as "standard combats", identified by names such as the "Round Eights" and the "Glasgow Tens".
Cinematic fencing has its roots in the 1920s, with the movies of Douglas Fairbanks. One of the more celebrated fight directors who emerged in this time was Paddy Crean who revolutionized stage combat, specifically sword play, for the silver screen and theater. Paddy created the flamboyant style of sword play that can be seen in Errol Flynn movies, among others. He promoted the use of safety above all things and then focused on story of the fight.[7] B. H. Barry and J. Allen Suddeth, students of Paddy Crean, are two fight masters who have continued developing Paddy's legacy. Barry helped found the Society of British Fight Directors and then came to the United States to give fight direction a more specific shape.[8] J. Allen Suddeth founded the National Fight Directors Training Program in the United States and wrote the book "Fight Direction for the Theater" (1996).[9] Martial arts movies emerge as a distinct genre from the 1940s, popularized by Bruce Lee and Sonny Chiba from the 1960s.
Starting in the mid-1960s, John Waller, a pioneer in the English historical European martial arts (HEMA) revival, was a fight director for stage and screen, and later a teacher of stage combat at London drama schools, with an emphasis on historical realism.[10] Informal guilds of fight choreographers began to take shape in the 1970s with the establishment of The Society of British Fight Directors, 1969 to 1996. Training was established in the United States with the formation of the Society of American Fight Directors in 1977.
Following this, further academies and associations worldwide have been established to uphold the craft, training and quality of work in the art-form of stage combat nationally and internationally, including: The British Academy Of Stage & Screen Combat (BASSC) and Fight Directors Canada (FDC) in 1993; the Society of Australian Fight Directors Inc. (SAFDi) in 1994; the Nordic Stage Fight Society (NSFS) and the New Zealand Stage Combat Society in 1995; the British Academy of Dramatic Combat (BADC, formerly known as The Society of British Fight Directors) in 1996; Art of Combat in 1997; New York Combat for Stage & Screen in 1999; Stage Combat Deutschland in 2004; and the Australian Stage Combat Association (ASCA) in 2010; The British Guild of Stage Combat in 2015. As of 2005, East 15 Acting School, London offered a B.A. (Hons) Degree in Acting & Stage Combat. Many of the societies offer certification programs for different weapons, which is used as an indicator about how much training an actor has had. During the early part of the Covid 19 Pandemic, several organizations made strides in distance/virtual training, including international virtual workshops.[11]
Realism[edit]
Fight choreography can vary widely from true realism to outright fantasy depending upon the requirements of a particular production. One of the biggest reasons that theatrical fight directors often do not aim for strict realism is that the live audience could not easily follow the 'story' of the action if bodies and blades were moving in the ways trained fighters would move them. For example, a production of Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand, using 17th-century rapiers, might show Cyrano making many circular cut attacks. But a more efficient, practical attack would be taking a quicker, more direct line to the opponent's body. But the fight director knows that the audience couldn't follow the action as well if the attacks were faster (the audience might hardly be able to see the thin blades whip through the air), so most fight choreographers would make choices to help the audience follow the story. Of course, this is dependent on the production, the director and other stylistic choices.
One school of fight choreographer thought says that an unusual aspect of live stage combat, such as in a play, is that audiences will react negatively to even simulated violence if they fear the actors are being harmed: for example, if an actor is really slapped in the face, the audience will stop thinking about the character and, instead, worry about the performer. Audiences may also fear for their own safety if large combat scenes seem to be out of control. Therefore, stage combat is not simply a safety technique but is also important for an audience to maintain uninterrupted suspension of disbelief.
Types[edit]
In theater[edit]
Having its roots in Medieval theatre, stage combat enters classical theatre choreography with Elizabethan drama (Shakespeare's simple and oft seen stage direction, they fight).