Stage Combat 101: Actions & Reactions

Stage fight is greater than merely memorizing choreography and studying correct method. Yes, these are extraordinarily vital for making certain that the stage fight is safely and correctly executed. But bear in mind, stage fight is a type of storytelling. The fights have to proceed the story that the actors are telling by their strains and scene work. And what makes a combat look even higher is the performers’ actions and reactions to the combat. If a personality resorts to violence, they’re clearly feeling sturdy feelings. Students have to know precisely how the combat impacts their character bodily and mentally, how the combat tells the story, and the way they are going to painting these emotions.

Physical actions and reactions embrace:

• Sounds and vocalizations (exclamations of ache, aggression, or worry, grunts, moans, groans, screams)
• Body language (fists clenched, beckoning somebody to “bring it,” palms held out)
• Posture (standing tall, cowering, bent over in ache, martial arts poses)
• Facial expressions (keep away from hiding your face — college students usually need to disguise or cowl their faces once they’re attempting to painting worry or disappointment)
• Movements previous to the combat and after the combat
• Breathing (out of breath, barely exerting themselves)
• Changes all through the combat (displaying ache after giving/receiving a blow, being wounded)

Mental actions and reactions embrace:

• Why is your character preventing?
• How expert or unskilled is your character at preventing?
• Does your character need to combat or not need to combat?
• What was your character doing simply previous to the combat? 
• What will your character be doing after the combat?
• How does the combat have an effect on your character mentally? (Are they fired up, avenged, frightened, traumatized, unconscious?)
• How does the combat have an effect on the motion of the present as an entire?

That’s rather a lot to consider, isn’t it? Students are probably accustomed to making a character profile once they’re attending to know their position. It’s helpful for college kids to finish a combat evaluation (you’ll discover a free worksheet beneath) when collaborating in stage fight. This will give college students a deeper understanding of the combat itself, their character’s position inside the combat, and the aim of the combat inside the larger context of the present. 

When performing, as soon as college students have discovered their choreography and might current it appropriately, they will add on all these extra layers. Don’t neglect to painting the ache of their exit and their subsequent scenes as properly. (A pet peeve of mine is when actors carry out an unimaginable combat with tons of hits and wounds… after which stroll away like they’re completely positive afterwards — not even out of breath!)

You can use the combat evaluation worksheet at school if you happen to’re learning a present with fights in it, corresponding to Romeo & Juliet or Hamlet. Students can examine and distinction how they suppose totally different characters would act and react in fights. It’s additionally fascinating to think about how totally different college students may think the identical character reacting in a combat. One pupil would possibly envision Tybalt yelling and screaming whereas leaping and brandishing his sword with thrives, whereas one other pupil would possibly envision Tybalt whispering his strains and attacking silently, like a snake.

You may also use the worksheet to follow analysing well-known movie fights, corresponding to Inigo Montoya versus the Man in Black in The Princess Bride or Captain Jack Sparrow versus Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. Have half the category observe one character and half the category observe the opposite, and create a combat evaluation primarily based on what they see. For an added problem, ask your college students what would change in the event that they tried to do these fights stay on stage as a substitute of on movie.

Click right here for a free combat evaluation worksheet.