Stage Combat Training
[training] [broadsword] [foil] [staff] [combat faces]

The Training

During the spring and summer of 1997, in preparation for the production of Henry V, Chris Duvall, a professional actor and fight trainer, worked with a handful of TACIT actors on the elements of stage combat. This included the use of such weapons as broadsword, foil, staff, dagger, axe, and shield, as well as various hand-to-hand combat techniques and falls. The emphasis was on safe use of weaponry while still presenting a realistic combat scene. The workshop was held right in the TACIT house backyard under Shirley ... uh ... watchful eye! Fight scenes were eventually choreographed in part by the students in the fight workshop. (Photos by Bob Paz)


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The man himself, Chris Duvall, demonstrating a lunge thrust


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The class in mid-thrust


Broadsword

Broadsword was the focus of the combat class, and we learned a great deal of offensive and defensive manuevars in unison with footwork (advances, retreats, thrusts, etc.). The safety trick is to swing where the other actor is not!


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Adam Burgasser and Roger Koumans pair off on mini-broadsword


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Chris helps Ben Ortega with his angle of attack


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And Ben gives it a try!


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Phil Rodriguez takes a break from sword and shield practice


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Dan Dilling likes his broad swords a lot!


Foil

Although not used in Henry V, fencing-style combat with long foils was practiced to fine tune parries and thrust techniques and to give a wider range of stage combat experience.


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Roger showing good form with the foil


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Adam practices his thrust (Shirley likes those!)


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Joe Cook has the advantage of fencing training


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I think James Gleeson worked with Michael Jordan a little


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Adam defends himself against that brute Roger!


Staff

Staff combat was used during the Henry V quite heavily to augment the broadsword combat. The tricky part is that the staffs are much longer so more care is needed in preventing contact between the actors.


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Dan and James practice staff parries


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Chris about to show the weakness in Joe's attack


Combat faces

To scare fear in your enemies, one always needs a pretty solid attack face. It's sort of the same face you'd give if you got REALLY mad or maybe smelled something bad or whatever...


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Dan has an unusual attack face!


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But perhaps not as scary as Mark Adler's!


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The key is not to strain too much...


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Richard Mason looks like he's going to explode!


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Joe goes into berzerker mode. Yea, I'd probably run if I saw this...


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Phil with the best "Oh my god, I'm going to die!" face.

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Adam about to face defeat!!




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Adam J Burgasser.