When my mindset is stimulated and engaged the capacity to deepen and broaden my skill set is enhanced – Creative ways to help actors acquire stage combat techniques
“When there is freedom from mechanical conditioning,
there is simplicity. The classical man is just a bundle of routine, ideas and
tradition. If you follow the classical pattern, you are understanding the
routine, the tradition, the shadow – you are not understanding yourself.” Bruce
Lee
Around 1998 I was exploring and advocating for a different form
of delivery in stage combat from purely an acquisition of techniques to a process-based
form of tuition. What do I mean by process-based? In simple terms: utilising seemingly unrelated
exercises, movement patterns and forms of exploration to gain insight and
understanding of the combative arts; think ‘wax on / wax off’. My objectives
and goals were still the acquisition of the skill stage combat. However, my
pathway to that procurement of that skill set was geared towards concepts and
principles. This line of enquiry eventually became the backbone of my MFA.
Why would I do this? The primary driver: Actors in an acting
institution environment are adult learners and often have no combat knowledge
and or experience. As such I generally observed actors had an inability to get
their heads around combative techniques and sequencing that were extremely foreign
to their bodies. As a result, the agitator in me was railing against subjecting
creative people to learning techniques by mechanical rote. What I started out with
was a simple enough objective – develop a process-based approach. But as my method
and pedagogical development evolved it became convoluted.
What exacerbated my development was that stage combat itself
was evolving. This blossoming evolution of stage combat was in hindsight a
wonderful time in the development of modern stage combat. My observation of the
progression of stage combat can be attributed to several major factors.
- The number of practitioners around the globe was growing at a rapid rate
- Those new teachers of stage combat were coming out of their exposure to stage combat via acting school as opposed to traditional pathways; that of the fencer/actor
- The inclusion of the study and application done on old fighting manuals and systems was booming – the likes of Payson Burt and Brad Waller spring to mind.
- Industry demands through various styles becoming fashionable (Krav & Kali as an example)
The skill set itself had started to become vast and unwieldy.
So much so that the current dilemma faced by any stage combat guild or society developing
a stage combat syllabus is the daunting task of how to deliver so many martial systems.
Which is why for me the old notion of Basic, Intermediate and Advanced may need
to be rethought – but I will leave that for another blog!
There was a time where we, by we I mean western
theatre stage combat teachers just had; unarmed, rapier & dagger (I’ll include
case, buckler and cloak here), small sword, quarterstaff, sword & shield and
old school broadsword. It was simple and linear. The complication of the vast number
weapons systems galvanised my personal pursuit. Simultaneously my study with the
work Brad Waller was doing highlighted to me I was on the right path.
The field of study is now too wide and diverse for any simple
stage combat system. The conclusion I came to was that I needed a martial systems-based
approach combined with a movement process-based methodology. So now I focus on common
martial concepts across all systems, the ranges of movements expressed through
these martial forms combined with the extended development of gross and fine
motor skills through patterns and sequencing.
Which meant I renewed my objectives and goals when teaching
stage combat. Primary goal: develop an actor who can be placed in any cultural,
stylistic or timeline demand and have an adaptable platform that can acclimatize
to the needs and demands of both the story and the fight director. Secondary goal
is to create an inbuilt safety operating system in the actor. Based on these
deeper approaches to movement forms and combat systems. This approach is about
developing an actor who is operating at a higher safety frequency and recognises
when things are not right or not safe. A pre-emptive mindset that recognises glitches
in a choreographic matrix through heighten situational awareness. Eye contact,
cue and safe distance are great as a baseline safety, but those basic
introductions to safety understandings are making big assumptions that actors
can function well under pressure and when things go wrong. They don’t factor in
unsafe anomalies. Baseline plus glitches equals informed decisions.
As a comparison exercise let’s look at someone like Dr. Keith
R. Kernspecht a sports scientist and combatology expert who has been practicing
martial arts since 1958. In a paper he presented to the Ido Movement for
Culture - Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology he was presenting an argument on
the ideas surrounding self-defence. What was interesting to me in Dr. Kernspecht
paper was his advocation for developing “non-specific training in general, basic
capabilities such as consciousness, flexibility, balance, physical unity,
sensual perception (especially tactile), timing, sense of distance and most
particularly the development of fighting spirit and familiarisation with the effects
of adrenalin is of great importance for the development of a self-defence
capability.”
Here we can see someone also on a similar journey. Looking
for a simple system. A system that is adaptable and applicable, fluid not
fixed. Fluidity and simplicity are what I am chasing. Systems of combative arts
and forms of movements that allows me to fully explore myself and my students too,
stretch my abilities and enhance my capabilities rather than being locked into
a number of set siloed stage combat syllabi.
to be continued...
