Wednesday, December 04, 2013
Despite All of His Contributions to Modern Stage Combat, Ridolfo Capo Ferro Was NOT a Fight Director
HowlRound: Capo Ferro is the author of a well known treatise on dueling. If his name sounds familiar, it's because he is referenced (along with other luminaries) in the famous sword fight between Inigo Montoya and the Man in Black in The Princess Bride. Those masters and manuals that the characters reference are not about pretending to fight for the sake of an audience, they are about actually fighting in what were often life or death situations. Now, did those two actors recreate the techniques of the masters that they namedropped? No. I would venture to say that aside from the gymnastics, no technique in that fight was not on the SAFD (Society of American Fight Directors) Single Sword SPT (skills proficiency test) curriculum. Did the audience care that they were not doing “authentic” technique of the Italian Renaissance? You tell me.
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This was an interesting read insofar as it helped illuminate one opinion on where the line needs to be drawn between historical accuracy and storytelling in the context of fight choreography. For my part, I'm not sure I agree with his assessment that history is relatively unimportant in fight choreography. Obviously, nothing that we see onstage can really resemble a fight, as he says that would be too fast and subtle to read as good storytelling. But there are various reasons why history is important and should influence your fight choreography. For instance, on the Rivals, Catherine Moore had the actors watch various videos on broadsword, as this was the technique we would be using, and not foil. The movements were different, the weapon was different, and I know that in both Nick and Dylan's cases it definitely influence their work in the scene to know about real techniques of broadsword. Essentially, I think there is a happy medium between referencing history and telling a story, and this author is being a little one-sided about it.
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