This is one of the most frequent questions I get as a teaching artist who specializes in stage combat. We heard it so much at the theatre that I worked for that the education director decided to stop offering classes in stage combat all together.
Thursday, September 07, 2017
When Young People Fight: Stage Combat in TYA
This is one of the most frequent questions I get as a teaching artist who specializes in stage combat. We heard it so much at the theatre that I worked for that the education director decided to stop offering classes in stage combat all together.
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My father teaches stage combat, and I've actually learned how to do basic stage combat positions and moves from him over the years. It's important for worried parents and teachers to remember, in addition to the mental and maturity issues examined in the piece, that the combat itself doesn't start off saying "Here are some swords, kids. Now go nuts!". There's a system and a form to combat, and you start not even in front of another person but by learning sword positions and drilling them over and over and over. It's an exercise in discipline and practice - learning basics and foundations.
As for another big concern, the actual performances of the fights, parents and administrators don't see the practice and diligent work that goes into those pieces. They don't say who wins and who dies and improvise. It's like a dance where each person knows their roles and parts, what they do when and why and how. Stage combat shouldn't even really hurt you with the blades themselves. Sure, you may be sore, but combat in itself is about control and restraint as much as it is about giving a show. You have to stop your swings, give them full power but stop before you hurt someone else or yourself.
It's probably clear that I have strong thoughts about stage combat, but it's fun, exciting, and above all difficult - it's no different from a kid learning Tae Kwon Do or karate, as so many do these days. So here's a question back at those concerned parents especially: why is karate okay but not stage combat? Why are fists and kicks alright but when your kid picks up a sword the violence is no longer 'okay'?
Last semester our stage management seminar invited the fight director for Three Musketeers to come and teach us some basic moves. From that one class I learned that stage combat is not merely fighting. For the actors, stage combat teaches them how to communicate using their boy and eye contact, how to protect your fight partner’s weak spots (neck, wrist, face, etc.), how to trust and how to deal with unexpected emergency. What seems to the audience like violence and brutality onstage is in fact close collaboration in every sense of the word. The misunderstanding is understandable, because as a parent (audience), one is not familiar with the techniques or the teaching methods.
There is some truth to Dave McCormick’s remark. Young actors are more vulnerable in the training and staging of the combat and may not have the maturity to distance themselves from the scene or come out of character. I agree that directors should be cautious about staging rape or torture as they could be potentially traumatic for children. However, not every fight will leave psychological scar so putting an age limit seems to be a hasty and convenient decision. This article is a very good first step and I’m sure many more discussion will ensue.
I believe the comment 'Why are you teaching my child violence?' comes from deep ignorance about what stage combat is. One possible and more appropriate response to the annoyingly repeated question could have been forcing the parents to attend and experience for themselves what stage combat can be instead of cancelling the classes. Violence is so common and realistic on the media. It is important for kids to learn how it is not real so they do not imitate out of curiosity and make irrevocable consequences. It will be an extremely powerful tool to be able to distinguish the reality from the carefully directed images. Five minutes of swooshing a rehearsal sword was more than enough to tire my shoulders and arms. Jon Snow can't be swinging and killing enemies for fifteen minutes without any break. I'm not saying that stage combat is not dangerous at all. However, learning the limits of your body and possible consequences of violence at an early age can be beneficial in directing kids' values in the right way.
It’s interesting to think about all the underlying positive and negatives that surround stage combat and especially stage combat when it involves children. It’s understandable that the parents would not have an understanding of the intricacies of stage combat considering most of them probably don't have any experience with it. To them it just looks like you’re training their kids to fight, but they forget that when you see a fight onstage the winner and loser have already been decided. It isn't a fight to the death like it appears, but actors who are playing roles and must, as an extent to that, keep each other safe because at the end of the day they aren’t mortal enemies. I also agree with the article that the whole issue is a lot more complex the younger the kid since their minds have not fully developed so it is going to be harder for them to break out of the role, but since the instructors are aware of that (or should be) there can be special emphasis on teaching them how to break roles, which I think in turn helps teach the kids how to get in character in the first place and will make them more rounded actors.
I find the title of this article to be misleading. TYA is theatre for young audiences, where most often the performers are professional adults performing for children. Stage combat in that context wouldn't be an issue; many TYA/family friendly productions contain some sort of fight sequence/chase. Even if it is done in a comedic fashion, actors need to learn how to safely do so onstage. After reading this article I understood that TYA here was referencing children actors which to me is a whole different can of worms. I think it is a great idea to teach children stage combat, and think it is an important part of theatrical training like dance or voice lessons. It is another mode of performance, and is not encouraging children to actually go out and hurt someone. At its core, stage combat is about making something look realistically violent yes, but it is also about doing so safely and stresses the importance of this. Kids do perform professionally, and if they aren't trained how to take care of their own bodies and others, disaster can happen. Stage combat training can't be any more harmful to children than the very violent video games out there, and unlike the games, this is taught by a skilled individual who first and foremost is concerned about safety.
I’ve never considered the ramifications of having youth do stage combat before, and I feel like this article does a good job of portraying both sides of the issue, even though it obviously takes a side. I think one of the most important things Macpherson mentions is somewhat glossed over, but I was most convinced by the idea that stage combat promotes cooperation and trust. I learned stage combat in my theater class freshman year of high school, and a lot of it was planning, making eye contact, and making sure the person being attacked was always in control of the situation. We did everything a way that made sure our scene partners were ok. I do understand the argument that having someone act violent reinforces violence as an acceptable thing, but from what I remember doing stage combat doesn’t even feel like fighting. Even though it looks like fighting, all of the focus in on a predetermined pattern, not an attack. I’d need to hear someone really argue the other side before I could say I have a real opinion of the subject, but what Macpherson said in this article was pretty compelling.
I personally think that the idea of restricting stage combat from young actors mostly stems from the fact that many parents and administrators don't understand what it is. Stage combat is not violence for violence's sake, but a choreographed routine used as a method of storytelling. I think it can be hard for some people to separate it from real violence which is why they are so quick to try to and stop it. My freshman year of high school we did the musical Crazy for You which contains a big saloon shoot-out/brawl sequence. Our principal fought with our director for weeks about cutting it, and it wasn't until we introduced him to our fight choreographer that he allowed us to do it. Actually talking to a trained professional in this area shifted my principal's view, and I believe that if more people were made aware of the detailed work that goes into stage combat then more people would be open to incorporating into TYA.
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