Moving
It seems obvious to say that you can’t have two actors simply stand and trade blows for a while and call it a fight scene. The intent of the character is more apparent when the body moves across the stage, but what is easily forgotten is that the legs don’t have to mimic what the arms are doing. Just because the sword is blocking doesn’t mean that the legs can’t be stepping forward. Likewise, attacking with the sword can occur while the character is stepping backwards. Feel free to move sideways as well, for it is far more natural and interesting to have the actors not rigidly maintain a profile view during the entire fight. It’s fun on some of the finesse fights to include a phrase where one combatant is full-back to the house so that the audience gets to see what its like to have someone directly attacking them.
When stepping, keep that nice wide stance for a solid base. And unless you are replicating a modern fencing style, be sure to keep your hips and shoulders square to your partner. This will open up the body for left and right hand techniques as well as make evasions and sidesteps more stable. It may help to think of both actors’ feet on railroad tracks as they fight so that the feet don’t go linear.
Two basic types of stepping are described for swordwork. When the combatant simply moves one foot in front of the other, it is called a passing step, and the movement itself is directionally referred to as passing forward or passing back. Taking one passing step means that whatever is considered the “lead foot” will of course change with each step. This is also known as “walking”. (I realize that seems absurdly basic, and yet it’s good to have everyone start on the same page. Also note that the lead foot always points directly at the opponent, while the rear foot is allowed to turn out slightly if needs be.)
The more “fencing” style of movement has the lead foot stepping forward and then the rear foot catching up, called an advance. A retreat is the opposite, with the rear foot first stepping back and then the lead foot catching up. Advancing and retreating move the body a shorter distance than will a passing step, but the lead foot is maintained and overall it is a more stable and balanced movement.
Remember that no matter which stepping style is used, we naturally walk backwards using shorter steps than when we walk forward. So exaggerate your retreating steps, really reach with your feet, or you will soon have your partner on top of you. Don’t lead with your head when stepping forward, but let the hips initiate the movement even as you push off with the balls of your feet. It’s the torso that moves in and out of the fight, the legs merely catch up and keep the hips underneath your center. The same applies when moving back, but actors often translate that into sticking the buttocks back in the direction of the step. Tuck your hips forward and keep the torso straight when stepping backward or you’ll get that horrible and all-to-common look that stage fighters get. Oh, you’ve seen it. When they start going backwards it looks as though a rope has been attached to their butt and they are being pulled off stage. Very undignified. Not only does this throw them off balance, but it sticks the head closer to the opponent’s sword. The same feeling of pushing the hips forward is used even in a backwards step. How do you do that? By squeezing the buttocks.
In general we try to keep the feet from crossing each other when moving sideways, for as the feet cross we are unstable and likely to fall. Crossing steps also make us more vulnerable to attack without providing any advantage. An exception is when trying to quickly get around an opponent’s dominant side so as to thrust into the side of the opponent behind their arm (known as the punto reverso). For almost all the rest of stage combat, we move to the side by letting that nearest foot move first and then bringing the trailing foot to close the gap. Crossing steps are commonly seen in the fencing manuals of early rapier play, especially in the mid 1500’s, but seem to have died out in popularity as the century wore on.
Balestra
This is a very quick leap forward that dramatically closes distance. It is not a jump, but a hop executed from the back foot. In order to generate enough momentum to shoot the body forward, the lead foot kicks forward and the back foot slides very close to the ground. (The common instruction is to pretend that there is a coin under the ball of your lead foot and you need to scoot it across the room.) A reasonable balestra should move the body forward by a good four feet. As a hop, you must land on both feet, but in this case with the weight remaining on the back foot. The balestra can be performed with or without a corresponding thrust.
The balestra is often followed by a lunge, so often so that many choreographers believe that the term balestra always includes the leap and the lunge. Not so. The balestra does set up the lunge nicely, but they are two separate actions, and one can be performed without the other.
Slashing
For our purposes, a slash is a cutting motion that goes past the intended target without being stopped by a block (or a body). This is different than a cut. Cuts are blocked before the weapon can cross in front of your partner. Slashes move from one side to the other. I should point out that one of the founders of the SAFD (Society of American Fight Directors) detested using different terms, insisting that a cut is a cut, so the society still identifies slashes as cuts. But to be honest the techniques for the cut and slash are completely different for both attacker and defender, so using the same term is not only unnecessarily confusing to the actors, but also just flat out wrong.
With only a couple of exceptions, every slash in stage combat is accompanied by an evasion, which we’ll get to below, and because of that, slashes are more dangerous than cuts. As already mentioned in an earlier section, in our version of a correctly performed cut, the defender is never in danger of getting hit even if the defender should forget to block. The slash is dicier, for without an evasion, the defender could get seriously hurt. So we need to change the mechanics of this simulation to add several safety valves.
There are three basic slashes – head [horizontal], diagonal, and stomach.
• Head Slash – This is a big sweep from side to side meant to look as though it could decapitate. Start by pulling the sword hand all the way back to your own neck level with the sword tip pointing behind you. Focus on your partner’s forehead because that is the level that the blade tip is going to travel. Point your elbow there. Now wait. At some point your partner’s eyes will widen, and the knees will bend as the body begins its drop. Then, and only then, you can begin your slash. The blade must travel on a flat plane parallel to the ground from beginning to end.
Never let your partner make you begin your slash before he has started his drop. Idiot actors want to do that, but it is foolish and unnecessary. And don’t misunderstand: I don’t want the audience to notice that little timing shift. If you rehearse it enough it will be a very subtle sign just between the two of you, and no outside observer will notice any break in the timing. But it is vital that you establish this critical safety check.
Your aim is that point in space where your partner’s forehead was – not where it is now and certainly never the throat.
If the actors are parallel to the proscenium, the blade should pass over the defender’s body, for if the blade is in front of the defender there was no reason to duck, was there. But if they are staggered a bit, the attacker can keep the wrist bent during the slash so that the blade never gets any closer to the defender than about a foot away. In that situation we can keep the blade further from the defender by taking advantage of the audience’s lack of depth perception.
• Stomach Slash – For the attacker this is just like the head slash, except you have a different set-up and cue. Start with your sword at your own belly level with the blade tip pointing behind you. Stare at your partner’s belly, point your elbow there, and wait. Your cue to begin the slash is when your partner raises his arms and sucks in his stomach.
This is one that requires the slasher to keep his wrist bent for safety. That way the tip will trail the hand and is kept away from the victim. The aggressor can always lengthen the arm and straighten the wrist after the blade has past his partner, and still be able to get a good “swish” sound.
• Diagonal Slash – This looks really cool, and is much more believable than the other slashes. The look is that of trying to chop off someone’s head or limb with a powerful sweep from either high-to-low or low-to-high from one side to the other. Because it moves diagonally it is harder for the audience to discern how close the blade was to the opponent.
Aggressor creates the picture … the victim begins to react … aggressor begins the action … and both complete the illusion.
It’s also a bit harder to give a clear set-up for the diagonal going from low to high. Usually the hand is held low near the hip with the tip almost toughing the ground. Some body English is needed here – a look of starting a baseball pitcher’s wind-up – or either rising up while straightening the knees for high-to-low or bending the knees even more for a low-to-high can help. Wait for your partner to begin the lean to step to the side, and then begin your slash. The focus, as with the head slash, is a point just outside where his head was, not exactly where he was, and certainly not where he’s going.
• Slashing to the feet – leaping over the blade. This is just like the stomach slash, but done much closer and really extending the blade during the sweep. The look of it is improved if the attacker’s body can already be fairly low and he really is reaching with full extension. But, no matter what, this bit usually looks dorky. So unless your partner is Gene Kelly and can clear his feet to a height of forty inches with a barely visible prep, don’t bother with this move. [I once was fight director for a production of The Three Musketeers in which our D’artagnon was able to do a standing one-legged back flip. For him, I added the slash to the feet.]
Evasions
One way of not getting killed in a sword fight is to not be there when the sword comes at you. Evasions are only limited by the imagination, but the timing will always be the same. Recognition, reaction, action. See the threat, respond to the threat, and then the threat becomes an attack. If you don’t allow the audience to read the fear in your face before you make your evasion, they get cheated out of being able to enjoy the moment. But you will have to move when your partner preps – don’t wait for the actual attack. This of course is the opposite of what you would do in a real sword fight, but it will also insure that you won’t get hit on stage. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not asking that the aggressor come to a full stop and then wait for the victim to make his move. That just looks silly. “Now, this overdone, or come tardy off … cannot but make the judicious grieve”. Lets take a look at a few possible evasions, all the while repeating the mantra – recognition, reaction, action (images are on the previous page):
• Ducking a head slash – Actors always want to do this one, but too many times you’ll hear the victim tell the aggressor to “go ahead and swing; I’ll duck in time”. Very dramatic, but very dumb. Instead, the aggressor preps by pulling the sword back to his own shoulder level and waits. Once the victim begins to squat down, only then does the aggressor begin the slash. The slash should be aimed at that spot in space where the forehead was before the victim began the drop. You think it looks hokey? Too bad; it’s safer.
• Evading a stomach slash – Just as with the head slash, the aggressor preps first and then waits for the victim to begin the move back before beginning the slash. The victim should “suck-in” his stomach to help the illusion, and it can be exaggerated by letting the arm reach out towards the opponent, but make sure that you aren’t throwing your arms into the path of the blade.
• Diagonal evasions – Just as with the stomach slash, the aggressor preps first and then waits for the victim to begin the move back before beginning the slash. The evasion is really just stepping sideways away from the course of the blade, but it can look a lot more stylish and dramatic by having the defender’s body match the line of the attack. The evasion is either to the left or to right, depending on the direction of the slash. Let’s say the attacker is swinging from his high right to low left. From the defender’s point of view, this is coming from high left to low right, so at the attacker’s prep the defender steps deeply to the left, keeping the right foot planted. The entire body from right heel to the top of the head should have the same line that the attacking blade will mark in space about 12 inches away. (Again, look at the pictures on the previous page.)
The diagonal evasion of an attack coming from high to low can also be augmented with a hanging parry, one in which the hilt is held higher than the tip. In addition to the step to the side, the defender lifts up the sword as though blocking a vertical head cut. The attacker’s blade will skip off the sword when the slash is performed. Since the defender has stepped to the side, the contact point on his blade will be on the mid to weak section rather than at the forte, so it makes sense that the blade will yield a bit, and end up matching the angle of the attacking follow-through. Naturally, you will need to have the sword tip pointing away from where the attack began. So if the slash is coming from your high right, you start with the hilt up to the right. If it comes from the high left, then your hilt goes up to left. Either way, you want the audience to see a head block that is parallel to the ground until contact is made, then allow the tip to dip to match the line of the attack.
For slashes coming low to high, the defender can use the sword in much the same manner, but of course the hilt is held low with the tip going straight up. Again, after contact is made he’ll want to angle the blade to match the angle of the attack, but careful not to have him hit himself in the face (it happens).
• Limb avoidance – of course, it means pulling a hand or foot quickly out of the way in response to a corresponding attack. As with the other avoidances, it is simply a matter of recognition, reaction, action. The tough part is in giving a good motivation for the attack that the audience can appreciate. Just going for the limb is going to seem either sloppy or cliché unless we can recognize that either the limb was close but the rest of the body wasn’t (so a target of opportunity) or that the attack to the limb is being used to distract the opponent (setting up another attack opportunity).
• Passata Soto: One way to avoid a thrust is to duck underneath it. An elegant way of doing that is to drop into a deep reverse lunge (shooting one leg straight back while squatting deeply with the other). Think of it as a deep lunge that goes straight down to the floor rather than forward. The passata soto is performed so deeply, that the chest will press below the level of the forward knee and usually the left palm has to press on the ground for balance.
• Volte: A method of pivoting the body, removing it from the line of attack by shooting the rear foot behind the other and then straight out to the front, so that the trunk is violently turned 180 degrees to the line of attack. Since the pivoting foot stays where it is, the body has shifted over the width of one stance during the spin. Also called the “bum in the face” move, it is sometimes combined with the passata soto technique of dropping down so low that the left hand touches the ground for support.
• Demi-volte – You can probably guess this one already. A far easier method of removing the body from the line of attack by swinging the rear foot behind and straight out to the opposite side, so that the trunk is turned 90 degrees to the line of attack. A lunge is not necessarily added to this move.