These actions are the ones in which we need the audience to believe that hard physical contact has been made, with a recognizable moment of impact. That moment must always be accompanied by sound – sometimes a percussive sound, but always an exhalation of breath from both participants. Whether vocalized or not, the sound of breath is necessary for the illusion to be effective. There is no exception to that rule: every strike must have a sound.
No matter what the strike, the aggressor need not do the simulation quickly. It is the victim that must sell the violent impact in the reaction. Be sure that the victim understands to not begin the reaction until he can hear the impact sound – the “knap”. Sound travels more slowly than light, if the victim moves at the same instant of the strike, the audience is going to see the victim react before they hear the sound and it will get a laugh. Remember: aggressive move, then sound, then reaction.
foot stomp
I used to be a stickler about having the foot stomp performed by the aggressor stomping the ground directly downstage of the victim’s foot. But this can also work with the stomp directly upstage; in fact it often is even more realistic. It really depends on the actors. Have the actors practice both ways and you decide which one they do more effectively. Either way, the key to make this look realistic is to bounce the foot off of the ground immediately after the stomp. If the stomping foot is on the ground for even a millisecond, the audience will see that the aggressor didn’t actually hit the foot.
Go back and practice the trip a few times and you’ll see that the two illusions are mechanically similar, just with a different set of pictures and reactions. From one thing learn ten thousand.
face punch
These come in two broad varieties, either the cross or the jab. The cross starts from as close to the body of the aggressor as possible, travels to the impact point and beyond. It gets its name because the natural trajectory of the fist will cross from one side of the body to the other. (If the punch doesn’t cross to the other side but merely moves through the victim but on the same side that it started, it is called a straight punch). As the body weight is usually moving along with the punch, the cross usually has a lot of force behind it. The jab, on the other hand, usually causes less damage. It travels just from the shoulder straight to the target and then back again without committing the body. Therefore the jab is much faster that a cross, but also does less damage. In either case, this fist must form a straight line with the forearm: don’t let the actors curl in at the wrist unless you are trying to show that the character has no experience in fighting.
That’s the reality. Now let’s look at the illusions.
cross
This is the punch we explored in the beginning of this section, so we’ll briefly go over the basics. [Go back and read the full explanation on pages 237-239.] Actors feel that they already know how to do a fake punch, so the most difficult aspect of this is in having them perform the illusion rather than the reality of a real punch.
Right Cross: Side View
set-up picture action reaction
Set-up: the aggressor is full-back and the victim is full-front and directly upstage of the aggressor. Aggressor puts his left [non-punching] hand on the victim’s right shoulder.
Picture: Keeping the hips and shoulders square to the victim, aggressor places his right fist out to his right side, far enough away so that the audience can see it.
Action: Aggressor gently brings both hands together one inch away from his own chest at solar plexus level to make the knap – the impact sound. [be sure to use open palms for the knap] The punching hand travels in a straight line to the knap point – it does not swing out to the face of the victim. The fist will never approach the victim’s face in this simulation, nor will any part of the action travel at face level.
Reaction: The aggressor’s hand re-forms a fist and continues its straight line travel, finishing at face height but parallel to the proscenium, between the two participants. The victim will turn head and shoulders in the direction of and proportional to the pantomimed force.
Things NOT to do: over-rotate the fly-away the morphing punch/slap
There are some things to make sure that the actors NOT do when performing the aggressor role. These are bad little habits that can ruin the illusion. First, most actors will want to rotate their bodies for the picture portion, instead of keeping their shoulders square to their partner. By over-rotating and pulling the punching hand behind them instead of off to the side, it can expose the handclap moment to the audience’s view.
Second, actors tend to let both hands fly off in the direction of the punch during the reaction. Unless they force the knap hand to go down and low, the audience can easily figure out how the punch was faked.
Lastly, some actors will get the picture right with a closed fist, do the action correctly with an open handed clap, but then forget to close the hand into a fist again for the reaction.
jab
I love the jab, for it looks so real to the audience, even when they are right on top of the action. But it can only be performed in a proscenium stage, because it depends on a very narrow visual field. A jab is a straight quick punch, usually to the head, delivered from the leading hand We are going to assume a jab coming from the aggressor’s non-dominant hand, and that both actors have assumed a boxing stance. For most people, that means left foot forward and left hand forward. The jab is a set-up punch, causing pain but probably not enough to stop an opponent. It is usually used with the left hand to wear down an opponent’s defenses before a knock-out punch with the right hand.
Set up: actors stand facing each other, arms bent. Left fists are extended slightly from the body and held at shoulder or face height. The right fists are held close to the body at solar-plexus level. Both actors are leading with the left foot, and the shoulders and hips are turned sharply to the right to give the thinnest target to the opponent. In this combat stance the actor stage right will be half profile left, and the actor on stage left will be in three-quarter right. As opposed to many of the other simulations, that are performed just out of contact distance, the actors here must be in-distance, close enough for the wrist to reach the other’s shoulder.
Picture: In this case, there is no other picture needed or desired, for the movement must come as a surprise to the audience.
Action: There are two possible actions here depending on the position of the aggressor.
If he is standing stage left that means that the front of his body, therefore his right hand, is not visible to the audience. The left hand shoots out to a spot directly upstage of the victim’s upstage ear (disappearing for a split second behind the victim’s head) and immediately snaps back. At the same time, the right hand opens and makes a nice popping knap against the chest.
If the aggressor is stage right, than of course that right hand is visible, but the victim’s is hidden. In that case, it is the victim who needs to make the knap. In other words, the hand the audience can’t see at any particular moment is the one you use to slap. Either way, be sure not to twitch at the elbow when slapping the chest, or the audience will know how you made the sound.
Reaction: The victim’s head snaps up and down once in a slight whiplash reaction. A lot of actors want to follow the direction of the aggressor’s hand and turn the face slightly up-stage, but the simulation here is of being hit flush on the nose, so the face must not turn sideways at all or the illusion is ruined. The aggressor needs no reaction, as the jab causes minimal damage to the tight fist.
By the way, the same basic mechanics can be used to simulate a punch using the trailing hand. In that case it is called a straight punch, not a jab, and we do have to make one slight modification. Instead of having the actors stand with their shoulders square to each other, we have to off-set the actors, with one of them standing slightly more upstage than the other. That way the straight punch can travel upstage of the victim’s head without the aggressor having to twist the torso. Otherwise the simulation looks like a right cross, not a straight punch.
So remember: three hands are visible, so the one that isn’t does the sound. And no matter which hand you use, the punch always goes upstage of the victim’s head.
upper cut
Side view
A simple illusion. Full-back to the audience for the aggressor, full left arm safety distance touch to the victim’s shoulder, and then the left open palm dropping back to the solar plexus as the target for the knap. Keep the torso straight, but bend the knees so as to give strength to the coming punch. The right hand goes down as a fist to as low as comfortable to the right side, then drives up in a straight line to the target [left] hand. As in the right cross, open the fist so as to clap hands, then close into a fist again as it drives up to forehead level or higher, finishing the simulation. Naturally, if the actors are standing in reverse position, the victim can provide the knap. Either way, never let the aggressor’s fist move in a curve toward the victim’s face.
Victim full-back to the audience …. or ….. aggressor full-back to the audience
Remember that an upper cut delivers terrific damage, and boxers know that even with gloved hands if it connects it can be a one-punch knockout move. Save this move for the end f a fight, or at least for a point where the victim is going to remain severely disabled or disoriented. A broken jaw, severed tongue, double concussion (the brain slamming against first the front of the skull and then against the back), even a broken neck are all real possible consequences of this punch.
hook punch – face level
The upper cut just described travels from low to high, of course, perpendicular to the ground. If we shift the angle of this so that it travels in a tight semicircle parallel to the ground, we’ve created the look of a hook punch. The hook punch is used when then opponent is successfully covering his face with his hands, making the cross or jab difficult. The hook loops tightly around the opponents defenses, and does not follow through but must appear to “bounce off” the opponent’s head. As with the jab, the easiest way to provide the knap is to have the aggressor smack his own chest with his left hand. The victim’s reaction will be to tilt the head viciously to the right or left, the body following. Care must be taken not to have the victim twist at the neck, for that implies a different punch. Of course the trajectory of the actual movement will go to a safe spot between the two combatants. For this reason, this simulation can only work when the actors are stacked, never when in profile. But because the distance of the victim’s head and the aggressor’s moving fist are so close, this should be considered an advanced technique.
pile driver
Although this looks as powerful as the above upper cut, the damage is actually less, since the top of the head is a very hard object to strike. The simulation, on the other hand, is much the same except for the direction. If the victim has his back to the audience, with the hands hidden from view he can make the loudest clap possible without moving the elbows. If the aggressor has his back to the audience, then he will make the knap as he did for the right cross face punch. The aggressor’s arm starts high, and simply drives the hand in a straight line to the ground, of course going nowhere near the victim’s face. The victim matches the action with a clap, being careful not to move the elbows. If possible, have the victim get lower than a natural full upright stance, for we need to see the aggressor rise up on his toes and then “lower the boom”, the body dropping into the punch.
Pile Driver: Side View
set-up picture action reaction
The reaction for the victim is a little counter intuitive, so you’ll have to trust me on this. The path of the pile driver naturally has a slight angle to it, and contact is usually around the near eye socket. So instead of following the path of the fist, the face will twist not only down but also sharply to the side. Think of it as an angled billiard shot.
Pile Driver: Victim’s Back to the Audience
set-up picture action reaction
The reaction for the aggressor is pretty straight forward. Many of the bones of the hand will be broken. If it is necessary that the character not sustain that damage, consider simulating the punch using a hammer punch, that is to say a strike using the bottom of the fist, the little finger side.
slap, in distance and out
Ok, I’m going to get off of neutral ground here and say that for this simulation – DON’T WAIT FOR PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION. Oh, you should still get an instructor to show the correct technique and prevent injury if at all possible, but I know that the reality is that actors are actually slapping each other every day on stage and I what to put a stop to it. Today.
There are some stage combat “experts” who insist that an actual contact slap to the face is perfectly safe as long as it is modified slightly. I have seen videos sold by these same professionals showing actor/students facing each other and trading slaps back and forth to prove the safety. Those experts are wrong. The contact slap is inherently unsafe. The slap to the face sends more actors to hospital emergency rooms every year than all of the other techniques of stage combat combined. Did you get that? This includes knife fights, broadsword fights, swinging from ropes, gunshots … all of the other techniques of stage combat combined.
Actors are often taught that all one needs to do to safely slap someone in the face is to cup the hand slightly, keep the fingers and wrist very relaxed, and go for the fleshy part of the cheek. It is true that most of the time it causes no injury, which is why those “experts” assume that it is safe. But when this contact technique goes wrong, the results are devastating.
In a perfect world, the slapping hand will strike at exactly the same spot every single time, but that is simply unrealistic. When a hand is relaxed, the palm forms a slightly shallow cup shape. When that cup strikes the cheek, the air inside becomes pressurized and searches for release in the line of least resistance, which makes that satisfying popping sound as it slips by the fleshy skin of the cheek. However, if the hand drifts a mere inch closer to the victim, the ear is now inside the coverage of the hand. The pressurized air is still looking for a means of escape, and it’s found it – right down the ear canal. At the bottom of the canal is the tympanic membrane – the ear drum – which easily bursts. If the membrane doesn’t heal properly [all too common even with immediate medical attention] or if an infection develops [which is highly probable] the actor can expect temporary or permanent, partial or complete, hearing loss in the affected ear.
If this were the only bad thing that can happen to the actor, it would be reason enough to ban this practice, but there are other injuries which also occur – every year. If the hand is flexed a little, the face is hit with not a cushion of air but with the outer edge of the hand, or the hard ridge where the fingers meet the palm, or worse, the heel of the palm. In other words, bone strikes face. This can and does lead to dislocated jaws, broken cheek bones, broken hands, broken cartilage of the external ear, broken teeth, split lips – nasty stuff.
The damage need not occur only on the first contact of the slap itself. Many have escaped injury on the initial slap only to have the trailing fingers scrape across the near eye or break the nose. Some have been taught that, in order to avoid all of these potential dangers, the slap can be delivered lower, to the side of the neck. Very poor advice, as this can lead to a bruised trachea, and in one instance a slap collapsed the carotid artery and the victim died from lack of oxygen to the brain. Died.
No one should have to risk deafness, blindness, broken bones or death because of a play. But even if we could make the contact slap completely risk free, there is still another reason not to do it. It leads to bad acting for both the aggressor and the victim. The aggressor has to stop acting for a moment while she worries if the slap has really done any damage, which is the opposite of the feeling she is trying to convey to the audience. As for the victim, he usually ends up with a look of stoic resistance just before the slap – not exactly helpful in trying to sell the idea that the slap has come as a surprise. The timing can suffer, because most actors tend to get a bit “slap-shy” after being struck in the face a few times in rehearsal, and then start to react to the slap before the hand has started moving. Also, the pain received is real pain, therefore the reaction is the actor’s, not the character’s. It might be similar to the character’s, but at that moment the actor has removed himself from the world of the play and lives completely within himself as his body deals with the pain. All of the work of trying to create a world specific to the playwright’s intention is thrown out the window, and the audience has to wait for the actors to regroup and find the characters again. This isn’t acting; it’s the opposite of acting. It’s the equivalent of rubbing onion juice on your cheek in order to bring up tears.
Directors tell me that they would rather that the actors hit each other because it is very difficult to make the simulation look real. Yes, that’s true. It is hard work, harder than any other simulation you will ever ask your actors to do. But since it can save them from permanent injury, just suck it up and add the extra rehearsal time and work it ad nauseam until you can fake out five observers looking at the slap from five different vantage points.
I have more than once heard an actor tell his partner to “just go ahead and slap me – it’ll keep me in the moment and it will look better”. I’ve noticed that the offer is never made if he is supposed to be struck on the head with a baseball bat. Well, if they can make a simulation of being clubbed work to the audience’s satisfaction, they can do the same with a simulation of a slap. I obviously feel strongly about this, so strongly that I will not work for a director who insists on having the actors perform an actual contact face slap. You shouldn’t either.
Now, let’s get to the simulation. A real slap to the face, especially as written in most Western plays, comes as much of a surprise to the aggressor as it does to the victim, so in the simulation we need to remove any hint of premeditation. So there isn’t going to be much of a wind-up nor follow through. If anything, the body and even the rest of the arm will stay neutral and the slapping hand will look as though it had a life of its own from the wrist outward. Let’s try a difficult slap first, and that’s with the aggressor’s back to the audience.
Slap: Side View
“pre” set-up set-up picture action reaction
Set-up: As the victim crosses slightly upstage, the aggressor uses the fingers of the left hand to touch the shoulder, stopping the victim from continuing, by happenstance stopping directly upstage of the aggressor. This is a small movement that can happen several lines before the slap, for it merely establishes distance. We can call this the “pre” set-up. Once the left hand is no longer seen by the audience, it can move to its target position – right in front of and against the solar plexus, palm turned up at about 45 degrees.
Picture: On the cue for the slap, the right elbow stays tucked against the body as the right hand flies up almost to ear height. Don’t short change this step, because there is no body English that goes along with this simulation. You must give the audience a brief look at the back of the hand or they won’t register the slap that is to come. But the elbow must not move.
Action: The hand, and only the hand, moves quickly here from right ear to left ear. Along the way, as it disappears from view, it scoops down to the target hand, makes contact with a light slapping sound, and then continues to its final position. Think of slapping water out of a bowl being held by the left hand, and throwing the water over your left shoulder. Do not move either elbow, don’t move your body, and you don’t need to move the target hand either. This is a tiny little movement; not an action that has the force to drive someone through a wall, but just enough to turn the face slightly.
Reaction: The aggressor must show the audience the fingertips of the right hand over the left shoulder for just a brief second, and the left hand must simply appear down by the left side. We want the audience to think that it was there the whole time, that way they won’t think that it was part of the action. Again, eliminate all movement except for that of the slapping hand. The victim must wait until he hears the slap sound before moving the face.
Slap: Audience View
“pre” set-up set-up picture action reaction
No matter what the relationship was between the two characters, once a slap has occurred it means that the world of these people has changed forever. One person has decided that words alone cannot express emotion, and that violence – the specific intent to cause physical pain – was the only remedy. There is no ignoring the transgression. The characters may make up afterwards, but the damage to the relationship will be there forever. Both characters know it, the audience knows it, and that is why the damage is far greater than the act. The audience now needs to know what will happen next – where will the relationship go? – and so they will look at the victim’s eyes for help. That is where your focus should be as well. The slap is over in a second; the emotional scar may last a lifetime.
I said that this simulation is the most difficult, so if you master it, everything else is a piece of cake. An easier version is to reverse positions, having the victim step slightly downstage and then turn his back to the audience. Now he can clap his own hands together, or even just use one hand to slap his chest, although the chest slap is a deader sound, so I prefer that the victim simply clap his hands. This one must be a slip hand knap, with one hand held stationary as a target and the other traveling in a straight line from down by the hip to the target hand to the “struck” cheek as part of the reaction.. The aggressor can stand a little further back and his hand need not dip so low, although I still like the fingertips to scoop underneath chin level so that the victim knows he has nothing to fear. In any case, the slapping hand need never get any closer to the victim than halfway between the two actors.
As both actors feel more secure in the knowledge that they can’t hurt each other, the director can keep making adjustments to make sure that the audience is fooled by this illusion. As everyone masters these techniques, slowly turn out the relative placement of the actors. Instead of one being full back to the audience, try moving them so one is three quarters front and the other is one quarter front. The body placement will have to change slightly, and the path which the arm takes may need to change as well, but it is possible to open this simulation up quite a bit, especially if the actors are in motion slightly just before the set-up.
Slap: Audience view, Victim establishes set-up, Actors off-set
set-up picture action reaction
This kind of simulation can be a pain to work through, but it is definitely worth the effort. I have yet to find a circumstance in which there was no alternative to actual contact. To give you an idea, I once choreographed the fight scenes for a theatre-in-the-round production of Macbeth, and in this production for some reason a general slapped a soldier in the face. The actors were surrounded by the audience so there was no hand that could disappear from view, and we couldn’t provide the usual cheat of doing an off-stage noise. We finally worked it so that when the soldier finished his line the general stood for a moment in livid silence and then turned slightly away, as if the soldier was off the hook. Just as the soldier relaxed with a sigh of relief, the general suddenly turned back and savagely struck him. The soldier instantly raised his hand to the side of the face, and the general let his own hand hang in the air at face level. The audience heard the slap, and they were sure that they had seen the soldier’s face brutally struck, but the actor had merely been slapped on the shoulder. So long as the actors believed the illusion, the audience did as well, because they were given the right picture before and after the sound.
backhand slap
Set up: Both actors parallel to the proscenium. This one works rather well no matter which actor is upstage, so long as one is standing full front and the other is facing him full back. The distance between the two should be slightly more than the length of the aggressor’s arm. For our example we have the victim attempting a stab with a knife in the right hand, which the aggressor has blocked with his own left hand.
Picture: Although it’s called a slap, this kind of strike packs a heck of a wallop, so the stance has to be much wider and deeper than for that of a regular slap. The aggressor should make a slight step to the left as his open right hand reaches low and to the left, making it clearly visible to the audience. The victim raises his left hand to solar plexus level, about six inches away from the body, leaving it loose and parallel to the ground.
Action: The aggressor sweeps his right hand in a gentle arc from low left to high right, connecting with the victim’s contact hand to provide a shared knap, and then continues to a point above the right shoulder at face height.
Reaction: The backhand is one that can spin someone’s head around, so the victim should gauge the severity of the reaction according to how much apparent force the aggressor is pantomiming. The victim must make sure that the contact hand not fly up with the force of the slap, but instead drop down and away. If the contact hand goes anywhere but down, it destroys the illusion.
spanking
Just a brief word here, because I have seen this done so poorly. Many actors, wanting to do a series of spanking slaps, pause at the bottom of the spank. It just doesn’t look real. Instead, concentrate on bouncing the hand away from the target. If there is any pause or slow down, it should be when the hand is up, not down. And have someone provide sound out of view with a slapstick. The audience needs to hear this sound if they are to have any chance of believing what you are selling.
backhanded punch
Not to be confused with the backhand slap, this has more in common with the jab in that the strike is quick and has no body weight behind it. But because of the arc of the striking hand, it is much more dangerous. With the fist traveling directly toward the victim’s face, we’ve broken the rule about making sure that all energy is directly off-line. Attempt this simulation only under the guidance of a trained instructor.
Set up: both actors on the same plane and parallel to the proscenium, both full back, victim stage right, aggressor on the left, although this simulation can work in almost any angle. A pre-touch should establish a one arm length’s distance.
just the picture: downstage (audience) view sideways view upstage view
Picture: The aggressor’s left elbow rises up and points four inches downstage of the victim’s nose, as the right fist, slightly curled in, rests in front of his own right shoulder. The right arm gently crosses in front of the chest in a ready position, with the fingers of the open right hand near the let fist.
just the action: downstage (audience) view sideways view upstage view
Action: Making sure that the aggressor’s elbow doesn’t drift upstage, the upper arm remains immobile as the fist travels in a horizontal arch until almost fully extended and then immediately returns to the original position. The fist must go no further than that spot directly upstage of the victim’s upstage shoulder (it’s hard to see, but note the arrow on the illustration above. That’s as close as the fist ever gets to the victim’s head). The fist snaps out and back like a whip at the fullest point of the extension, and the act of pointing the elbow will keep the fist away from the victim. Be very careful not to hyperextend the elbow when performing this action.
By the way, the back of the hand is not the striking surface in a backhand punch. Just like any regular punch, contact would be made with the front of the fist, so we have to include that reality in this illusion. That means the wrist must curl out at the last part of the swing so the audience can believe that this was a punch, not a closed-fisted slap.
The knap for this is similar to that for the jab, in that the palm of the right hand quickly slaps the space between the right shoulder and pectoral muscle. This works even in full view of the audience so long as the left hand moves as one unit with the arm – no separate movement at the wrist, and certainly no flapping at the elbow. And this isn’t a big move – you should be able to get a decent knap with the arm traveling only an inch or two. The toughest part is to not bounce the slapping hand off the chest after making the sound (the extra movement will give away the illusion) The punching hand can’t “stick” in the air – it has to bounce right back to the ready position.
Reaction: Only the victim need react here, and it is a relatively small “whiplash” reaction with perhaps the subsequent realization that the nose has been bloodied. The simulation will not work if there is even a hint of reacting too soon, so it is absolutely critical to hold the reaction until you hear the knap.
stomach punch
(I know, I know, a hit to the belly misses the stomach entirely, but no one uses the phrase “small intestine punch” and neither will I.)
Every cast seems to have some young idiot, usually a young male, who insists on showing everyone how to do a contact stomach punch by getting someone to punch him in the belly with full force, at which point he clenches his stomach muscles and takes the hit. In my youth, I was the young idiot. There is actually a way to do a relatively safe contact stomach punch, but it’s neither as easy nor as dangerous as the one our young actor would have us perform. A stage contact punch doesn’t require any stomach clenching on the part of the victim, and feels like a light tap, but only let an experienced fight person teach it.
We’re going to learn a non-contact technique. I love this one because once you get the hang of it, it can be performed at almost any angle.
From a safe distance … right foot crosses to right foot … then left foot to behind victim … then do the punch.
Set-up: The victim stands stage right, profile left, the aggressor stands stage left and profile right but slightly downstage of the victim. The right feet of both are almost touching. The aggressor takes a big step forward with the left foot, actually past the victim, and the hips have turned slightly closed. The aggressor should be able to see the victim’s back. When the actors are this close, the victim’s stomach is hidden from the audience’s view. At the same time, the aggressor’s left hand touches the victim’s right shoulder. At this point there is still no movement of the punching arm.
Picture: The aggressor slightly bends at the knees, closes his hand into a fist as the right arm arches back into the view of the audience.
Audience view Side view
Action: The punching arm quickly moves into the target, which is a spot downstage of the stomach, right into that clear gap between the two actors. Since the aggressor can’t see the target, I like to have him aim for his own right hip – easy to find and it keeps the victim safe. To make clear, I repeat: the target is not the victim’s stomach. Don’t let the hand stick in place. In order to sell the illusion of hitting the stomach, the fist must appear to bounce off of the target, so this is a quick out-and-back punch.
The percussive sound of contact is not necessary so long as both actors exhale with a slight vocalization. An actual punch doesn’t sound like much, so there is no reason to create a hidden clap.
No need to aim for the stomach. The fist is aimed between the two actors.
Reaction: The victim simply bends forward at the waist. But don’t lead with the head; that’s not natural. The bend happens as a wave, with the stomach contracting first, then rolling the shoulders in as the butt moves back slightly, and only at the very end will the head look down. The aggressor should do the opposite, that is to say stand up even more straight. (For some reason, sometimes the aggressor doing the punch wants to bend at the waist too. Strange.)
elbow to stomach from behind
Warning: this is a more dangerous illusion, in that we are aiming force directly at the victim. This should be taught under direct supervision of a trained instructor.
This is the typical escape from a one-arm choke hold from behind, and is a simple variation of the above stomach punch. From one thing learn ten thousand. (I obviously enjoy that phrase. I’ve borrowed it from The Book of Five Rings, and serves as a reminder that each technique can be modified to create countless variations and alternatives.). Since this technique is an elbow strike, the roles of aggressor and victim are reversed: the choker/aggressor suddenly becomes the victim, while the person being choked becomes the aggressor. For this example, we are assuming that the choke is being performed with the right arm.
Set-up: The victim and aggressor stand full front to the audience, the aggressor slightly to the left and in front of the victim. The right heel of the aggressor is almost touching the left toe of the victim. The victim has his right arm loosely round the aggressor’s neck, and the pressure of the arm is pressing lightly down and forward. The aggressor, pretending to try to remove the choking arm, is actually pushing the victim’s arm towards his own chest, so that if he relaxes his push, the choking arm would naturally drop away. The aggressor’s chin should be tucked into the chest so we can’t see that he is not really being choked. The head of the victim must be safely looking over the right shoulder of the aggressor.
Picture: The aggressor’s left arm stays on the victim’s choking arm, while the right straightens out forward.
Action: Be careful here, because an elbow to the solar plexus can do a lot more damage than a punch to the stomach. The elbow smoothly moves into the target, which is the aggressor’s own right hip, and must not be allowed to drift further back than his own hip level. The elbow doesn’t stick there, but bounces off rather quickly. Again, the only sound of contact needed is a vocalization from both actors.
Reaction: The victim simply bends forward at the waist, but this time the chin should lift up so that the audience can see the reaction. The aggressor simply holds position.
elbow to spine
For the YouTube video on this, just follow this link:
We’re getting into some dangerous territory here, but I include it because I see a lot of high school students play around with their own simulations. They see this stuff on professional wrestling on TV and then try to recreate it. Ironically, they know that what they see is fake, so they assume that the simulations can’t hurt anyone. Unfortunately, it can if done improperly, and an elbow strike more than others even if done lightly. So here are some guidelines on turning a very dangerous simulation into something tolerably safe:
Set up: Usually, this simulation comes directly after a regular stomach punch, so the set-up is already implied from the final reaction – the doubling over of the victim, with the aggressor’s left hand still touching the victim’s right shoulder. The aggressor is standing very close and squared-off to the victim.
Picture: Let the left hand slide from the shoulder to a spot to the right of the victim’s spine. You’re looking for a large muscle group a little above the floating ribs but below the scapula. Let the heel o the palm rest there as the fingers lift up. The right hand shoots straight up into the air and forms a fist.
Action: The aggressor merely bends from the knees, keeping the back straight, as the right arm bends. The contact is made obviously NOT with the elbow, but with the back of the upper arm, the triceps. To add further safety, contact is not made with the victim’s back at all, but with the back of the aggressor’s left hand, just below the wrist. So that the victim can time the reaction, the aggressor uses the slightly curled fingertips of the left hand to tap the victim’s back at the moment that “strike” has occurred.
Reaction: The aggressor straightens his legs and lifts his arm slightly, giving a “bounce-off” look to the simulation. The victim should arch the back and lift the head slightly, curving into the strike, and then of course dropping to the ground is expected. This action is a fight-ender.
bite
It surprises me that people think that a lot of work has to go into this. Start with a phony grab and then the body part to be “bitten” is merely brought up in front of the mouth so that the aggressor’s teeth are blocked from audience view. The bite needs almost no movement by the aggressor besides a little facial mugging. The victim just has to sell the pain reaction. No contact, no worries.
My favorite: biting someone’s finger (especially popular in Taming of the Shrew).. If you are the aggressor, use both hands to loosely grab the victim’s hand. Of the three hands involved, two should be pointing in the same direction, let’s say his right and your right. Let your hand slide underneath his, and some of your fingers slip up between some of his. Your left hand will act as a visual distraction. Then bite one of your own fingers as the victim lets out a bloodcurdling scream. There is no way that the audience is going to figure out how you did it (unless the victim is wearing nail polish and you are not).
face scratch
This s a simple pantomime that relies more on the victim’s reaction than on the simulation, but we still want to make sure that no one gets hurt. A real scratch to the face brings the fingers directly across and into the skin, so on stage we redirect that energy away from the victim’s face. Having the actors stagger their positions on stage helps to disrupt the audience’s focus. The right hand, say, curls in a half-fist and reaches up to the level of the victim’s left ear. A simple quick pull down and left but towards the aggressor’s left hip makes for a convincing scratch. So the energy of the “scratch” actually moves away from the victim, not across the victim’s face. As with most of these small moves, it’s the victim’s reaction that creates the believability to the action.
head butt
Too dangerous to use for most theatre companies. I tend to stick this one into The Three Musketeers as a comedic payoff, but it is a close-in simulation that can cause a lot of damage. Include it only if you have a very trusted choreographer working for you. There are two ways of doing this, depending on the placement of the actors, but I’m not going to go into specifics. It’s simple and quick, and if I’m there to guide the actor’s head with my hands, I teach it. But otherwise, stay away from it. This is not only extremely dangerous but also looks amateurish if done poorly and detracts from the show.
Kicks
Kicks are mere variations of punches and slaps, but the potential force behind them is much greater. Add to that the fact that most people have no idea how far their foot really can travel on a kick, and you’ll see how we’ve moved a step up on the danger ladder. To reduce that risk, we have to be even more attentive to relative body positioning at every point in the kicking simulations.
fan kick
In reality it’s a big looping slap to the face using a foot instead of a hand.
Fan kick viewed from the side (and would have been more impressive if I could have kept my back and legs straight, but the dancer that I was is a distant memory).
Set up: Victim stands full back, and the aggressor is upstage and full front, facing the victim. The distance between the two needs to be twice the distance of the aggressor’s arm. To make sure, initial contact can be made by, let’s say, one actor touching the other on the shoulder, and then taking a big step back with the non-kicking foot.
Picture: The aggressor keeps the non-kicking foot planted, and ten takes another step back with the kicking foot. But be sure and keep the body weight over the non-kicking foot.
Action: For a right-footed actor, an inside fan kick will travel right to left, and an outside fan kick from left to right. Either way the leg is kept straight as it swings in as big a circle as is comfortably possible, landing at the same spot that it started. Try it very gently a few times and you’ll realize that this requires great hip flexibility and strong thigh muscles. (Most actors won’t be able to perform this kick unless the victim is on hands and knees.) As the victim’s back is to the audience, he can provide the knap by simply clapping his hands.
Reaction: The aggressor’s reaction is static, ready for the next move. The victim is going to move the head and body in the direction of the kick (although in a broad comedy such as The Three Musketeers the reaction turns into a cartwheel!)
groin kick
DO NOT suggest to the actors that it is safe to do a contact groin kick so long as the victim wears an athletic cup. Athletic cups are meant to protect against incidental contact. On a full contact kick, the edges of the cup can rupture the lymph nodes on either side of the groin, leading to systemic toxic shock within an hour. People have died this way.
DO NOT suggest to the actors that it is safe to do a contact kick by simply aiming for the victim’s inside thigh. A slight miscalculation can lead to getting nailed in the groin anyway or, worse, the strike hitting low and breaking the leg. It only takes about 45 lbs. of pressure sideways to break the knee. So DO NOT have any movement going toward the victim.
There is horrible video on the web with an “expert” demonstrating a simulated knee to groin. It features the aggressor directly facing the victim, and the victim with his hands crossed in front of him, fingers interlaced and palms down. The aggressor then raises the knee and strikes the palms of the victim. Here are some of the problems with the technique as demonstrated:
1) The aggressor’s knee has to lift up far higher than groin level in order to strike the hands of the victim.
2) Striking the victim’s palms when his fingers are interlaced is a great way to break fingers or wrists.
3) The movement of the aggressor’s leg is going toward the victim. If the aggressor is standing just a little too close, the knee can hit the groin or stomach.
This video ostensibly was created in order to show a safe simulation, only to add more levels of potential injury.
Instead, let’s try a simulation where the energy of the aggressor is moving away from the victim:
Set up: have the victim stand full-back to the audience. Without turning the head towards the aggressor, cheat some eye contact before continuing. The aggressor stands in profile but slightly up-stage of the victim, and about one and a half arm’s distance away. The body of the aggressor must not face toward the victim, but rather at the empty space directly upstage of the victim. The toes of the downstage foot point at the victim’s left and right toes. At this point on, that downstage foot remains planted; it is the upstage foot, the foot furthest from the victim, which performs the action.
Picture: Much like the slap, the groin kick works best when it comes as a surprise to the audience. And yet there still has to be a tiny moment that the audience can identify as a precursor to the action we want them to believe. In this case, it is a very small bit of preparatory body movement in opposition. It can be as simple as a little lift of the foot off the ground, or a momentary shift of weight to the rear foot.
Action: The upstage knee rises and points towards the spot upstage of the victim, and then the foot swings out and back quickly, parallel to and upstage of the toes of the victim. Don’t allow the foot to arc towards the victim. The foot must immediately go back to its starting position. Any hang time at all on this and the audience will not believe the illusion.
Reaction: The victim performs the universally understood reaction – bending the knees, sticking the butt out and lifting the chin. Don’t collapse the head down nor bend over at the waist – that only confuses the illusion. The reaction is funnier if the vocalization of the victim can be high pitched, if the knees can touch (knock-kneed) and if there is a slow continuing collapse after the initial shock of the impact. The aggressor should not bend over at all (so many male actors want to in unconscious sympathy), but maintain a victorious posture.
The kick is more of a flick kick than one that is capable of doing any serious damage, so the aggressor’s action must be as quick as possible, especially coming away from the target. There is also a truism at work here in that if the aggressor’s foot actually rises to the height of the victim’s groin, the audience thinks that it has seen a kick to the stomach, because the viewer’s mind always adds a little more movement to what he actually sees. So stop the foot a little lower than groin level. Be sure to include the look of the foot bouncing back from the groin, like a ball bouncing off a wall, to give the illusion of contact. In order to sell this, it might be necessary for the foot to swing up for the kick a little slower than it will move on the bounce back.
If you want to simulate a groin kick with the knee rather than the foot, the basics will be the same, but look ahead to the knee to stomach explanation.
front kick to stomach – victim standing
There are two ways of simulating a front kick, but I’m only going to tell you how to do one kind – the safer one. This one is really the same as the groin kick, with some obvious exceptions. So look at the groin kick pictures on the previous page. All we have to do is change some very minor points:
Set up: have the victim stand full-back to the audience. The aggressor stands in profile but slightly up-stage of the victim, and about one and a half arm’s distance away. The body of the aggressor must not face toward the victim, but rather at the empty space directly upstage of the victim. The toes of the downstage foot point at the victim’s left and right toes. At this point on, that downstage foot remains planted; it is the upstage foot, the foot furthest from the victim, which performs the action. Get eye contact.
Picture: For the picture, we can have the aggressor step back with the kicking foot, bending the knee of the supporting leg, as if gearing up the energy for the kick.
Action: The kick is going to be a bit different as well, with the foot allowed to drift just a little higher (but still lower than stomach level), and the entire kick rising up in a full arc from the ground up to the target level, swinging from the hip, as opposed to the quick flick of the groin kick. Always keep in mind that there is no reason to hook the kick toward the victim, for the audience has no depth perception. The victim can use a free hand to pat the stomach to produce the sound of impact, but the most important noise to make is a huge exhalation of breath.
Reaction: And of course the reaction of the victim is going to be very different than that of the groin kick, most especially in that the head can be allowed to look down. The body of the victim can move slightly downstage as with a stomach punch, but also can almost hop even as the victim doubles over, for the direction of the impact has come up from the ground.
front kick to stomach – victim on the floor
This is where the victim is already on the floor for some reason on all fours, and the aggressor simulates a full kick to the stomach. When this was taught to me, back in the day, I learned it as a full contact kick. I was expected to clench my stomach muscles and simply absorb the blow. This worked well almost every night. But there was one performance where it didn’t work well, where just before the kick I ran out of air and needed to take a quick breath. I tried to wave off my partner, but it all happened so fast that he didn’t have time to notice my change of expression, and his foot landed on my stomach just as it was relaxed enough to suck in a gulp of air. That little bit of air was immediately pushed out of my lungs, and the force of the kick lifted me up off the ground. I was left in a crumpled mass on stage with no way to continue the scene. My partner simply had to stand and wait for what seemed like an eternity until I could manage to say my next line and get the scene going again.
If you really must do this simulation, here is one way to do it which is marginally safer than what I was taught. Have the victim on all fours placed so that he is heading 45 degrees from either profile or straight. The aggressor moves in sideways but upstage of the victim, so that no matter which way the victim is pointed the aggressor is facing 1/4 out, with hips and shoulders square to the victim’s stomach. The non-kicking foot is planted about six inches away from the victim. That is your set-up.
For the picture, the kicking foot steps back and the front leg bends slightly at the knee, so as to aid in maintaining balance. The action is the part that can get actors in trouble, for the tendency is to swing in too close and accidentally make contact with the victim. That is precisely what we do not want. Instead, slowly bring the kicking foot to a spot parallel to the planted non-kicking foot, and at the moment of “impact” pull the foot away again as quickly as you can. To repeat: slow in, fast out. And no closer than your own planted foot.
The reaction is pretty obvious, and you might even be able to sneak a little self knap if you can hide one of the victim’s hands from the audience’s view. But don’t ever let the aggressor try to make the sound by jabbing his kicking foot into the floor. It just sounds horribly not like any kind of kick to the body.
front kick to head
Once again, we follow the mechanics of the above groin and stomach level kicks, but in this case we have to lower the victim since most actors won’t have the flexibility to kick at higher than waist level without pulling a hamstring. For our purposes we’re going to try the easiest form of the kick to the head – one performed with the victim’s head only a couple feet off of the round.
side view
audience view
Set up: The victim is already on the ground for some reason, on his hands and knees and full back. The head must be held back some, so that the hands are further upstage than the head is. The aggressor, standing stage left, profile right , lines up his left foot so the toes point in a straight line to the victim’s finger tips. Once the aggressor is in position, then the victim can rock back slightly so as to shift weight off of the hands, freeing them to provide the knap for this simulation. The hand nearest the aggressor should be directly beneath the other, ready to clap. Care must be taken during this shift that all of the movement be hidden from the audiences view. The victim then establishes eye contact only when ready. Be patient. Don’t rush into the picture unless every part of the set-up is comfortably in place.
Picture: As with most kicks, we can have the aggressor step back with the kicking foot, bending the knee of the supporting leg, as if gearing up the energy for the kick.
Action: The aggressor’s foot swings in an arc parallel to the proscenium, following the path of where the victim’s fingertips were. As opposed to the other kicks, this one does not bounce back, but continues past the level of the head. Keep the heel of the standing foot securely planted for balance. The victim provides the sound of contact by driving the bottom hand into the top (target) hand, and then continues to the face. Careful not to let the elbow “flap”, for the audience can see the tiny move and figure out how you made the sound. If the victim wishes to add a vocalization (and he should), keep the sound higher in pitch than that for a stomach punch.
This simulation is most often taught with a different kind of knap – a “cage knap”. It’s a shared knap requiring both actors to make the sound. The victim cups his hands, one overlapping the other a bit. With the palms facing the floor, it creates a dome shape. The aggressor then kicks the open “cage” with the top part of his foot. I’ve been leery of this ever since I saw the victim’s hands kicked right into his own face, breaking his nose.
Reaction: The aggressor should not quickly return the foot to the ground, as she would for the other front kicks. On this one, we like to see a little hang time before the foot naturally drifts down. The victim will arch his back and let the head snap up and very slightly away from the aggressor.
roundhouse
This kind of kick is not a street fighter’s act, but comes from eastern martial arts. The rear heel and knee lift up to waist height, and then are swung around in a big looping motion parallel to the ground until it strikes the opponent’s waist, ribs, knee or face. The strike itself is something similar to that of a snap-kick. The danger level on this kick is so high, and the kick itself so rare, that there is to need to include it in a show without having an expert on site, so I’m not going to include a description of how to do it here.
rear kick
This would be a simulation of kicking someone who is standing behind you, and is actually very similar to the front kick in execution. But it is a difficult kick for most actors to perform with consistent accuracy (they usually have difficulty maintaining their balance and keeping control of the direction of the kick), so I suggest leaving it out of your fight unless learned under the direct tutelage of an experienced instructor.
knee to stomach
Go back and re-read the section on the groin kick and the stomach punch. You should be able to see how many of those elements are modified to make this kick easy and effective. This is an excellent close-in simulation that can work in almost any direction.
Set-up: No matter where the victim is, the aggressor moves directly in-line and faces the victim’s right side. The victim is turned out, showing his right profile to the aggressor, either or both of whose hands may lightly land on the victim’s right shoulder. The aggressor’s left foot is placed behind the victim’s right heel, so that the aggressor is almost straddling the victim’s right leg. Establish eye-contact.
Picture: We don’t get to see any leg prep on this, so it all rests with the aggressor’s body English, who needs to bend the knees a bit and really sell that he is about to drive the knee into the stomach. If the actor believes it, we’ll believe it.
Action: The knee glides along the front of the victim’s right leg and stops when it is at stomach level. On this illusion, the leg will “stick” there for a moment, allowing the victim to double over around the attacking leg, closing off the distance between the leg and stomach. Full breath exhalation – no need for a knap.
Reaction: The victim has the wind completely knocked out of him, and probably has a broken rib or two, so this is a fight ender. Staying doubled over, with head down, is the most you can expect. The aggressor allows the kicking leg to drift down to the ground.
head to wall
This is usually performed as a compound series of separate actions: the aggressor grabs the victim by the hair, drags him over to a wall, and slams his head into it. Three distinct actions that combined look very scary but can actually be done very safely.
The hair pull has already been discussed, as has the concept of the aggressor making it appear that she is dragging the victim across the stage, when actually the victim is leading all of the action. The aggressor is merely pantomiming the pulling while moving ahead of the victim. As the ending location is going to be a wall, let the audience see the aggressor do the hair pull first and then make the decision to go to the wall. Here is where actors start to muddy this simulation.
Actors want to run into the wall nonstop. That cannot be done safely, so don’t let them try. Instead, they have to cross to the wall first and then do the head to the wall bit. First complete one, then do the other. Once they have finished the drag/cross, only then can they perform the following:
Set-up: Assuming for now hat the aggressor has been pulling on the victim’s hair with his right hand, it means that he will be to the left of the victim as he stops in front of the wall. The victim can stand square to the wall, but for additional balance and control, one foot might actually be pushed against it. The aggressor could turn to face the victim, who is facing the wall with legs bent and a bit bent at the waist (coming naturally from having been pulled by the hair). It will be difficult to make eye contact, so the aggressor has to be completely relaxed and apply no pressure whatsoever to the victim.
Picture: The victim keeps the knees bent, and arches back to the point where the head has fully raised up. Completely let go of the aggressor’s hand.
Action: The victim pivots the head quickly down to where it was at the set-up, and then immediately snaps it back up as though it has bounced off of the wall. As he does so, his own hands will slightly lead the way, and with one open palm smartly rap the wall for the impact sound. The hands must then drift down, away from head level. As the hands are leading the movement, and the smack to the wall is done at head level, there is no worry that the victim will hit the wall with his own head, for his hands will get in the way. Important note: don’t ever let an actor kick a wall in order to make the sound of impact. The audience can see that a mile away and it just looks horrible.
The aggressor’s hand does not follow the head as it arcs down, but moves in a straight line towards the wall and parallel to the floor. At the moment of impact, the hand can flair up a bit. The aggressor’s hand should not get too close to the wall or the audience will think that she had something to do with making the contact noise.
Reaction: The victim should keep the knees bent but the rest of the body should be fairly upright, with the hands continuing to drift down instead to going back to the head. We want the audience to forget that the hands were involved in any of this.
knee to head
Here’s a simulation that is even more dangerous than it looks. It shouldn’t be, and if done correctly is very safe indeed. But there is no way under heaven that this should be attempted unless under the direct supervision of a very competent stage combat instructor.
When I include this in a show, I first demonstrate it a few times to the actor, then have him do the motions several times without a partner, and then bring in the victim to have him try it in super-slow motion. Even with all that, believe it or not there have been many times that the actor will bring his knee up directly into the victim’s face. I was always standing right there to stop it, and they were working at extremely slow speed, so no one has ever been hurt, but you can see my trepidation at having actors try this without an expert standing by.
Going to Ground
This next section is fraught with danger, because the stage floor is very unforgiving and has no qualms about damaging actors. I’m starting with the easy stuff and moving to the more complex, but just because I am describing it doesn’t mean that it is safe. It isn’t. I have seen similar techniques taught with painful results, sometimes because of a moment of inattention of the instructor, sometimes because of a minor misunderstanding by the actor, and sometimes because a human body is not designed to be hit by a hardwood floor. The first simulations should be studied by every actor, the latter ones should only be attempted by those who already have a lot of experience and control. And complete control is the most important thing here – if you can’t do the movement in slow-motion, you can’t do the movement. Unless you have the physical control to freeze your body in space at any and every point along the way, you haven’t mastered the action and must not perform it.
When learning any of these techniques, use your ears. When done correctly, no part of your body should strike the ground hard enough to make a sound. Each sound you hear is a bruise waiting to develop. So go slowly at first: build up speed only if you can do so silently.
When you are comfortable enough with the technique, start adding a little misdirection. Since audiences look for meaning from the actor’s face, raising your gaze as you begin the drop will keep the audience from focusing on the mechanics of your carefully controlled descent.
knees to floor
How I hate the sound of an actor’s knees hammering the boards as he kneels to the floor, especially when his character is a prisoner being “forced” to the ground. No matter how gentle the guards are, the prisoner himself drives his knees to the floor as though they were nails into plywood.
To get the knees gently to the ground, start by keeping your back and head nice and straight as you gently bend your knees until you are almost sitting on your heels. Don’t lean forward of back, your first action is simply to squat. The knees are a few inches off the ground right now, but we’ve taken your body weight out of the equation. Now just lean back, and the knees will gently and automatically lower to the floor, completely under your control without the rest of your body forcing the knees into the boards. To give it a little bit more of a natural look, I let one knee land slightly ahead of the other, and then allow the upper body to bend forward to finish the pantomime.
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If the moment to be portrayed is in fact a prisoner being forced to the ground by a guard, let the victim perfect the drop before adding the aggressor, who merely has to match his own pantomime to match the victim’s drop. The same applies to converting any of the following drops into a throw.
back/sit fall
This is called a back fall by some because that’s what it looks like, and a sit fall by others because that’s what you actually do. Falling backwards usually comes after a push, and actors sometimes respond to the push by leaning backwards and letting gravity take over. What a great way to damage the arms, spine and head.
The main thing we want to protect is the head, so we’re going to break down this simulation, each step designed to reduce every possible inch of distance between head and floor before we ever lean the head back. First, take a giant step backwards with the upstage leg and slowly sit on that heal. The bigger that first step is, the easier the rest of the simulation is. (Taking a step back with the upstage leg makes it look as though the fall came from being pushed back. By kicking out the downstage foot forward and sitting on the stationary leg, it looks more like being pushed down. Some people like to call the first a back fall and the second one a sit fall. I don’t much care what you call it so long as you don’t hurt yourself.)
Back all as viewed from behind. Note that the upstage hand is used to hit the ground for the sound of impact.
The upper body should still be straight with the head facing forward. Gently roll back off of your heel until you are sitting on the floor. Now, tuck your chin to your chest and roll back onto the floor. At the very last moment release the chin, lifting your gaze up but still keeping the back of your head an inch off the floor. Smack the ground with your upstage arm to add the sound of the head bouncing on the floor to complete the illusion. This is a simulation using controlled and fluid motion. Challenge yourself to not use your hands to stop your momentum. If you use your legs and work your balance, you shouldn’t need to ever use your hands, which is a great skill to develop should you need to be holding props when you fall.
With time, the movements will naturally blend until it looks more like one drop instead of five segments, but don’t rush. Make sure that each part feels comfortable before moving on to the next. Remember that your goal is to have enough control so that you can stop the simulation at any point of the fall should you need to.
side fall
You’ve guessed it! A side fall is nothing more than a back fall going sideways. Just a couple of modifications are needed to make it work. Of course you’ll need to step deeply out to the side instead of backwards, but you’ll also need to let your hips roll out a bit so you can sit on the floor before continuing to roll on your side as you finish the fall. Your upstage hand is not seen by the audience, so it can smack the ground to give the sound of impact. Just as in all falling simulations, challenge yourself to stay in control. You should be able to stop and reverse movement at any point of the fall. Challenge yourself to not use your hands to stop your momentum.
forward fall
More difficult than the other falls, but very necessary to learn. Just like the side and back falls, a bigger initial step makes it easier to control your center of gravity. Unlike the other falls, this illusion has to take a detour halfway through.
First step deep in one direction ……. …….. then melt into the other
Let’s say you are going to fall straight forward. If you step directly forward trying to get low, your knee is soon going to get in your way. Instead, keep your eyes on that spot on the ground where you should end up, but take that first step out about 45 degrees from that center-line. Make that step as long and deep as you can, but don’t lean forward from the waist yet or you’ll lose control. Now you are going to very gently use your fingers, then palms, then forearms to help melt into the floor as you slide back to that original center-line.
Even when working directly with actors, and I completely describe what we are going to do, and then I demonstrate it a few times, most don’t get it at first and will try to fall in the direction that they step. So remember, first step in one direction, then glide in the other. As you melt into the ground, keep your head up as you arch your back. Your belly should make contact with the ground before your chest does, and turn your head to the side (you don’t want to stop your fall with your nose). Add an appropriate body impact reaction when you are done to give the illusion of a sudden stop.
Never use your hands to stop your momentum. I keep harping on that for three reasons. First, it doesn’t look like a fall, it looks like a push-up. Secondly, because you can’t trust your wrists to actually stop your body without starting to damage some very delicate ligaments. Lastly, you might be holding a prop. Learning to fall without using your hands means you can safely handle the prop as well.
forward roll
A forward roll is not a somersault. In a somersault both hands are placed on the ground and the head and body go directly over in a straight line and into a roll. Too many things can and do go wrong with somersaults, especially neck and wrist injuries, so for stage we use the forward roll.
I’m going to describe the mechanics of the forward roll, but the danger level is so high that it absolutely requires the supervision of someone with excellent teaching capability in tumbling skills. If an actor insists that he or she can safely perform a forward roll on a hard surface, challenge that by having him or her do the roll in super-slow motion as well as at 3/4 speed. Then have them do the same thing in reverse. Someone who is truly in control should be able to go backwards or forwards, and freeze the motion at any point of the roll while in slow motion. If they get that far, then close your eyes and listen to the roll when performed at 3/4 speed. They must be able to do so in near silence. Any thumping on the floor means that an injury could and probably will happen in the future. By the way, the head need never, and must never, touch the ground.
Unlike the somersault, the forward roll is asymmetrical, and you should learn how to perform it both left and right. Start by kneeling on the ground, right knee close and left knee further back, and put your left hand down as well, making a comfortable 3-point stance. Your right hand is free and I want you to look at it. Keep staring at it as at touches the ground between your left hand and right knee and then travels along the ground all the way back to your left foot. Yes, all the way back. At some point you will find this to be impossible, but you will also have placed you right shoulder completely on the ground and your face is practically under your left arm. Reach some more and gently push off with your right knee, and your upper back will begin to roll with your legs following gracefully along. OK, maybe not so gracefully, but you’ve just performed your first forward roll and you didn’t hurt yourself.
You must tuck your chin to your chest and not ever have your head touch the ground, but you will do that automatically if you concentrate on reaching for that trailing leg and you really look at that reaching hand. Just stick with this baby roll until it feels second nature, and then try the same thing but switching to the left side. At first it might turn into a side roll, but for now that’s fine. As you gain confidence, you’ll be able to focus more on improving the look by forcing your feet to actually go over your head instead of falling out to the side. Each time you finish a roll, make sure that you’re in control of your legs as well. At the end of the roll at least one foot should land flat on the ground, and that one can take the force away from the other leg. You don’t want your leg to simply crash into the floor or you’ll hurt that exposed ankle bone. Don’t try to do too many of these at one time. A dozen or so each day is fine: more than that will just make you dizzy.
Ready for more? Then with time slowly increase the height. First, try going into the 3-point stance but with the right foot on the ground instead of the right knee. Now you’ll have to push off a little bit more in order to start the roll, and you’ll have to tuck in you chin even more. When that works for you, we increase the height a bit more by lifting that left knee off the ground as well. That’s right, the 3-point stance is now both feet and the left hand, but the reach and tuck remain the same. And remember to try both left and right rolls.
Feels good? Excellent – now do the rolls in reverse. If you can’t go forward and backward, stop here and do not continue until you can.
* * * * * *
Well, I congratulate you on mastering the backward roll! As difficult as that was to do, you’ll find that it will give you the control you’ll need when you have to change directions in the middle of a roll, as you may need to during performance. Crazy things happen: the scissors that were safely on the mantle are now on the ground, right in your path. You’ll just catch a glimpse of it as you begin the roll – can you stop in mid-roll, alter your direction while your tush is in the air, and roll out of harm’s way? Of course you can, because you have developed the skills in rehearsal that can protect you in performance! Aren’t you glad you put in the extra sessions to practice something you thought at the time was unnecessary?
As your body gets higher and higher, it will get more difficult to lower that shoulder to the ground, so you’ll find that you’ll need to support the drop with that reaching arm, using it as part of the roll before your shoulder even gets there. Start thinking of your body as a giant steel hoop starting from your pinky finger tip, and continuing in one unbroken curve past your wrist, elbow, shoulder, crossing your back to the opposite hip then the side of your knee and the opposite foot. Those are the body parts that will touch the ground during the roll and no others. As you get momentum going be sure and keep your ankle from smacking the ground. (I broke my ankle that way in performance once – really dumb. That’s one reason why regular judo techniques don’t work onstage – no padded mat.)
As you steadily improve you’ll find that you can begin to step into the roll instead of rigidly forming the stance first. In other words, you’ll step forward with your right foot and start your reach with the right hand before your left hand has touched the ground. Instead of reaching so dramatically back to your trailing foot, you’ll find that you can push off a bit more with your feet and still have control of the roll. Finish this move by rolling onto the hip – not by banging it to the ground. You’ll find that you can even roll right onto your feet and then stand right up without even slowing down the roll.
One more thing – some very highly placed fight choreographers, the tops in the field, teach this with a flat-backed landing, using both feet slamming to the floor to take the impact. While attending one of their workshops, I witnessed an actor seriously hurt doing this – while under the direct supervision of one of these famous experts. I knew it was unsafe before I saw the injury occur, but foolishly said nothing. These same fight masters still insist on continuing to teach the forward roll this way. An unsafe move is unsafe no matter who teaches it.
tackle
This is a partnered illusion that increases the danger level, so I am hesitant to include it. But given the number of shows in which actors have to grapple with each other, I feel compelled to at least offer a suggestion as to how it can be made safer.
The tackle from the front is a combination of a back fall by the victim and a forward fall by the aggressor. As you’ll recall, the back fall travels in one direction, while the forward fall makes a detour on its way forward. Since the person being tackled can only go back, the tackler should plan on moving first away from the victim as the “tackle” begins, and then finish by moving back toward him once he is safely seated on the ground. For the victim the sequence is get hit, then step back, then sit. Have the actors practice this at least four feet apart from each other, then slowly inch them closer together until it looks as though one has caused the other to fall.
throw from choke from behind
Again we are in a high danger level here, but a brief description. This is a forward roll from the victim along with a simple kneel to the ground for the aggressor. (A reminder here that once we begin the simulation of the throw, the roles of victim and aggressor are reversed; the victim is now the one who was doing the choking and the aggressor is the one who was being choked.)
The first part is an elbow strike to the victim, which “releases” the choke hold. The aggressor lightly touches the victim’s arm. When the victim is ready to begin the forward roll, he leans back a little bit to let the aggressor know when to begin the simulation of the throw.
With the outside leg, the victim steps just in front of the aggressor before starting the roll. The aggressor helps the illusion by pointing to the ground in the direction of the victim’s roll to seal the illusion of actually having thrown someone. The lower the aggressor can kneel to the ground, the easier for the victim to do the forward roll. The aggressor does NOT lift up the victim at any point. The aggressor’s only job is to provide an illusion of throwing while the victim performs a standard forward roll. If the victim wants to jump up in the air first, that’s his business. Don’t let the victim tell the aggressor to “help him out” by lifting him up.
traps and locks
There a whole raft of illusions designed to look as though one actor has immobilized another by either twisting a limb and painfully applying pressure to a joint. Most of these are taken from aikido and its parent discipline jujitsu. Although simple to perform, the margin for error is very small and so the possibility of doing real damage to the victim is very large. For that reason they are to be considered advanced techniques, and we must relegate them to the list of those that must only be taught under the direct tutelage of an on-sight instructor. With one exception.
Twisting someone’s arm behind their back is probably the best known of the immobilization techniques, and actors are apt to do this one on their own. For that reason only I am going to provide some instruction for the aggressor. In performing this technique he must do … nothing. Just let the victim twist his own arm behind his back. The aggressor does absolutely nothing except act his little heart out. [Which is basically the same instruction for all traps and locks.]
fall down a flight of stairs
Now we’re really into the bruises and broken bones area, but too many shows have this in it for me to ignore here, so let me give you some pointers, though you still need to get someone with experience to help with this. By the way, this is way beyond the training of most fight directors, so make sure that the person you get knows his or her stuff.
Just to make sure that you have the skills to do this, first practice doing slow-motion continuous forward rolls, no standing up in between.. Begin on a flat surface with a gentle decline. If you have the space, put two chairs about three feet apart and do continuous rolls in a figure eight around them. Then roll down some equally gentle steps, preferably carpeted ones. Try rolling uphill as well – it’s a great workout for the abdominals. As the mood strikes you, try twisting in different directions as you roll. As you start to feel some of the bumps and bruises, feel free to pad those areas of your body that always seem to find the hardest part of the floor. Very thin foam pads can be sewn right into your costume that can protect you and will not be noticed by the audience.
From the top of a staircase the biggest danger is in the initial loss of control, gravity and momentum being what they are. Instead of attempting a forward roll from a standing position right down the stairs, try beginning with a “slip” into a sit-fall first. This at least gets you sitting down on the first step, from which you can slowly tuck into a front/side roll. In order to keep your speed under control, allow your limbs to make contact with the wall and rails. This not only gives you the opportunity to continue to practice the fall in slow motion, but it also gives a better random look to the fall for better believability. It’s funnier and safer if you work in the idea that you are not just falling but are desperately trying to stop from falling. Trying to grab at the railing, bouncing off of the banister, getting a foot hooked in a rail that can spin your body into a belly slide – all of these things can be incorporated into your fall and can help control the tumble. But remember: if you can’t do it slow, you can’t do it at all.
Don’t try to do too much at once. A dozen or so rolls during each session is plenty. Anything beyond that and you risk getting too dizzy and bruised for any useful rehearsal.
fall from a height
It’s very exciting of course to see someone leaping out from a high point on a set and have them disappear into the void. Please, please call in an expert stunt artist. You need someone who can not only teach the technique but also evaluate the performance area. By the way, this is way beyond the training of the vast majority of stage combat instructors, so don’t ask your local fight guy to work it out for you. People will only get hurt.
Obviously the higher you go it becomes more dangerous for the actor. Building a fall protection system (a “drop box”) is mandatory for heights above nine feet, and it must be built by a professional company. Don’t do it yourself. The legal liability is huge if anything goes wrong. And even small drops of less than six feet put tremendous strain on the ankles, and there is always the risk of someone striking his head after the fall and killing himself. I’m serious.
stomach throw
An exceptional tumbler can make this simulation work, but it is also exceptionally dangerous. The stomach throw (tomoe nage in Japanese) is the Judo technique of pulling your opponent down on top of you while you do a back-fall, simultaneously thrusting your foot into his stomach, and them kicking straight up, his momentum taking him over your head and behind you. In a perfect world, it can be simulated by a variation of the sit fall combined with a leaping forward roll, but don’t let your actors convince you that they can do this safely. There is no way that something like this should be included in a show unless you have the best fight director in the area teaching it and a very talented tumbler for the victim. When this goes wrong, it goes horribly wrong and can lead to a broken neck.
Asian Unarmed Combat
[i.e.; Martial Arts, Karate, Kung Fu, etc.]
Finally, a brief mention of Asian martial arts. Because martial arts moves are designed to allow for maximum impact using the least amount of movement, even the simulations carry with them a lot of power. These should be considered advanced techniques, as the margin for error has shrunk considerably.
There are many styles, usually based on regional differences. Karate developed in Japan and tends toward linear movement, Kung Fu from China has more circular and animal inspired motions, Tae-Kwon-Do from Korea centers on kicking, Capoeira of Brazil hides circular kicks and strikes within a distracting dance pattern, etc. While each system teaches hundreds of moves, each also has a distinctive look based on variations of stances, blocks, and attack preferences. The study of any one style can take a lifetime to master, and it might be beyond the rehearsal schedule to try and train actors to get enough flexibility to perform even simulated martial arts with any degree of believability. If this is the look you need for your show, cast it many months early and get some serious daily training for your actors.
On the other hand, if you merely want to give some of the flavor of martial arts, there are some things you can do that can dress up the already described moves.
1] Get low and stay low. The stances in martial arts are designed to keep a solid connection to the ground even when moving, and this means dropping down low in a fairly wide stance and not bobbing up and down when moving. The pressure on the knees and thighs is tremendous, but this is what separates East from West.
2] Don’t bend at the waist. Martial artists learn to perform head-high kicks without changing their torso position. We can mimic that look of complete control, even if it means not kicking so high, if we keep the torso looking neutral and relaxed.
3] Add more blocks. Among trained fighters, more of the attacks are going to be aimed correctly, so will have to be blocked effectively. Read the section on swordplay, and use the arms the way a sword would be used for blocks and attacks.
4] Think linear. There is more precision in all attack and defense techniques in martial arts. Whereas a brawling fighter might loop a punch out and then let it fade away after it reaches or misses its target, a martial artist will whip out a fist in a straight line and then immediately back to the original starting position, ready to fire again. For a stomach kick the foot will not simply sweep up from the floor like a pendulum in Western fashion, but first is driven straight up by lifting the knee to the chest, heel almost touching crotch, and then the foot is fired out like a punch, returns back to its ready position, and then is lowered to the ground. There are exceptions to these rules, of course, but exceptions should always be chosen because of what they can deliver, rather than resorted to because the body lacks flexibility and strength.
Interestingly, there is a conceit in all martial arts films is that any strike can send someone flying and yet everyone can take a lot of physical abuse and keep coming back for more. Audiences accept this from martial arts and yet laugh at the same thing in Western style fighting. The lesson seems to be that you can throw out realism without repercussion when developing a staged karate fight.
* * * * *
Ok, so you still want to add the cool kung-fu moves. Below are the basic strikes, kicks, and blocks for staged martial arts. Just as past stage combat instructors have taken the incredibly varied and complex movements of swordplay and reduced them to a tiny handful of easily repeatable moves, so have I taken the basic techniques of one martial arts style and distilled them to a small set of simple actions. Just as in stage sword combat, it is better to have both actors completely understand the mechanics of a couple dozen moves rather than confuse them with the couple thousand possibilities that each real art form contains.
For a better understanding of how the moves can be polished, be sure and read the entire section that follows this one concerning fighting with edged weapons. Much of martial arts gets its inspiration from swordplay, and an understanding of one greatly benefits the other.
In describing the moves below I am assuming that each strike and kick is blocked, that is to say, that we are not simulating contact. If you want to make it seem as though a strike has connected, go back and re-read the first part of this chapter. I’m sure you’ll find a simulation there that will fit the bill, and all the actors need to do is provide a different “picture” from the list below and substitute it for the Western style described earlier.
chambering
Chambering refers to the placement of the hand (and sometimes the foot) before it strikes or blocks. The position itself is very simple. With the hand closed in a fist, the fist rests very tightly at the waist above the hip bone, palm facing up, and the elbow pulled in, expanding the chest. More importantly, it is a critical component of the look of what the non-striking hand is doing during the strike or block by the active hand. Unlike Western boxing, where both hands are kept in front of the body, in classical Japanese karate every strike or block is counter balanced by a sharp pull back of the other hand into its chambered position. In this way, even as the striking hand is shooting out to make the hit, the other hand is drawing back, ready for the next move. It is not a passive move. So aggressive is this pull-back that the elbow could easily crack a person’s ribs if someone was to stand behind the fighter.
The arm that does the chambering (non-striking) is most often called the draw arm, for the feeling is like that of drawing back the string on a bow, loading it up with energy before releasing it for the attack.
For most kicks, the foot must also chamber-up to its most effective striking launch position before striking. In this way, the kick is better targeted as well as keeping the rest of the body from failing off balance.
stances
Martial artists train for years so that they can stand and move in ways that the average Joe would find difficult to perform for even a few minutes, but this above all is what gives karate and the like their special look. Just as with staged swordplay, the realism of the fight rests with the stance.
basic (fighting) stances
Just as in swordplay, most stances are very temporary positions used at the moment that a technique is delivered. In between these moves, the body might drop into a neutral position, committed to nothing but ready for anything. The weight shifts gently when moving, trying to keep no more than 60% of the weight on either foot. (Of course, that’s impossible, but if you think about doing it that way, it will really improve the look of balance and control.) The knees are bent, the feet shoulder-width apart and not overly extended.
The hands, either closed in fists or in tight flat palms (Charlie’s Angels style) are in front of the body, usually in a center line with the forearms gently sloping down. The hands may shift in position, but generally one hand is at face level, the other at stomach level. One arm is often extended to about 80% of full distance with a slight bend at the elbow, while the other arm is closer, with a 90 degree bend at the elbow. With this combination of positions, the face is always protected by one hand, the stomach by the other, and attacks coming from the side protected by the elbows. As always, the shoulders must be relaxed and down. The head rests directly over the torso, which is erect and not leaning or bending at the waist.
front stance
This aggressive stance is usually seen as an attack is launched or a very strong block is delivered as the body is moving forward. The lead knee bent and the back leg straight. The lead knee should be directly over the heel, bearing 70% of the body’s weight. The torso should be erect and relaxed. Feet are about one and a half shoulder widths apart. The lead foot must point directly at the opponent. It’s nice if the rear foot can do so as well, but usually a slight turnout is more practical.
Just as in fencing, moving either forward or backward can be done by either bringing the back foot up to the front foot and then launching the front foot forward again, or by a simple passing (walking) step. However, in classical forms, the body does not bob up and down, so the actors will need to learn how to move while keeping their heads on one low plane. How to do this? The feet and the knees come together for each step, the legs both squeezing together and bending even more before the foot goes out to its new position. That means that the torso is moving gracefully forward (not up and down or side to side), with shoulders relaxed, while the traveling foot is drawing a half-moon shape on the ground with each step. Both feet have the toes pointing directly at the opponent, not turned-out. This is really hard to do, and requires considerable abdominal control as well as strong thighs and good ankle flexibility.
Stepping backwards is the same as going forwards, but don’t let your actors cheat in shifting their weight by sticking their tailbones out and leading with their butts. The lead foot will always be carrying 70% of the body weight, so the tailbone must always be tucked in. This way the torso can move as one unit in any direction, always in control, always ready to strike even in retreat.
back stance
Different styles have different back stances, but I have chosen one that is easiest to perform as well as being the most visually interesting. This back stance is nice to use during blocking and evasions, as well as a solid platform from which to perform a rear thrust kick.
With the face forward, looking at the opponent, the torso turns and shifts the weight balance from lead foot to back foot. At the same time, the feet will turn (on the heels, not the balls) so that the rear foot, the one bearing most of the weight, is pointing away from the opponent and the lead foot is pointing off at 90 degrees (more if possible). The lead leg straightens and the rear leg bends, again so that the knee is directly over the heel.
If accompanied by a block, it’s nice to lean the body away from the opponent so that the torso and lead leg have the same long, elegant line.
horse stance
The most stable of the stances, a variation of it is found in every martial arts form. I’ve chosen one the least damaging to the knees.
The weight distribution is 50-50, with the feet about double shoulder apart, toes turned out to about 45 degrees, and again the knees directly over the heels. In this position with the tailbone tucked in tightly, the knees and hips should all be at a straight line, again probably not possible for actors, but that is what you’re aiming for. This is not all that different from a ballet plié in second position, except that the feet should not be turned out so severely. From here the torso is free face to forward or turn to either side, flexibility permitting.
Some karate styles have the feet stay parallel to each other, but that puts a huge strain on the knees and ankles. I would rather you concentrate on the pelvis, because as soon as a little fatigue sets in, the butt starts to swing out. It looks horrible. As with all of the stances, tuck it in and keep it tucked.
cat stance
All of the previous stances are called “outside” stances, for the feeling is that of the knees pulling out, away from each other. There are many “inside” stances, where the thighs squeeze together, but I have included only this one for our purposes. The cat stance works especially well as a strong platform from which to deliver kicks from the lead foot. The leading knee also automatically protects the lower torso from attacks.
Facing the opponent, the back leg turned out to 45 degrees, both knees bending and the lead foot pointing at the opponent. As the thighs squeeze together, the lead foot is drawn in close to the rear foot, but with heel off the ground and the toes supporting only 10% of the body weight, purely for balance. The weight shifts back to 90% on the back leg. The lead knee is pointed directly at the opponent and the tailbone is tightly tucked. The torso is relaxed and erect. Squeezing the thighs together provides stability, while shifting the weight off of the lead foot allows to quickly snap out a kick if necessary.
Strikes
Strikes encompass any attack made with the upper limbs and can be aimed at any joint or vulnerable spot on the human body. For training purposes the attacks are mainly thought of as either high (face) medium (solar plexus) or low (belly or even crotch). We are going to modify this to three levels and five targets – the same ones we use in broadsword fighting. As in stage swordplay, left and right refer to the attacker’s view of the targets. These targets are:
Ö Head level is going to be dead center but slightly above the forehead
Ö Shoulder level right is slightly outside and below the victim’s left shoulder
Ö Shoulder level left is slightly outside and below victim’s right shoulder
Ö Mid level right drifts to the victim’s left flank but on the same plane as the navel
Ö Mid level left shifts to the victim’s right but on the same plane as the victim’s navel
As you can see, we’re staying away from any attacks to joints, and we are trying to send the real energy of these attacks slightly away from the body of our partner.
straight punch
Every strike is supposed to be performed incorporating the concept of chambering, and nowhere is this more easily seen than in the straight punch. This punch travels in a line from the chambered position directly to the target, the fist turning from palm up to palm down just as the arm reaches its full extension. The strike goes in a straight line to the target, “sticking” there for a fraction of a second before moving to the next position (usually chambered). There must be no curling of the wrist, so the striking surface of the punch is the “flat” of the first two fingers. But again, what really give this punch an Eastern look is the fact that the other fist is simultaneously pulled back to its chambered position at the hip, palm up. Try several punches in a row until the “pushme-pullyou” feel becomes comfortable. Remember – just as much energy is committed to the pull-back as to the punch itself.
The twisting of the striking hand from palm up in the chambered position to palm down when completing the strike is crucial to the look of Eastern punches. Don’t twist the torso away with each punch – you want to “lock” the chest forward at the completion of each strike for a much more powerful and confident look.
spear hand
A variation of the straight punch, except the fist opens to form a flat hand, fingers tightly together and thumb side pointing up. In actual martial arts, the middle finger is pulled back slightly so the center three fingers form an even striking surface. The audience is never going to see that, so it is not necessary to try to simulate it. The strike goes in a straight line to the target, “sticking” there for a fraction of a second before moving to the next position (usually chambered).
Sometimes the other arm, instead of pulling back to the chambered position, stays forward to support the spear hand at the elbow. In this augmented strike the non-striking fist also opens up and, palm down, slides under the striking elbow, the entire forearm ending up parallel to the chest. The look is very angular. Be sure to push the shoulders down – don’t let them start rising up out of tension.
palm heel
The bottom of the palm is a very effective striking surface, so long as the fingers don’t get in the way. To get the look, stick your right hand out as though you are checking for rain. Keeping the palm flat, fold the fingers at the second joint (and the thumb at the first joint) so that the fingertips are touching the palm at the knuckle joint. Now bend the hand at the wrist so that the palm heel pushes forward, facing the target as you pull the elbow back to chamber the hand. Kind of uncomfortable, isn’t it? The strike goes in a straight line to the target, “sticking” there for a fraction of a second before moving to the next position (usually chambered).
For stage, this strike looks best used to attack to the side, combined with a nice side stance, where you get the most visual length of the arm.
knife edge
Commonly called the “karate chop”, it actually has only a limited use in true martial arts. It is designed to attack vulnerable points that are hard to get to by using a closed fist, the neck and temple being the more obvious targets. But of course for stage we can use it for anything we want to.
We all know how to hold the hand (palm open and fingers tight, thumb bent so it is not exposed), but too many films show the wrist bent for some reason. That doesn’t make any sense at all. From tip of middle finger to elbow must be an absolutely straight line.
To execute the strike, we again borrow from the cutting moves of staged swordplay. The striking hand chambers by touching the finger tips to your own opposite ear, elbow pointing at the target (off-line of your partner). The elbow does not move as the hand swings out and back in one quick snappy motion. The emphasis is on the return, not so much on the extension. Careful not to hyperextend the elbow (and keep your shoulders down!).
back hand
This is actually very similar in construction to the knife edge strike. It again is a snappy move instead of a “sticking” move, the elbow pointing right at the target. All we have to do is give it a different look, and that we do by keeping the fist closed and chambering it, not at the opposite ear but right at the near armpit. In order to do that, you’ll need to turn your other shoulder away from the target, but that’s fine because it improves the look. The fist, thumb side up, swings out parallel to the ground, and then back.
The other hand can chamber to the hip as usual, but a nice variation is to have it provide a “home” for the striking hand. For this, both hands meet at the chambered position at the armpit, the non-striking hand palm open, fingertips up as if to stay “stop”, thumb pressed against the chest, the palm almost touching the closed fist of the attacking hand.
blocks
Real blocks in martial arts come in two flavors, deflections and power. Deflections allow the incoming strike to skip off the blocking surface and then continue on harmlessly out of the way. Power blocks meet force with force, usually using the bony outside edge of the forearm or other very strong striking surface. Such blocks can develop so much force that they can break bones. We, of course, don’t want to do anything so dangerous, so the following, all of them power blocks, are modified. The blocking surface is turned wherever possible so that soft tissue rather than bone is used, and each block then merely meets the incoming “attack” at a predetermined point in space, with very little actual contact at all.
Just as with the strikes, both arms are active when performing most of the power blocks. When one arm performs the action, the other arm pulls back just as powerfully to the chamber position. This dramatically expands the chest, making the block, and by extension the attack, appear much more powerful. For each block, there should always be an initial contraction where the arms cross at the elbows, and then one arm performs the block as the other pulls back to the chambered (hip) position. The look and feel is something like sharpening two very large knives. But no matter what, all blocks should have the look of taking a threat aimed toward your center and moving it harmlessly away.
As with the strikes, the non-blocking arm is active, moving forcefully back to the chambered position. And again, this arm is referred to as the draw arm. If the blocking arm has to do two or more actions in a row, the draw arm usually stays where it is, although we still have to see some sort of expansion (however small) with each move, even if only in the chest. This additional pulse helps lend a bit more believability to each block.
down block
The contraction brings the blocking fist up to the opposite shoulder; the draw arm crosses in front of the body, elbow straight, elbow touching elbow. For the block, the blocking arm slides down and across the draw arm until it points downward, even as the draw arm moves to its chambered position at the hip.
To reduce damage to your partner, turn the fist thumb-side down slightly so as to strike with the fleshy part of the forearm.
inside down block
In this block, the arms do not cross and there is no contraction. The draw hand, from wherever it has been, moves directly to the chambered position. The blocking arm moves forward to what would normally be the final position of the down block (but this time with the fist up) and then sweeps in front of the body to the opposite side, with the fist turned so that the palm-side leads the movement and the block is made with the inside of the forearm rather than the edge. For this block, the look of power comes not from chest expansion, but from the quick twisting of the torso.
rising block
The contraction brings the draw arm across the body, at an angle in front of the torso, with the fist in front of and at the same height as the opposite shoulder. The fist of the blocking arm slips underneath the draw arm so that the wrist joint rests underneath the elbow. For the block, the lead arm slides up across the draw arm until the forearm forms a straight line parallel to the ground at about forehead level, even as the draw arm moves to its chambered position at the hip.
To reduce damage to your partner, don’t allow the fist to twist as it moves up. You’ll want to make contact with the softer back part of the forearm instead of the boney edge.
inside block
The contraction brings the blocking fist up to the opposite arm pit, underneath the draw arm; the draw arm crosses in front of the body, elbow bent, elbow touching elbow, fist about shoulder height. For the block, the blocking arm slips under the draw arm and then slides along it. It will stop at the blocked position, forming a 45 degree angle upward, fist in front of the same shoulder and elbow about a fist distance away from the same side hip. As expected, the draw arm has simultaneously moved to its chambered position at the hip.
To give the block its best look, hyper-twist the fist so that the inside of the forearm makes contact with the incoming attack. Difficult to do, but not impossible.
outside block
In this block, the arms do not cross and there is no contraction. Instead, it is the twisting of the hip and torso that provide the strength for the block. The draw hand, from wherever it has been, moves loosely to any area in front of the body; at the same time the blocking arm moves up to the same side ear, thumb side pointing down, forearm now parallel to the ground. For the block, the blocking arm swings across the body, ending with the fist directly above the elbow, forearm perpendicular to the ground. At the same time, the draw arm moves to its chambered position.
If blocking an attack to the torso, the blocking fist will end at shoulder level. If the attack was to the face, the block of course will be higher, with the fist at forehead level. This block can carry a lot of accidental momentum, so be sure that the point of contact is the inside of the forearm by finishing the block with the fist thumb side pointing towards you.
knife hand block
This is a nice variation of the inside block, all the more interesting because both hands are kept in the “karate chop” open palm shape. The contraction brings the blocking hand up to the opposite shoulder, over the draw arm; the draw arm crosses in front of the body, elbow slightly bent, elbow touching elbow, and the hand out in front almost making the universal signal for “stop”. For the block, the blocking arm slides across the draw arm until it forms a 45 degree angle upward, open palm in front of the same shoulder and elbow about a fist distance away from the same side hip. Really scrape the forearms as you do this move for the best look.
In this simulation, the draw hand doesn’t go all the way to the hip. Instead, as the block is executed, the draw hand comes to rest right at solar plexus level, palm up. The torso turns slightly, so that the shoulder of the draw hand moves somewhat away from the action.
double block
Combine two blocks and you get a new animal. For example, an inside forearm block with the right arm and an inside down block with the left, if performed as one action, and you have a cross block protecting the right flank. Simultaneous rising blocks with a slightly exaggerated angle and you have a nice cross block protecting the head. Have fun and experiment. Double blocks in stage combat give the illusion that the incoming attack was especially forceful.
open hand deflection
Looks especially nice when defending against strikes to the face, the look here is not meeting force with force but in merely deflecting an incoming straight line strike so that it just misses its intended target. Strange as it may seem, these are very effective defensive moves and very simple to perform. We just need to make them dramatically understandable and not painful.
We want to move the open hand along with the incoming strike a bit, rather than arriving at a predetermined point in space (that is of course what we’re doing; we just don’t want it to look that way). So the defensive hand is going to describe a small half circle in air as it moves up, first moving out a bit to meet the threat and then guiding it half way to its finish position. For the aggressor’s part, he won’t actually throw a punch that is truly a threat and needs to be moved, but rather launches his strike already going to that point where the successfully deflected punch is going to end up anyway.
Generally, the hand making the block will first make contact with the incoming fist, and then allow it to slide past a bit, so that the finishing contact is at about mid-forearm. Either side of the hand can be used for these deflections, but if using the back of the hand, make sure that your partner is being kind when punching. If not, the back of your hand can get some very nasty bruises.
Kicks
Just as with a strike, the path of the kick must always be directed to a spot away from the victim. If the actors are parallel to the proscenium, then the kick that misses or is blocked is aimed just up or down stage of the victim. If the actors are stacked and the simulation is that of a kick that actually makes contact, then the kick can be aimed toward the victim but only if the distance has been extended to one-and-a-half the length of the aggressor’s leg.
With all except the fan kick, the higher you can lift the knee during the first part of the move, the better the kick will look. The attempt should always be to have the kick “live from the waist down”. In other words, in a perfect world the kicker’s posture from the waist up will remain unchanged during the entire kick.
front snap kick
Western-style kicks are simple – the foot swings up in an arc, and then either swings back or just flops down. By contrast, this front snap kick is a four-parter, as are most Asian-style kicks.
First: raise the knee until it is pointing at the intended target (remembering that the “target” is a spot usually upstage or downstage of your partner). If your target is high, you have to point the knee high. At this point, the foot itself has not yet swung out, but is right next to the non-kicking leg, usually at about knee level, but higher if you can manage it. Second: the foot swings out to the target, ball of the foot reaching out but the toes curled back. (I understand that when wearing shoes, this is all but impossible) The strike point is the ball of the foot, not the toes. To help with balance, the hip might thrust forward a bit, but the torso should not lean back. Third: since this is a snap kick, not a thrust kick, the foot immediately comes back to its place high up next to the non-kicking knee, ready for another kick if necessary. Lastly, the foot drops down to the floor in a straight line. This is a very quick and smooth kick, but each of the segments have to be executed.
You’re only supposed to kick as high as your knee can point, so for most people that’s going to be a waist high kick. Yes, if you swing your hip into it and arch your back, you can snap off a head level kick, but it’s not really in control, is it. Also, I’ve noticed that in most TV shows and movies the kick is delivered with the toes pointed, not arched back. In reality, you’d break your toes if you were to actually make contact that way. But the look is a little cleaner, so if you want to, go for it.
rear thrust kick
With the body turned away from the target, the knee first rises up as in the front snap kick. This keeps the foot close to the supporting leg, but of course there is no attempt to point the knee to the target. Second, the foot travels backward in a straight line to the target, leading with the heel, moving parallel to the ground. The body is much less flexible in this direction, so the torso will need to lean forward somewhat. As this is a thrust kick, not a snap, the foot will “stick” in the air for a half second. Third, the foot pulls back in to its chambered location as the torso straightens. Fourth, the foot is brought down to the ground.
This kick is not always aimed at someone who is standing behind you. With an opponent standing directly in front of you, a rear thrust kick can be delivered simply by turning the body away during the first move. Why would someone do this? The rear thrust kick is the most powerful kick possible, and one that also protects the kicker from being hit himself. The opposite arm will still rise up to protect the face, just in case.
side snap kick
Even experienced martial artists sometimes fudge this move, performing what is really just a front kick to the side. But this is a kick meant to swing freely from the knee rather than “punching” in a straight line.
First, the foot rises up to the chambered position near the knee of the supporting leg. The body, especially the hips, turns slightly so that the kicking leg is closer to the opponent, but the knee must point directly at the target. Try to get the knee as high up as possible, with the arch of the foot trying to curl around the supporting leg. Second, keeping the knee high and stable, it becomes a pivot from which the foot will swing out in an arc to the target. The toes are pointed down so that the striking surface is the outside edge of the foot. The torso does not lean back during this kick, although the hips might swing along with the movement for extra height. Third: since this is a snap kick, not a thrust kick, the foot immediately comes back to its place high up next to the non-kicking knee. Fourth, the foot is lowered to the floor.
This is not an easy kick, as it can put quite a strain on the knee, but it gives a nice flavor to a fight, so use it if you can. Flexible martial artists can use it as an upper cut to an opponent’s chin.
roundhouse kick
This kick is a bit more risky to make safe, in that it requires the actor to generate a lot of force but also be able to stop it before making contact with his partner, much like swinging a broadsword. This kick is meant to come in sideways, parallel to the ground. It’s much easier for an actor to stop a broadsword than to stop his own leg, and I am hesitant to include this simulation in this book. But the roundhouse kick is so common in martial arts that it is difficult to imagine not using it in a staged fight, so I include it here in the interest of safety.
First, the chambering position itself is a bit awkward. With the supporting leg forward, the kicking leg is lifted up away from the opponent, foot and knee rising to hip height. Everyone calls this the “dog peeing on a fire hydrant” pose.
Second, the leg will swing around the body as the foot extends to the target, the striking surface for stage purposes being the upper plane of the foot rather than the toes or ball. Try to lean forward – into the kick – rather than laying down away from it. For this kick to look good, the leg must travel parallel to the ground, as though you are kicking over a table in order to reach your target. The body can’t help but want to turn along with the kick, so we have to find a way to control that momentum and stop the kick before it hurts anyone. So we use the upper body to stop the lower body. Let’s say you’re kicking with the left foot, so the leg is swinging around to the right. As the leg comes across, sharply twist your shoulders to the left, aiming your right shoulder to the target. The feeling is like that of wringing a towel. With a little practice you’ll find that this will suddenly stop your kick just where you want it.
Third, this is a snap kick, so the foot and leg immediately “bounce” away. The trajectory of the leg follows the same path going back as it did to get there, which means that it has to clear that imaginary table again as it travels behind you. Finally, from this hydrant position, the foot is lowered to the floor. Of course, if you are stepping forward after the kick, you don’t have to return the foot all they back to your original position, which was behind you. But you shouldn’t just flop the foot down, either. After the kick, the bounce-back of the foot should still have it travel parallel to the floor until it is back near your butt, and only then lowered to take your forward step.
roundhouse variation: the laying down front snap kick.
Also called the mini-round. Do the set-up for a front snap-kick as described earlier, but as the kick starts to move forward, let your body twist 90 degrees in that same direction, and lift up the foot sideways, so that the foot and knee form a line parallel to the floor. It’s called “laying down the leg”, and it will change the trajectory of the kick so now it can come in sideways instead of straight in. The recovery has to be very fast, with the body quickly twisting back in the other direction. This will provide the momentum needed to snap that kicking foot back to center. But don’t resort to the mini-round just because the actor is having trouble with the regular roundhouse kick described above. The full roundhouse is much showier and well worth the extra rehearsal time.
The mini-round is a fun little kick to add when you want to break up the look of a series of kicks, especially multiple kicks to different targets from the same leg. Choreographically, it allows for a kick from the front leg to be directed sideways to an opponent, rather than straight into him.
fan kick
The fan kick requires a lot of flexibility, and is generated with a lot of hip movement, so most people can’t stop it once begun. Because of the momentum needed, this is not a move which is blocked – the actor needs the full space to follow through and complete the swing. Few actors will be able to make it look good, but it does have some good visual flair.
This simulation works best when the actors are “stacked”, aggressor facing full front and the victim full back. First, establish a one-arm’s distance between the two, then one or the other needs to take another (large) step away, clearing room for the leg to swing. The aggressor’s supporting leg will be in front and the kicking leg behind. Second, the fan kick can travel either left to right or right to left, either “outside” or “inside”, the important part being to not kick out toward the victim but rather swing the straight leg out in a giant circle in front of him. Think of the leg as a pendulum with the hip as the pivot point. The circle of travel (actually, it’s more of a teardrop shape) is on a parallel plane between the two participants, the highest point being at face level. Third, again, there is no stopping this kick, so for the aggressor the simulation finishes almost as soon as it starts, just making sure that the torso has not gone out of plumb and that the foot ends up on the ground at roughly the same point from whence it started (only because it looks better than having it land somewhere else). If the simulation is a hit and not a miss, then the victim has a chance to add the sound and complete the illusion of being struck. Luckily, the audience can’t see the victim’s hands, so he can easily clap his hands together for the sound and the audience will be none the wiser. Just make sure not to move the elbows – those are visible and can blow the illusion if we see a flapping motion.
jump kick
Although any kick can be performed while in the air, we are only going to try a basic front snap kick. Make sure you are fully warmed up before starting – you don’t want to blow out your hamstring here.
Let’s say you are kicking with the right foot. Go over the basic mechanics of the kick described earlier, and try the kick several times until you feel comfortable with it. It’s a four-parter, remember? Now, to mess with your brain some, get into a nice solid front stance with the right leg forward. Right knee bent, left knee straight, right? Try the kick with the right foot from this position several times – feels different, doesn’t it? Kicking from the front leg is difficult because you don’t want to simply rock back on your back leg. You’ve got to bend that back leg for support, really tighten the stomach muscles, and drive your kick forward. Be sure to continue to use correct technique and that you are not just flapping your leg out.
Now we’re going to work on the left leg. Forget about kicking for a bit, we’re going to go just for some hang time. Keep the same right foot forward stance (right knee bent, of course). Like a sprinter coming out of the blocks, try to touch your own chest with your left knee as you stand up straight with your right. You’ll soon find that you get quite a bit upward thrust without trying too hard. Now go ahead and go for some height, letting your right leg add to the momentum by doing a little hop. The higher you can drive that left knee and combine it with a good hop, the more hang time you’ll get. If you are a basketball player, this is the move you need in order to do a lay-up (if you get a lot of height, even a dunk!)
Ready for a higher jump? As soon as the left knee pumps up to the chest, add to the momentum by driving the right knee up to the chest also. By driving both knees up hard and fast in a quick one-two, your little hop gets transformed into quite a nice vertical leap.
Now you’re ready to combine the two moves for one dramatic kick. The left knee pumps up, beginning the drive skyward, and then the right knee does the same but adds the snap kick when you are at the top of your jump. I’m not saying that this is easy for everyone to do – athletes and dancers will get it and perfect it in one day while others may struggle for weeks. [Heck, some dancers will get so much air time that they’ll be able to throw in a kick with that left foot as well, and probably get them both at head level.] But it is possible for anyone to do a single jump kick, so long as you don’t give up on the essential mechanics. Don’t go for height, go for fluidity. With practice, everyone should be able to execute a front snap kick in the air before that left foot lands on the ground.
These are some very basic moves that demonstrate a little bit of the look of trained martial artists. Just as in all of stage combat, we are not trying to scrupulously recreate what an actual fight would look like, but rather we use a specialized physical language to tell a story. So just as sport fencing is different than staged rapier and dagger fights, a true karate tournament match will be very different from staged martial arts fighting, and all would be very different indeed from a real life-or-death struggle. Read the upcoming section on edged weaponry to get more ideas, for remember that all martial arts ultimately comes from the sword techniques of ancient Asia. All of the safety points in terms of distancing and targeting with swords are applicable here and critical to actor safety.
Let’s look at a few attack and defense combinations, performed in sequence as a single fight:
Actor A Actor B
face punch rising block
open hand deflections three face punches
stomach punch outside block
inside block, cat stance augmented spear hand thrust
front snap kick reverse down block
down block side kick
chop to throat [take reaction]
Again, if you think of using swords instead of just limbs it will clean up the transitions. As always, be sure and get solid training from an experienced instructor of stage combat, not just a martial artist. It’s not enough to perform the moves; it must be modified for performance on stage.
In Summary …
Unarmed Fighting Styles
Most real fights occur between people who have reached a point of rage in which they no longer are acting rationally, so any training they may have had goes out the window. I’ve seen this happen to otherwise skilled fighters who get caught up in either fear or anger. For these combatants, the moves tend to be circular, wild, uncontrolled both in execution and in balance, the tendency being to throw the combatant off-balance whether or not he actually makes contact. There is very little effective defense, and what little there is is simply the instinctive curling up of the body as both forearms come up to protect the face. Untrained fighters also tend to use the same one or two moves over and over again regardless of effectiveness. The person who falls down first invariably ends up as the loser.
Among trained fighters who are able to keep their wits about them, there is a greater variation of moves both offensive and defensive, with an attempt to bring into play combination moves designed to establish distinct lines of attack and take advantage of perceived weaknesses. However, what the audience will notice most of all is the “on-guard” position which trained fighters will drop into when a threat is identified. Invariably the dominant foot and hand step back, providing a slightly reduced target to the opponent. The elbows both tuck in slightly to be ready to protect the stomach and flanks. The dominant (right) hand goes to shoulder level and stays fairly close to the body, while the left fist rides higher, just under eye level, and extends further towards the opponent. This allows both hands to protect the face. The ribs are protected by the elbows.
We know from art on excavated pottery that boxing goes back at least to the ancient Greeks, and it seems that the stances and guard positions would be instantly recognizable at any gym today. There is, however, a very distinct boxing style that developed during the mid-nineteenth century and flourished though to the 1930’s. You have probably seen photographs of prize fighters with handlebar mustaches, with the fists tightly curled in and the head held stiffly back. The opponent would see the back of the fighter’s hands instead of the little finger side of the fist. This is the era of bareknuckle prize fighting, the Marquise of Queensbury rules, the birth of the “sweet science”. The seemingly unnatural stance is actually quite practical for the style of fighting performed. No grabbing or kicking was allowed, winner was declared by knockout only, and up through the turn of the century a round was counted not by the clock but with each instance that someone was knocked down. This was brutal exhibition fighting, and with no timed rounds or points given, the only strategy was to survive the punishment and inflict as much damage as possible.
In this style of fisticuffs, some moves needed to be modified. Punches that land with the flat face of the fist can deliver great force, but the delicate bones of the fingers can easily break, so constant jabs with the left can quickly ruin the hand. A better jab for bareknuckle fighting is to turn the fists in so that the back of the hand faces the opponent, the knuckles all pointing toward the opponent’s face and the hand held directly above the elbow. From this position the fist can be quickly snapped out and down onto the bridge of the nose of the opponent. The knuckles might fracture but the hand was still capable of attacking. Either hand could jab, and to hide the attack the hands could roll in a vertical circle, providing an ever shifting presentation of fists. Alternately, the lower fist could quickly rise up, thrusting in for an upper cut to the chin or to the stomach. A fist could always attempt a quick looping roundhouse to break the cartilage of the ear, a hook punch to the ribs, and if the opportunity finally arose, go for the straight right cross for a knock-out punch to the chin or nose. My point here is that just because something looks funny to our modern eyes doesn’t mean that it wasn’t extremely effective.
The defense matched the offense. The forearms could slightly extend to either side to deflect the attacks to the face, but it was more important to keep the head leaning back and away from the extension of the attacking fists. The stomach and ribs were protected by the elbows. Because the punches had to cause damage in order to win the fight, dancing around in the modern boxing style was unknown and the feet were more firmly planted on the floor, always providing a solid foundation for the knock-out punch. Throw a punch while you’re on your toes and you’ve dissipated all of its power.
As you know, boxers no longer fight that way. Why? Modern boxing is a much more controlled sport than it was a hundred years ago, and in order to try to reduce the damage to the fighters three changes in the sport changed every technique: 1] Winner by knockout was replaced with a point system. 2] rest periods only after knock-downs were replaced by timed rounds 3] and bareknuckle was replaced by padded gloves. Since modern boxers no longer need to knockout the opponent but rather can win by points scored, the number of jabs as opposed to solid punches has gone up dramatically. The moves are lighter and faster, with more emphasis in landing a greater number of points and a greater willingness to stay close in, since receiving the jab from a padded glove, though painful, usually cannot end the fight. Now the head can drop in closer to the hands, the center of balance shifts higher up into the torso instead of the hips, the weight shifts from the heels to the ball of the foot, and the fist strikes with the metatarsals rather than from the knuckles.
All of this means that the look of a stage fight will be very different if set in 1895 compared to 1995, but what never changes is the way that a stage combat technique is performed. A jab is a jab, a stomach punch is a stomach punch. The set-up and the picture might change due to the period specifics and the character choices, but the careful calculation of the action must conform to the safety needs of each simulation.
This is especially true for staged martial arts. Since many of your actors may have had some training in one style or another, each will have a certain preference on how a punch or block should be performed. Some will be adamant that their way is the correct way (often because they have never been taught another way), and certainly you may wish to incorporate interesting variations that actors may bring, or those from visiting martial artists, or even from the latest movie. Just remember that these variations can be incorporated into the look of the set-up and picture, but must never interfere with the mechanics of the action. Have doubts? Look at how each technique is performed and imagine the worst thing that can go wrong. It will happen. Not might; will. It’s merely a matter of time. Are you comfortable with that risk? Are your actors informed about those risks? As long as everyone is ok with the occasional broken nose or cracked vertebrae, than who am I to stop you? But if that gives anyone pause, cut the fight. Want a happy middle-ground? Re-block the moves so that energy is never directed towards another human being.
Putting together the moves.
No reason to go into choreography here (I’ll get to some basics at the very end of the chapter), but there is a certain natural progression in the types of moves that might be developed in a fight that shouldn’t be ignored. Mainly it comes down to damage sustained and adrenaline produced. A fight progresses only so long as the combatants can continue to sustain damage. When someone connects with a strong punch, it’s usually a fight ender. A connected punch to the stomach at best will knock the wind out of you, at worst will cause broken ribs and a ruptured spleen. A punch to the face will leave you at best with a runny nose and inflamed eyes, at worst with broken bones, a concussion, shattered eye, even death. To extend a fight into a barroom brawl where every punch continues to connect but doesn’t break a bone insults the audience. They will go along with a longer fight so long as the consequence of each action is not forgotten. Which in turn means that many strikes and kicks are going to have to miss or be effectively evaded or blocked on a longer fist fight.
As the movements are memorized, the actors must also add the character’s intention and reaction to each of the moves. Any fight scene is also an acting scene, so just as one can only say the lines as fast as the audience can understand them, the fight moves can be only as fast as the audience can follow the story that goes along with the moves. And just as we also nuance the delivery of our lines so as to add layers of interest in our characters, so must we go far beyond the mere performance of the fight in technical terms. So forget the idea of too fast or too slow. Think instead in terms of clarity, believability of intent, and emotional connection.
There are many instances in which your show will be better off by hiring someone as fight instructor rather than as choreographer. I mentioned before that the fights should be rehearsed as early as possible, but for many shows we have to amend that slightly to make sure that they are rehearsing the right thing.
For many modern shows, I don’t like to stick my nose in too early. I’ve found that as soon as I mention anything to the actors in terms of specific moves, even if only as a suggestion, they immediately latch onto it as though it were scripture. If on the other hand, the actors work their way into the scene and find out where their own impulses take them, the “fights” become more organically tied to the story that they are presenting.
I usually like to step in after the director and actors feel good about the nature of the emotional responses that are drawn out in their playing of the scene. That way I can take their impulses (“now I want to throw him to the ground”), and show them how to do it safely. But if I tell them that someone should be tossed to the ground before they themselves come up with that idea, that moment becomes a technical one for the actors instead of part of their creation. So for at least the first blocking, I prefer to let the actors rush to each other and even gently lay hands on each other, and then grunt or squeal or yell what they want to do. If nothing comes up on the first rehearsal, then maybe they’ll need more time to understand their characters. But I don’t like to have them or the director feel that we need to rush to get the fight blocking down too early. Better to have a brief fight and fully realized characters than a longer fight that is only an interruption of an exciting story.