We all know there is A LOT of blood, murder and gore in "Macbeth". How does it all look so real and cool? Adam Rutledge. Fight chroeographer extraordinaire. Here is a dip into the madness.....
Q: As a fight choreographer, can you explain a little bit about the process of getting certified to teach and choreograph stage combat?
A: I've studied stage combat for a little over ten years, now. I started during high school with a very short master class at a Texas Educational Theater Association conference, which gave me just enough knowledge to be very, very dangerous. After I graduated high school, I took several classes at Southeast Missouri State University before eventually attending my first major workshop under the auspices of the Society of American Fight Directors. The SAFD is a national organization dedicated to teaching the art of stage combat, and they have a standardized way of teaching that makes it very simple to learn the basics. I've been a member of the SAFD since 2004, and they have recognized me as proficient in all eight weapons they teach. The proficiency test process is fairly rigorous, requiring at least thirty hours of instruction in a particular weapon discipline, culminating in the performance of a fight scene which is evaluated for safety, acting value, and overall intensity.
So I've gone through that process eight different times, and actually performed in several more test fights as a partner for other actor-combatants. Actor-combatant is the term the SAFD uses for members recognized as proficient in several weapons; although there's a huge emphasis in the organization on safety, stage combat is part of a performance, so acting is incredibly important. If you just do a few moves safely, it looks less like a fight and more like a martial arts kata: interesting, but neither visceral nor exciting.
Q: What approach do you take when teaching a novice actor? A professional?
A: The first thing I always look for is skill level in stage combat, as well as in general movement for the stage. I don't care if an actor is Equity or SAG, or if he or she has a dozen or a hundred shows under his belt; I need to know if he can move or not. From there, it's just a matter of getting the right technique down, to make sure we're speaking the same language. I'll always have a session or two that are just going over technique, not learning any choreography yet, no matter how long my combatants have been acting, just because I need to know they'll understand what I mean when I say, "cut high outside." Once I know they'll understand my instruction, I can start putting down choreography.
Q: How do you work out the choreography beforehand? Is it in your brain? Do you write things down? Do you dream fight choreography at night?
A: Hah! I don't usually dream choreography unless it's someone else's choreography I'm trying to remember. Usually, I like to sit down with a director and discuss general themes of the show, what a director is planning to do with the text of the play. I'll go into a show knowing the general shape of the fight, how it progresses from beginning to end without knowing the specific techniques it will use. Then I'll talk to the director about my ideas and make necessary changes. At that point, it's very similar to any other tech aspect of the show: a set designer comes up with a plan, then shifts that plan based on what the director has to say. With Macbeth, I actually gave Julie a fairly thorough synopsis of the fights, written as prose. It's a good method of conveying my ideas without getting bogged down in details that will likely change anyway. After that, I started actually teaching the actors technique before I set any real choreography. Since I knew a rough shape of the fight, I knew what techniques I needed to teach, but I still didn't have set, blow-by-blow choreography. Once I started actually doing choreography with the actors, it's actually a fairly organic process. I knew I wanted the midpoint of the Macbeth/Macduff fight to come out of a tight spiral, largely controlled by Macbeth, into a sudden break and then a wounding from Macduff, but I didn't know exactly how many moves it would take to make that happen.
Once I had the actors on stage and could actually see how we worked together, what kind of distancing we had, and so forth, I was able to fill in the specifics. Much like regular stage blocking, I knew we had to start in one place and end up in another; I just had to figure out the steps to get there! After that, there were of course little tweaks that had to happen to fix things here and there, and that's where I will usually have my flashes of random "aha!" moments, sometimes in line at the Giant Eagle or in the shower, or someplace else where it's comical for me to start running choreography by myself.
Q: Favorite weapon to use onstage?
A: Oooh. That's tough, but I think probably the knife. It's a very intimate weapon, with plenty of opportunity for really visceral choreography. It's also a very specific weapon; if someone swings a broadsword at your face, you can just duck and the audience will get it. A knife is so small on stage, your victim has to be very particular about their reactions to an attack: was that a cut at your throat? or your eyes? Knife fights, I think, have the best chance to really get under an audience's skin.
Q: What is a fight call? Why are they necessary?
A: Fight call is basically a brief rehearsal of the show's fights, done shortly before every performance. I usually start fight calls during tech week, if not before, because the actors don't have time during a run to work the fights anymore. My fight calls consist of a mark-through of the fight, just to see that the actors understand their space. Then they'll do a run of the fight at about 3/4 performance speed. I don't do full performance speed in a fight call because I don't want anyone to blow their steam without an audience, but I need the actors to come pretty close just so we can see everyone's moving at the same pace. So, right before showtime, the actors have run each fight twice.
The process does several things. First, it ensures the actors that they remember all the choreography--it's just like going over a monologue right before going on to perform it. Second, it gives the fight captain a chance to give any necessary notes, which may be about choreography--"keep your point low when you duck"--or environmental issues--"keep an eye out when you enter for this fight, someone left a grape on stage during last night's show"--or even just compliments about the fights' general awesomeness. Finally, I think it helps get actors pumped for the show they're about to put on.
Q: Any favorite stage combat stories you wish to share with the class?
A: I mentioned earlier having enough knowledge to be dangerous after my first combat class. I thought I was really hot stuff after that 90-minute master class, so I decided to stage a fight for my senior year talent show. Long story short, I was way too heavy with my blade--I was hitting my partners' swords very hard--and I had no clue how to teach other people what little I knew. Half an hour before the show, we ran through the fight one last time and one of our swords broke. We didn't have a replacement, so we decided to go on with one of the three swords six inches shorter and far more jagged than it should have been. Then, during the performance, one of my fight partners went up on choreography, forgot where he was because we were both very caught up in the moment. I must have blinked in that moment, and it's lucky I did, because when I left the stage I looked in the mirror and found he had cut me on the eyelid! I learned a lot of things from that: light bladework is a good thing; keep a safe fighting distance so if you miss on choreography, you don't hit your partner; and always stay aware of your fight, because getting lost in the moment can be a very bad thing. I'm lucky I still have two eyes after that!
Q: Favorite fight/murder of the show?
A: I like them all, of course, but I think my favorite choreography is the Macbeth/Donalbain fight. I'm very proud of how it flows, of the cold inevitability of Mackers' triumph.
Q: Most challenging fight/murder of the show?
A: Definitely the last fight. We're so tired by the time we get to that point in the play; I know Randy must be completely exhausted! Plus, it's a longer fight, which always makes it a more difficult fight. Choreographing it was a challenge, too, because you have to find a way to allow for all that dialogue while keeping the danger of the fight going.
Thanks Adam!
