There have been many skills that I’ve been able to learn during my training that have really challenged me, but I’d say one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced was trying out stage combat. It’s a skill I have been afraid to look into in the past as I’m not the most physical performer and we haven’t had to the chance to attempt workshops like this during previous projects, and I was scared my anxieties would get in the way of me performing at my best but overall, I was really happy with how the workshop went for me. I enjoyed getting to work with someone in my own company that I hadn’t worked with much in the past and for me it was a great bonding exercise for both of us where we could get how much chemistry we shared inside a scene. I’ve always heard that stage combat is very difficult and can be dangerous if not executed in the right way, but after learning the basics and understanding the principles of each movement in a sequence, it is exciting to get a new skill under my belt and I feel so much more comfortable about stage combat and how it is portrayed on stage.
It’s very important to keep sensible and avoid play fighting whilst doing stage combat and you must be able to check the distance between yourself and your partner regularly to avoid any incidents or injuries taking place, and I was very happy with how myself and the rest of the company conducted ourselves. I felt I was very professional, able to listen and play out the scene safely and myself and my partner were able to communicate very well, both verbally and non verbally. We learnt a simple sequence which included punches, slaps, hair grabs and pushes and I really liked how the workshop was structured so we added to movements together piece by piece, and this made it easier for me to watch how the move is executed through each movement, making sure to keep the distance between you and your partner and then how each move rolls into the next as smoothly as possible when learning the whole sequence. I also found it really helpful going through the move at different speeds and experimenting with different energies inside the scene, for example performing at 80% meant the action was very big and at a high speed and the reaction was exaggerated but not completely over the top. This made it really helpful to keep layering the movement and getting it into my body so that we can try the next move without having to relearn the previous ones, and I think this helped to make our sequence flow really well. Breath was also very important in this which links back to our work on melodrama, inhaling meant the actor was holding a lot of tension and exhaling felt like getting rid of all that tension and replacing it with a calmer atmosphere. It took me a while to check in with myself and make sure my breath is controlled throughout the piece and making sure it is audible and involved when it is right for the scene, but once I was able to clock my breathing, the movement and keeping safe, the sequence became very successful for me.
I thought this workshop was really good to include our Grotowski work and being able to pull and push inside our scene and how changing the movement also changes the energy inside a scene. I also liked how we looked at keeping ourselves grounded throughout this movement sequence and remember to check in with your partner throughout an intense scene like this, I felt our communication was really strong and we managed to keep the high energy up throughout the scene, whilst also keeping ourselves grounded and making sure we’re working at a safe distance. My favourite piece of combat I learnt was the hair pull as I found it really hard to execute at first but once we went through the moment step by step, I became much more familiar with it. As I was the one above pulling the hair, at first I was very focused on moving my partner in the right direction without actually grabbing or hurting them, but I soon realised that they were the ones who had to lead me where they needed to go but I needed to cheat it to make it look like I was throwing them. It took a while for me to let go and completely trust my partner to take me where they needed to go, but adding the push afterwards was really helpful for me to comprehend which direction my partner needed to go in, whilst checking in with distance, to make sure we’re in the right positions ready to go into the next move.
If I were to take part in this workshop again, I would like to be partnered with someone who isn’t in my company and that I haven’t developed a connection with yet. It would be good to experiment wih how the energy changes between each new person I’m with and what our chemistry is like. I really like getting to work with new people and see how we connect over learning different skills, and I hope I get to create more bonds with different actors through stage combat in the future!
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