Actors on Guard

Training, Rehearsal and Performance Techniques with the Rapier and Dagger for the Stage and Screen

Dale Anthony Girard

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9780367859183
  9780367859176
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000399059
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Acting & Auditioning

Actors on Guard, Second Edition is the most comprehensive book covering the current practices in learning, rehearsing and performing safe and dynamic swordfights with the single rapier and the rapier and dagger for both stage and screen.

Focusing specifically on the Elizabethan rapier and dagger – the most popular weapons used in stage fights – Actors on Guard provides actors, directors, teachers, stage managers and technicians the skills and knowledge essential to presenting safe and effective swordfights. The book takes the reader through the complex process of selecting safe stage weapons, learning the basic handling and management of the rapier and dagger, as well as how to safely move and interact in the potentially dangerous process of learning, rehearsing and performing choreographed swordplay. This new edition has been revised with current industry practices, featuring hundreds of step-by-step practical exercises in the care and handling of prop swords, footwork, guards, parries, cutting and thrusting techniques, blade taking actions, disarms, wounds and kills using the rapier and dagger, with revised diagrams and photographs.

An excellent sourcebook for university stage combat classes as well as self-learners, Actors on Guard provides the reader with the historical, theoretical and practical basis for mastering the art of sword fighting for the stage and screen.

The book includes access to a wealth of online resources, with additional information that expands upon specific mechanics, techniques and concepts covered in the text as well as some video demonstrations of solo and partnered techniques and exercises.

C
ENGAGING THE BLADES

CHAPTER 8
CROSSING SWORDS

… many at the first will waxe weary in their practice, yet such wearinesse is overcome by often exercise, and that new skill once obtained will be such a pleasure to thee, that it putteth all wearinesse out of thy remembrance.

(Swetnam, Schole, p. xi)

Now, sword in hand, you are finally ready to face your partner and put the practice of the past seven chapters to work! Prior to this chapter you have been more of a threat to yourself than anyone else, but here you take the safety of another in your hands. It is important, therefore, that you haven’t skipped ahead to this chapter, but are properly prepared to bring it all together. No matter how many techniques and rules for your safety are established in this text, there is no procedure devised by man that will protect you from carelessness or under-rehearsed techniques. Be sure that you are comfortable and confident, and that you have established safe techniques and habits before you cross swords.

TECHNIQUES FOR CROSSING SWORDS

A large amount of the foundational information for crossing swords has been covered in previous chapters. That allows this chapter to focus more on bringing all the previous techniques together, rather than burdening the process with a large amount of new information. Overwhelming you with additional rules, techniques, terms or drills when first exchanging blow and parry with another actor can force you into your head, out of the moment and away from your partner. Despite the best intentions, too much of anything new at this stage can shift your focus to remembering rather than doing, which can lead to accident or injury.

Nothing New – But Some Things to Remember

The following exercises and drills will be developed from components of previous drills and exercises. Everything that has been covered previously still applies here. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• These exercises are conducted at rapier measure.
• The Regulator, the combatant with the longer reach (larger blood circle), sets measure.
• The other combatant also checks their distance, noting how far their rapier’s tip is from Regulator’s chest, confirming pairing measure.
• Initiator leads the exercise, executing the initial attack.
• The tip of both offensive and defensive blades must not be directed at the face or throat.
• Thrusts may be online or offline, but the targets do not change.
• No target ambiguity. Both combatants need to know exactly where the sword is being directed, and each attack must only go to that specific target.
• The defending blade’s forte meets the offending blade’s foible at the parry’s completion (edge-to-edge).
• There is no percussive contact. Blades are lightly placed together, without shock, pressure or force.
• Cutting attacks will be met with an opposition parry and thrusting attacks with a deflection parry.

Although the previous chapter touched on it, the specific differences between the opposition and deflection parry were only terms and definitions. In practice, when the attack is added to the exercise, there are some things you need to be aware of.

Opposition Parry

Executed against a cutting attack, this parry aligns the defending blade with the attack and, using the forte like a shield, gives the impression of blocking the attack from reaching the body. To execute this parry properly, the blade’s defensive motion needs to appear as if it stops the cut at the exact point and moment where Initiator casts the cut. The point of completion of both cut and parry happen at the same place and time.

Deflection Parry

Executed against a thrusting attack, this parry aligns the defending blade with the attack and, using the forte to intercept the attack, diverts the thrust out and away from the body. Unlike the opposition parry, which meets the attack at its completion, the deflection parry needs to meet the thrust before completion and carry it offline. If the thrust is online, the parry actually meets the blade in motion and guides the point offline as the attack’s extension is completed. If the thrust is offline, the parry still intercepts the thrust and carries it from the offline point placement to where the parry stops, roughly 6² outside and in front of the body.

A deflection parry is not percussive. It does not strike or knock the thrust away. Rather, in both online and offline attacks, the parry gently guides the thrust aside, the blades remaining engaged at the action’s completion.

HELPFUL HINT: Be a good partner and don’t fight the parry. Give in the wrist as you would to break the thrust, and let your thrust be guided offline when parried.

Better Late Than Early

It is important for Respondent to not parry early. Many beginners, in an attempt to be a helpful partner, believe that getting the parry in place ahead of time provides something specific to attack. It does, but it is neither helpful nor dramatically effective. Training a partner to cut to the defensive weapon, rather than an open and exposed target, denies them of a truthful and playable action while lessoning the stakes in the moment. The parry needs to appear to stop a cut intended for the body, or deflect a thrust aimed at the body, and not just meet a blade outside the body. If the line is closed, and the audience perceives no danger, nothing is happening in that moment other than choreography. As such, the parry can almost be late, getting in place just before the cut is completed. When first doing these drills, it is actually better to be late than early to the parry. Don’t PARRY early! (Parry As Rapier Reaches You!)

HELPFUL HINT: As you parry, remember DEFEND – Direction, Edge, Forte, Effective, Near, Degree! It is not just where the parry ends, but how you get there that matters!

The KISS of Steel

Staged violence is acted aggression. Energy is sent beyond, not into a parry. Keep It Soft and Safe (KISS), where the blades can meet with passion, but always with care. The KISS of steel is the soft, safe touch of offensive and defensive blades. Aside from making the fight less abusive on the blades and actors, the kissing of steel allows the blades to ring on contact (which is desirable on stage).

HELPFUL HINT: Respondent, as you see the cue, try vocalizing the discovery and/or fear (“Ah!”) of the perceived attack before initiating the parry. Think of your defensive action in two parts; instinct (your fight or flight response), and then training (the execution of the parry).

Better Too Slow Than Two Pieces!

Crossing swords can be exciting, and may cause some to pick up the pace of an exercise. Try to curb this, breathe, and slowly mark through each drill, finding the timing in each technique. As mentioned earlier, a parry should not be waiting for an attack. But, also, an attack should not stop shy of the body and wait for a parry. The attack and parry must be completed together. As you find your timing, slowly pick up the tempo. Do not rush this process. Even though you may feel entirely com fortable, your partner may not. Both combatants must be ready to move on before the tempo of any routine is increased.

Stationary ARC Offensive-Defensive Exercises

Stationary Redoublement Drill

The format of this exercise is based on the parry drills from the previous chapter which were practiced move-to-move. ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Preface
• List of Illustrations
• List of Plates
• Acknowledgments
• To the Reader
• A Foundations of Technique
• B The Single Rapier
• C Engaging the Blades
• D The Rapier and Dagger
• E Moving From Page to Stage
• HARM – Handy Acronym Reference Materials
• Bibliography
• Index