Expert: John T. Aney - 4/6/2010

Question
Hello, I'm seventeen years old and I'm acting in a play a fellow student wrote. I play a very butch so to speak character and have a lot of fight scenes. I've never before done a fight scene and the drama program at my school is new and not fully developed. Therefor  I am wondering if you have any tips for me on stage combat in general and how to take a hit and such convincingly. Thank you so much!

Answer
Kyrsteena,

Stage combat is not something that should be taken lightly.  If you do not have access to a professional stage combat choreographer, you should not be doing any fighting onstage.  It's too risky, and too easy to get hurt.  If you have a teacher advising you or working with you, let them know that its not really acceptable to do a fight scene without an experienced fight coordinator.

jta