Scurvy Companions

Shakespeare wrote some of the most beautiful poetry and sweetest love scenes in history. But, as we all know, he also thought up some of the grisliest fight scenes and murders. How do you stage Macbeth and Macduff’s duel, or Lavinia’s maiming, or Mercutio’s death? Fight choreographer and master David Brimmer is here to shed some light on what those fights do for the story, and how actors get them onstage.

David has been working in fight choreography for 40 years, and has staged fights for both Shakespearean and contemporary work for Broadway, film sets, and regional theaters across the United States. He is a renowned Fight Master with the Society of American Fight Directors, and founded the stage combat program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He has choreographed for scads of famous directors, actors, and playwrights; one of his recent credits was choreographing for Spring Awakening on Broadway.

Today David will talk with us about how he got started in stage combat, how the certification process for stage combat works, how to stage the reality of pain in stage fights, and why combat is meaningful in Shakespeare’s works.

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