The Art of Unarmed Stage Combat

Chapter 1Overview of Stage Combat History

Attempting to assemble much less find resources for a written history of stage combat or violence in performance is a difficult task. Locating books on the subject is not impossible but can pose some problems as those volumes are few and far between in the publishing. The reason for this is two-fold. First, the study of violence for the stage, its concepts, techniques, and tricks is such a niche part of the greater study of Theatre as a whole that the demand for such books is usually on the smaller side. Second, since the need to actually perform these techniques is primarily a physical skill there is little substitute for being in the same room with the person teaching or choreographing the moves and ...