The Art of Unarmed Stage Combat

Chapter 7Elements of Training

Should you desire the great tranquility, prepare to sweat.

Hakuin

Training to perform violence for use in stage and screen is as useful and applicable a skill for the actor as training in dance, mask, dialects, on-camera work, Chekhov, Williams, or Shakespeare. Studying these aspects of performance will primarily increase an actor's ability to easily perform in shows that require the skills each subject imparts. For the study of stage violence in particular, the works of such contemporary playwrights as Sam Shepard, Martin McDonagh, Philip Ridley, Sara Kane, and Tracey Letts demand a level of physical and psychological awareness of violence that is both explicit and implicit throughout their works. Naturally, one ...