Stage Combat: Unarmed (with Online Video Content)

'This is a book about how to beat the living daylights out of another human being safely...' Roger Bartlett – professional fight director and Master Teacher for the British Academy of Stage & Screen Combat – leads you through everything you need to know in order to create and perform unarmed stage fights that are compelling, realistic and, above all, safe. Starting with the essential concepts, including Victim Control and Reversal of Energy, you will learn how to perform all of the following moves: Slapping Punching Kicking Strangling Pulling and Pushing Falling Locking Blocking Each technique is clearly described, extensively illustrated, and accompanied by online videos demonstrating it in slow motion and at full speed. Also included are chapters on understanding and conveying your character's pain, and creating and rehearsing your own fight sequence. For those already trained in stage combat, it will serve as a comprehensive reminder of what you have learned, and supplement your ongoing training. For amateur, fringe and student companies, the book offers a thorough understanding of the practicalities of staging a fight, but also helps you to recognise when you may need to call upon the services of a qualified professional. Whatever your current level of experience, Stage Combat: Unarmed is the essential book for directors, actors, students and teachers, or indeed anyone looking to incorporate safe, effective stage fights into their productions.

About the Author :
Roger Bartlett is a Master Teacher and Examiner with the British Academy of Stage & Screen Combat (BASSC), the UK's leading provider of stage-combat training. He has taught at events and workshops throughout Europe and the United States; schools including the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Nissan Nativ Acting Studio in Jerusalem; and has been the stage-combat teacher at the Birmingham School of Acting since 2003 and City Lit, London, since 2004. He is the author of Stage Combat: Unarmed, published by Nick Hern Books. He is also an Equity-registered fight director and has worked on many varied productions for venues including Liverpool Everyman, the Bush Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Theatre Royal Bath, Southwark Playhouse, the Finborough Theatre, the Gala Theatre, Durham, and Warwick Castle – and companies including Paines Plough, Sell A Door and Iris Theatre. He was the Associate Fight Director for the National Theatre's worldwide hit One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean. For film, he has worked as part of the stunt team for the Vertigo Films production Hammer of the Gods, the popular TV show Vikings, and fulfilled a dream when he was able to kill a zombie or two in Apocalypse. Having started out as an actor, working on small-scale and fringe-theatre productions and student films, he still regularly acts and directs for the Company of Ten, an amateur theatre company based at the Abbey Theatre, St Albans. He lives in the city with his wife and cat. Visit his website, www.fights4stage.com.

Review :
'An excellent and informative guide to stage fighting that teaches the user with surgical intricacy… the companion website is invaluable… suited to novices and experienced fighters alike' 'A really useful book... simple, easy to read, and totally practical... offers more than safe and effective ways to fight; it offers opportunities that may not have been thought of' 'Very precise and detailed... has the potential to help drama students consolidate what they’ve learned in class and/or to be a useful manual to anyone – amateurs, or school students for instance – coming to this for the first time'