You may have noticed an absence of updates for a couple of weeks, this is due to a series of events which I could not have foreseen and seem strange even in recollection.
A few Fridays ago I was contacted by Katerina Antonenko on behalf of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. "We have a problem", she said, and I knowing that we share a training hall with them assumed a problem with the venue... It was not that kind of problem... .
Without going into great detail, they were arranging a madrigal for The Noble Art of the Sword exhibition at the Wallace collection, and due to unforeseen circumstances were without a fight choreographer/sword master.
And that is where I, a martial artist and swordsman, with no previous knowledge of fight choreography came in.
There was a very brief email exchange between the director of the piece Andrew Lawrence king and myself, in which went something like this...
Andrew: "thanks for getting involved, I have translated the piece for you so you can see what you are choreographing", from which I offer you a snippet...
"No disengaging, no parrying, no avoiding:
that’s not wanted: this is no place for subtlety.
They don’t use feints, small or weak attacks:
darkness and fury prevent the use of the Art.
Listen to the swords clashing horribly
steel on steel! Their feet don’t leave the spot.
Feet always fixed, hands always in motion,
no cut descends in vain, no point misses the target"
Me: "There is no way I can equate that with a fight scene involving, subtlety, art, feints and footwork Andrew!"
Andrew: "I have an answer to this, trust me..."
He then vanished for several days, with me "trusting" him dubiously.
The meeting.
The following Thursday I got to meet the crew, Katerina (the closest you will ever come to a human Swiss army knife - all pictures are courtesy of her), a group of actors working in a basement, two sets of Tancredi, Clorinda and Tasso and Andrew L.K... going through the motions. I watched them for a few minutes before Andrew explained his vision of the piece:
"Everything that the text says they did none of, we illustrate to the audience"
"so, there was no parrying-like this"
"no feinting-like so"
"and definitely no stepping-like this".
SOLD! Though why he couldn't have said that by email ;)... Truth be told I'm glad he waited, as that 30 minute intro allowed us to prattle off ideas insanely quickly, and we had the first part of the fight sorted in short order.
"Right" said Andrew, "I have to go" and into the deep end I was thrown... Mind you, I imagine the feeling amongst the actors as I walked in grinning was more of a non verbal Rorshach quote; "None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me..."
The Challenge.
If you look at Tancredi e Clorinda online, you will find several versions of the piece, often beautifully sung, but somewhat lacking in focus with regards to the combative element. Andrew wanted to move away from this for two very good reasons.
Monteverdi, the composer of the piece, was an avid fencer and owned his own copy of CapoFerro, so it was likely he knew his stuff. Plus, Andrew is a student of the sword (studying with Guy Windsor) and likes things stabby to be accurate.
So we wanted to steer clear of things like aiming off, and needless, out of distance clanging together of weapons.
However, we had certain demands and constraints:
We wanted the piece to be historically accurate.
None of the actors had any experience of swordsmanship.
The piece is very structured and timed.
No face or body protection was to be used.
On the first and last points I didn't need to worry, we used a principle from Girard Thibault "arresting with courtesy" which means stopping the point before it touches your partner. This relies on two things: a great deal of trust in your partner and watching them in case you have to move the weapon.
In this regard it the reality of the training method could have made things a lot more dangerous, had either of the groups trained with anything less than total focus and commitment. Had they not displayed both I would not have let them perform; as it was, they excelled.
For historical technique Andrew was very keen to remain within the realms of Capoferro and Agrippa, however I snuck some Thibault in as well, as he has some very nice pieces that involve a spin which looks pretty and is practical; although the particular attack is not of great use against a shield, which again as the attack is meant to fail in the instance used, was perfect.
Tasso (the Narrator) also had some Thibault to run through, this was party due to Thibault's upright stance being easier for someone unfamiliar with the art and also because the Wallace Collection's exhibition has an almost full sized walking circle, and I didn't want the chance for the audience to see how it was used to be wasted.
So the fight scene became a melange of styles, but very much in keeping with the text of the piece.
Of course it was still stylised; it was necessary to keep the tempo in time with the music, and to have it match its meter and very specific narration.
On the day.
We had had such a short time to get the actors ready, and we had tried to not push them too hard (one of Andrew's great strengths in this event I feel, was his trust that once someone was asked to do something, they would do so and nothing more would be said). Which meant all the real effort had to come from the actors themselves. I saw them practising when they were meant to be on break, I saw them and I know, they trained hard to build their rapport.
There were two shows prior to the big ticketed events, these were free and in the upper gallery. However, to the main event...
The orchestra would play the beginning of the piece, nonchalant and pretty, but though skilled, deliberatively unimpressive and subdued.
During this time I was supposed to wander around and teach passers by and members of the orchestra in waiting to wave swords at each other (for which I'd bought a bundle of purpleheart dussacks without forewarning anyone), but as it happened (as it does when my enthusiasm mounts and I find two students of mine sitting right next to me), I went into auto shout, dragging them to the centre of the Wallace Collection courtyard and forcing them, along with the actors for the following performance to go through some Talhoffer and Meyer techniques....this stunned the diners in the courtyard into attentive silence,which set the scene wonderfully.
Again I wandered through Thibault's circle walking spinning and thrusting and enjoying myself far too much. before the main piece started.
This is where I must profess a little admiration. Andrew throughout was quietly enthusiastic, taking the punters through baroque gestures and concepts. But when he put his head down to play, he was lost, drowned in focus, and that was a thing to behold, as was the sound the orchestra presented...I now have to admit to being a little bit hooked on madrigals purely due to their efforts.
The players
Bearing in mind that the main man in this scene comes riding in on a chair, you would imagine it would be hard to take them seriously; even the music implies jaunty trotting. However it's a testament to the the piece, to the manner it was played - and ultimately to the actors - that I found myself slowly sucked in (as it seems did the audience). Gradually I lost my critical eye, "was the step in the right place, was the thrust delivered correctly" and got carried up in the mood of it all. The actors performed fantastically, and the last faltering notes of Clorinda's death song....I am most likely on camera sniffing like a fool... they were superb and my only regret is we couldn't have done it for longer.
The Exhibition:
The Wallace Collection have pulled off something amazing here: manuals from I.33 through to Thibault line the cases along with some of the nicest swords you will ever see. They have Thibault's circle for you to walk on (this was my idea). It's superbly presented and well thought out. If you are a fan of historical fencing, you have no excuse not to go. the exhibition is running until Sunday the 16th of September, make sure you go.
If you made it this far...
Because it is bank holiday, we will only be doing sickle and dussack this evening. Back to normal Wednesday.
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