20 Jan 2024
A kitbag is thrown on the ground and a group of eager youths scramble to extract their choice of weapon, be it a sword, axe, staff or even a massive hammer…
But have no fear, their weapons are wood and the wielders are actors in the Company of Ten’s latest production, She Kills Monsters, running at the Abbey Theatre from January 26 to February 3.
Ahead of opening night the cast are continuing their stage combat training with professional fight director Roger Bartlett, an internationally renowned instructor who actually lives in Sopwell.
“This group have been really easy to train,” he tells me. “They’ve been just so keen and enthusiastic from Day One. Everyone bonded to create a really positive and supportive team in which everybody wants to raise their game.
“There are a LOT of fights in this play, lasting a few seconds to a few minutes, which is an absolute eternity in terms of stage fighting, ranging from one-on-one to mass battles involving all 12 actors, which in a small space is a real challenge.”
She Kills Monsters is a cult classic rarely seen in the UK which involves protracted sequences in the fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons, hence the brutal battles and savage swordplay which was unfolding in the studio at the Abbey Theatre last Sunday afternoon.
Roger, who has been a member of the Company of Ten since 1988, albeit normally as an actor, has taken on the responsibility for choreographing and directing all violent sequences in their shows, most recently the fights seen in Christmas play The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
He has been a stage combat teacher since 1991, but actually trained as an actor at the now defunct London Academy of Performing Arts in Fulham. He said this gave him a good grounding ahead of focusing on learning and training stage combat, eventually becoming a qualified teacher and Equity fight coordinator.
He has subsequently taught young actors at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire for the past 20 years, while also travelling around the world to countries including the Ukraine, Israel and Germany, working in drama schools at the same time as up-and-coming talent including en Whishaw, Tom Hiddleston, Nigel Byle and Catherine Tyldesley.
These days he regularly trains the talent in UK pantos, with the list of names he reels off his head featuring Sue Pollard, Jimmy Osmond, Robin Asquith and Lee Mead, and has assisted in a host of short films, documentaries and re-enactments including Sky TV’s women’s boxing series Right To Fight.
“Teaching a course is very different from teaching actors in a show,” he explains. “In a course you teach the fundamentals of different skills, whereas in a show you teach the actors what they need to know for that particular fight.”
He explains that despite the job title, what he is actually responsible for is any violence or scenes where a character loses control, such as falling over, smashing a room up or throwing things on stage, but he can also instruct in unarmed combat, sword fights, the use of stage firearms, staffs, knives and any other forms of weaponry.
Despite his long CV and list of achievements, he cites this latest show as one of the most technically challenging of his career: “There is such a variety of characters, weapons and styles and so many people! The audience also needs to feel comfortable and safe in order to engage and participate in the story, which is probably the biggest challenge.”
Watching members of the cast reenact their fights in slow-motion, muttering lines to get the timings right, its hard not to draw comparisons to a dance routine, which Roger agrees.
“The moves, the steps, who you’re facing, where you go next are all in someways like dancing, but if you mess up a dance routine the audience won’t sue you for dental work or hospitalisation, and that’s where this differs!”
