By Heather Johnson-MPCC
Falls, knife fights, battles for control – they don’t just happen.
At least they shouldn’t.
That’s according to Mark Hardiman, theater and speech instructor at McCook Community College. For a little over a month, he has been helping the cast of North Platte High School’s upcoming production of “West Side Story” learn the ins and outs of stage combat.
“A lot of times, we think of stage combat as the big things – the fight scenes, events of that nature,” said Hardiman. “In reality, stage combat is anything actors do that involves physical conflict. That includes the little actions as well – something as simple as grabbing someone by the arm. That can be potentially dangerous. There’s a safe way to do it, so there’s no bruising.”
He said there’s a fair amount of stage violence, including a switchblade fight, in “West Side Story.” Even scenes that involve falling must be thought out.
“When people fall, the first instinct is to throw down a hand to catch themselves,” said Hardiman. “The problem with that is wrists can be injured, shoulders can be injured. It’s not safe. Stage combat teaches us the safe way of falling, which is basically sitting down gently and landing on large muscle masses.”
He believes stage combat needs to be considered before beginning any production.
“Any sort of movement is a design element,” Hardiman said. “It’s important for fight choreographers to work with costume and set designers early on because it makes the process smoother, faster and easier.”
Hardiman’s experience
Hardiman has spent years honing his stage combat skills. As a member of The Society of American Fight Directors and Dueling Arts International, the two biggest stage combat organizations in the U.S., he regularly attends workshops to learn new techniques.
He has shared his expertise at multiple educational institutions and even developed his own safe weapon forms of fighting.
“I take what people have actually done and turn it into moves that can be used on stage,” Hardiman said. “A large part of my study has been developing forms useful for us in the theater all based on principles of real-life fights. We always try to put the partner - the one receiving the aggression - in control and set up systems of communication so they can do that.”
The sword and buckler method is an example of that.
“It’s out of the oldest living fight book,” Hardiman said. “It’s a technique not taught in standard form by either of the fight organizations that I’m a part of, but it was used in the 14th and 15th centuries and continued through the Renaissance era.”
Hardiman developed a safe approach to sword and buckler dueling using text from the original fight book. He has also designed safe ways to mimic cutlass and saber fighting, which he’s happy to share with area theater departments.
“It’s all part of the growing I want to accomplish here,” Hardiman said. “I want to bring in more combat and movement training to the area. It just makes our students more competitive when they move on to the next program.”