On Tuesday, The Luxembourg Chronicle got the opportunity to talk with Claire Richardson who will be leading a workshop on Stage Fighting / Stage Combat this Saturday and Sunday at the TNL Atelier on Route de Longwy in Luxembourg-Belair.
The idea for the workshop originally cropped up during a conversation with Tara Donnell who is involved in the forthcoming NWTC/Pirates production of Oliver! in the Kinneksbond in Mamer in April, and she thought it could be very appropriate for the cast of Oliver! - as well as for any other actor or budding actor - who could be interested (a separate workshop is being organised for the Oliver! cast).
Claire grew up in Luxembourg and went to London to study acting. She recalled "In the first year of drama school I saw the second years doing combat training, grappling with each other and throwing kicks and punches about. I met the combat teachers / fight directors and they invited me to week-end workshops which covered all the basics - the hits, the kicks and the storytelling. From there I fell in love with the concept of "pretend violence" and punching someone in the face without really doing it. In my second year I started doing the Level 1 BADC course. I completed all four levels over two years, so I finished by the time I left drama school, qualified as an Advanced Fight Performer."
This has taken Claire to a lot of interesting places, including recently working on a Viking horror film where she played two roles, a servant girl and an alien tree monster, both roles requiring combat skills. She also started doing some fight choreography three years ago, including in a production of Titus Andronicus. "That was a lot of fun. I made a member of the audience throw up" she recalled, with an impish grin.
"I've found it's really opened up my castability in that I don't look like a figher. It's opened things up for more action roles and I've ended up getting more roles as prostitutes getting into fights, quite ironic really." Since then, Claire has added many weapons to her repetoire. "You know you're doing a good job when you hear the audience wince!".
So, this week Claire is back in the Grand Duchy. At the week-end worshops, Claire will we leading unarmed combat, covering the basics - slaps, pushes and hair-pulls. From that she will then go on to brawl-type fights and lots of dying...
If the workshop is a success, it could be run on a more regular basis.
To enrol in the workshops, organised by the Giles Foreman Centre for Acting (Luxembourg), see www.gfcalux.com.
Photo by Geoff Thompson: Claire Richardson
