The Importance of Play

The name of the site is PlayFighting, so I would be remiss not to talk about play.

Experts on Play

TED, the annual conference on Technology, Entertainment and Design, hosted an entire sub-conference on “Serious Play” in 2008. Here is one seminal talk from that show:

Play in Stage Combat

With regard to staged violence, the final product that is performed for the audience is always choreographed and no part of it is improvised. However, in the beginning stages of rehearsal play is helpful.

• The actors need to trust each other. Play in a safe environment permits trust.
• The actors need to familiarize themselves with the weapons. If we start with choreography from the start, then it will never be more than a series of planned moves. Good stage combat is like good dance: the audience should believe it is spontaneous.
• Everyone is different. Some actors will have knee problems, or a previous wrist injury, and everyone is a different height. Play will show me what feels natural and optimum for the actor instead of imposing cookie-cutter choreography.

Entertainers Work and Play

However, what the audience sees is our work, not our play. A good comedian writes jokes and routines, memorizes them, and performs them in the way he thinks will have the funniest delivery. Bad comedians improvise. When a gag flops, a good comic can go back to his script and try something different with his set-up or punchline and see if the result is better or worse.

It’s the same with stage combat: the performance originates from play, but it is work that can be precisely replicated. Safety is the reason we choreograph. For fighting games to be safe, the players have to be slow, and obey certain rules. To make a fight convincing on stage, the fighters need to appear to be trying to kill the other: fast, desperate, and usually not rule-bound. We can’t improvise that. So we plan everything.

My Play Process

If time permits, I usually start with some exercises or games that get the actors moving and playing without any weapons. This gives them physical contact and the feeling of confrontation without any danger. Then, we can get into the choreography remembering that feeling of trust and keeping our freedom of movement. At some points, I’ll ask the actor, “What do you want to do now?” This keeps the performer involved in the creation process and enhances their memory as well. But in the end, it’s to recapture the game’s quality: making choices to win as a part of safe play.