{"id":3854,"date":"2013-05-02T23:30:49","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T23:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/?p=3854"},"modified":"2013-05-02T23:30:49","modified_gmt":"2013-05-02T23:30:49","slug":"fight-scene-script","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/stage-combat-2\/fight-scene-script\/","title":{"rendered":"Fight Scene Script"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fight scenes are first of all scenes, and we&#8217;d all prefer to act in well-written and exciting plays. Here&#8217;s a selection of plays that have fight scenes, in no particular order. And it&#8217;s certainly not exhaustive.<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;re not categorized by weapon, since you can often substitute weapons without ruining the meaning of the conflict. I once saw a Glengarry Glen Ross scene (no fight is written in, but the scene has high conflict) as a long sword fight.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Choose<\/h2>\n<p>Whether you use this short list, or you find your own in a library, here&#8217;s what&#8217;s required in a fight script for FDC certification:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The total length (including fight) should be 3-5 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>The scene should tell us who each fighter is, and why they&#8217;re fighting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Plays with Fights<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Ian-Rose-dagger.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Ian-Rose-dagger-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Ian-Rose-dagger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-3857\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<em>Partial list based on a list compiled by Fight Master Ian Rose<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Treasure Island<\/em> by Robert Louis Stevenson<\/li>\n<li><em>Three Musketeers<\/em> and <em>Man in the Iron Mask<\/em> and <em>Count of Monte Christo<\/em> by Alexandre Dumas, p\u00e8re<\/li>\n<li><em>The Roaring Girl<\/em> by Thomas Middleton<\/li>\n<li><em>History of the Devil<\/em> by Clive Barker<\/li>\n<li><em>The Rover<\/em> by Aphra Behn<\/li>\n<li><em>Scaramouche<\/em> by Winn Bray<\/li>\n<li><em>Peter Pan<\/em> by J.M. Barrie<\/li>\n<li><em>The Beaux Stratagem<\/em> and <em>The Recruiting Officer<\/em> by George Farquar<\/li>\n<li><em>The Spanish Tragedy<\/em> by Thomas Kyd<\/li>\n<li><em>&#8216;Tis Pity She&#8217;s a Whore<\/em> by John Ford<\/li>\n<li><em>The Servant of Two Masters<\/em> by Carlo Goldoni<\/li>\n<li><em>Les Liaisons Dangereuses<\/em> by Christopher Hampton<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Shakespeare Gets His Own Category<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Taming of the Shrew<\/li>\n<li>Macbeth<\/li>\n<li>Henry IV Part I<\/li>\n<li>Henry IV Part II<\/li>\n<li>Henry IV Part III<\/li>\n<li>Richard III<\/li>\n<li>Othello<\/li>\n<li>Cymbeline<\/li>\n<li>King Lear<\/li>\n<li>Romeo &#038; Juliet<\/li>\n<li>Hamlet<\/li>\n<li>Twelfth Night<\/li>\n<li>Two Noble Kinsmen<\/li>\n<li>Henry VI Part I<\/li>\n<li>Troilus &#038; Cresida<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Moli\u00e8re Too<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Don Juan<\/li>\n<li>Forced Marriage<\/li>\n<li>The Miser<\/li>\n<li>The Would be Gentleman<\/li>\n<li>The Learned Ladies<\/li>\n<li>School for Wives<\/li>\n<li>Tartuffe<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>And So Does George F. Walker<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Zastrozzi, Master of Discipline<\/li>\n<li>Tough<\/li>\n<li>Escape From Happiness<\/li>\n<li>Criminals in Love<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Film Fights?<\/h2>\n<p>Fight Directors Canada discourage the use of film scripts for test fights. I know you love movies and want to act out the best film scenes. Here&#8217;s some good reasons not to:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Film is a different medium than live performance. Maybe you love it because of editing or other movie magic. If your evaluator has seen the movie, your version may be a disappointment.<\/li>\n<li>There is a real chance that you&#8217;ll be imitating or impersonating the role instead of making good acting choices<\/li>\n<li>Read a book! Get some culture!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Other Staging Options<\/h2>\n<p>These questions are for the FDC certification test. Naturally, you don&#8217;t need to follow these rules if you&#8217;re putting together a fight showcase or a short film.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Can I choose a play other than the ones listed?<\/strong> YES! Please bring new scripts, classical scripts, <\/p>\n<p><strong>Can I write my own scene?<\/strong> No.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Can we do a scene to music?<\/strong> Very creative, and often very moving\u2026 but here&#8217;s the main stipulations (not in official FDC documents, but how Fight Masters have regulated this in the past):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No more than one of your test fights can contain no dialogue.<\/li>\n<li>It must be very clear to the audience why they&#8217;re fighting, and actors must make even stronger choices.<\/li>\n<li>Be careful of the rhythm of the music. You shouldn&#8217;t ignore the tone and changes in mood, but you mustn&#8217;t make every sword contact and step match the beat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The more creative and interesting your script and interpretation, the better it will be received. It&#8217;s not just words to say, it&#8217;s an opportunity to share epic moments through history with other actors. Choose to be awesome. Then do the work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fight scenes are first of all scenes, and we&#8217;d all prefer to act in well-written and exciting plays. Here&#8217;s a selection of plays that have fight scenes, in no particular order. And it&#8217;s certainly not exhaustive. They&#8217;re not categorized by weapon, since you can often substitute weapons without ruining the meaning of the conflict. I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3863,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stage-combat-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/blog-fight-scenes.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3854"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3854"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3864,"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3854\/revisions\/3864"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}