Q: Please introduce yourself and your experience with stage fighting.
A: My name is Brennan Pickman-Thoon, and I am a New York-based actor, writer, and director. My experience with stage combat is wrapped up in my interest in classical theatre – It’s hard to make it through a Shakespeare play without picking up a sword.
Q: How long have you been interested or involved with stage fighting?
A: While I had known the basics of stage combat for a while, my first in-depth training came in my junior year of college at NYU. I took an Unarmed Stage Combat class with Fight Master J. David Brimmer, and I was hooked. I took another semester of Unarmed, then Broadsword, then Rapier & Dagger. I am certified by the Society of American Fight Directors in all three categories.
Q: What does expert stage fighting look like? ie, what do you do to be a responsible, successful stage fighter?
A: Truly impressive stage combat is, above all, safe. It doesn’t matter how impressive your moves are or how well you can sell the hits, if you aren’t taking care of yourself and your partner, you are a terrible stage combatant. This is why beginner classes place much emphasis on safely mastering the basics before moving on to more complex techniques. After safety, great combat is linked to great acting. A fight is much like a conversation: there is an impulse, an action, a reaction, then a responding impulse. Wash, rinse, repeat. A fight just happens to use physical action instead of words.
Q: Describe your experience with medieval or “period” costume. What was your favorite costume that was representative of a different age?
A: Last spring, I helped a friend and NYU film department alumni with his passion project: A live-action Legend of Zelda movie. For this particular combat scene, we needed to be dressed as guards of the Hyrulian army. The day of shooting was pretty crazy. We were dressed as knights, swinging swords at each other, in the middle of Central Park. Tourists were confused, but also delighted! We had to stop several times because passersby wanted to take photos with us. This is the element that makes period costume fun and unique. It has the power to take us out of our daily lives and make us imagine other worlds.
Q: What makes you passionate about the stage fighting? What makes you passionate about acting in costume?
A: Stage combat is a necessary part of storytelling. When words fail us and conflict escalates, as it often does in theatre, film, and (sadly) real life, violence occurs. It is important, though, to honor the reality of violence, not just the eye-catching excitement. One of the concepts that my combat teacher drilled into our heads was the importance of pain. We have to know how violence causes pain, and be able to realistically portray this pain, in order to honestly depict the consequences of violent action. With this honesty in mind, we can use stage combat to help illustrate the conflict of our stories.