Last night I had the pleasure of attending a rehearsal in Kenilworth's gorgeous Priory Theatre to lend a hand to the Director of "The Long and The Short and The Tall". Having made contact with me through the director of "Tom, Dick and Harry", I had been invited in to assist with the fight scenes in the production. Right up my street, but nevertheless, the nerves were jangling as I came in as the "expert outsider" to this small group of closely knitted AmDrams.

 A quick chat with John, the director, revealed that there were five fight scenes within the production that he wanted me to choreograph. The plan was for them to run them past me in chronological order, showing me what they currently had, and then I would step in and tweak as required. As the first scene was run through, I realised that tweaking would not be an option, and total redirection was going to be required. The fights originally looked faked, forced, and the performers weren't using the space they had effectively. Time to step in!

 
What followed was two hours of regression for myself, as once again I became head trainer (I previously ran a wrestling school), working my damndest to ensure I got the absolute best out of what i had to work with. As it turned out, what I had to work with wasn't bad at all, and most scenes turned out pretty well. A particular favourite of mine is the second fight between the Northern hard man and the weaker southern soldier. Controlled violence at it's best, as a kick to the groin, headbutt and sucker punch I demonstrated to the protagonist brought shocked cries from the resting actors in the seats. Now, I said "most" scenes turned out pretty well. Except the final scene...

The final scene was an exercise in telling a story. I don't want to ruin the plot, but the fighting in the final fight requires slow build, escalation and genuine anger. It was a lot to ask of anyone who wasn't used to combat - let alone the entire cast. However, this scene didn't just turn out pretty well, it was fantastic. I'm not taking the credit here - most of my direction was placing bodies in certain places whilst lines and action were run to ensure that the audience got full view. I assisted with a bit of line/action timing, and that was about it. Once the performers were comfortable with their positions and timings, they really went for it. What transpired was a genuinely tense scene, acted with extraordinary ability and I have no doubt in my mind that those 45-60 seconds will stay with the audience for some time. My congratulations goes out unreservedly to the performers if they can pull off on the night what they did last night.

So why not join me at Kenilworth Priory Theatre?

Performances are as follows: