Stage Combat (BASSC): The Lion (18+)

Philip d’Orléans is a member of the Equity Register of Fight Directors with twenty years of professional experience. He has worked throughout Europe and America, alongside being the Physical Skills instructor at RADA for seventeen years. As an Equity Register fight director Philip has worked with the RSC, Shakespeare’s Globe, Royal Opera House, Korea National Opera, Royal Court, English National Opera, and many more. Philip’s screen work includes films for Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures and documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4.

Janet Lawson is the founder of Stage Fight Scotland and a Master At Arms of the BASSC. In addition to teaching around the UK, she has also taught in the USA, Germany, Tenerife and China.  In August 2016, she was on the teaching faculty of the World Stage Combat Conference held in Toronto, Canada and was made an honorary Fight Director with Fight Directors Canada.  She was an Instructor at The Paddy Crean International Workshop 2018 in Banff, Canada. Fight directing work includes Medea and Exodus for the National Theatre of Scotland, Bold Girls for Cumbernauld Theatre and Bitch Boxer for Acting Coach Scotland. Other work includes: Fight Club, The Immersive Experience for Glasgow Film Festival, Kes for Horsecross Arts at Perth Theatre, and many more.

Stephen Louis (he/him) is the Secretary and Chief Anthologist of the BASSC, a Reciprocal Dramatic Combat Teacher with the BADC, and an Adv. Actor/Combatant with the SAFD. He has previously served as Actor/Combatant Representative and Certified Teacher Representative for the BASSC. He has fight directed and stunt coordinated shows across four different countries, and is a published author eight times over. Stephen also holds a BA in Acting from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and an MA in Dramaturgy from Birkbeck. Stephen possess residency in the UK thanks to Arts Council England, who deemed him a “Fight Director of Exceptional Promise”.

Dr. Rob Myles is a multi-award-winning director, actor and teaching artist. A Certified Teacher with the British Academy of Stage & Screen Combat, Rob is the resident stage combat instructor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and a fight director for regional theatre and independent film. Rob is a Shakespeare specialist, creator of Original Parallels, The Shakespeare Deck, Illuminated Text, The Show Must Go Online, and the Owning Shakespeare Podcast. Previously, Rob has played over 30 Shakespearean roles in off-west-end and regional touring productions. His book, Innovation & Digital Theatremaking (Routledge), is available now. After winning The Big Idea Award at The Stage Future of Theatre Conference in 2025, Rob is actively developing the National Repertory Network (nationalrepertorynetwork.com) to create a more stable and optimistic future for theatre in every region of the UK.

There are no entry requirements for this course.

Stage Combat is a highly physical activity. Students should have a good level of fitness and be prepared to be active throughout the day. Stage Combat choreography is accessible for all bodies, although students should consider their ability to sustain intensive physical exercise.

We ask that students be open, respectful and willing to participate in discussion and practical activities.

If you have any questions about this class or the support we can offer, please get in touch with us at shortcourses@rcs.ac.uk

Course Preparation

• Please come ready for practical work, dressed in comfortable clothing suitable for movement.
• Bring a towel, hoodie, scarf or other long, flexible weapon that you don’t mind being stretched.
• Bring a note pad and pencil in case you wish to make notes.
• Please bring a bottle of water to keep hydrated during the course. Refilling stations are available throughout the building.
• Please bring food and/or snacks for the day as there are limited facilities by Wallace Studios.

Class 1

Thrill of the Chase: Games as Fighting and Fighting as Games – Stephen Louis (BASSC Certified Teacher and BADC Certified Teacher)

You’ll play variations of a classic party game in order to better understand the inside of a fight. Level up your technique and performance, then apply it to choreography. Swords and scarves at the ready!

Class 2

Locks and Takedowns – Janet Lawson (BASSC Master At Arms and Stage Fight Scotland Founder)

You will learn how locks work, the mechanics that make them more effective, and how to use them to take control of your partner’s movement and take them down to the ground. Learn and practise the actual techniques in a safe way, for more realistic action performance.

LUNCH

Class 3

Flexy Fighting – Rob Myles (BASSC Certified Teacher and Stage Fight Scotland Principal Instructor)

Adapting techniques from FMA, we will explore the use of a flexible improvised weapon such as a towel, hoodie or rope (Bring Your Own Implement!). Discover how to defend, distract, attack, control and even kill with something soft.

Class 4

Cut Throat Razor – Philip D’Orleans (BASSC Master Teacher and Equity Registered Fight Director)

A domestic implement which was used as a weapon of close-up terror for over a hundred years.  In this class we will be using safe razors with no edge and we will explore a variety of different attacks and defences, culminating in a short choreography.

Class 5

Marozzo’s Pressas – Philip D’Orleans (BASSC Master Teacher and Equity Registered Fight Director)

In 1536 Achille Marozzo wrote a rapier manual titled “Opera Nova”.  The last section deals with how to grapple an attacker who is armed with a dagger.  In this session we will study some of the images of these” pressas” and reverse-engineer them to discover how they work.