Student Actors Raise Their Swords
Students practicing stage combat in rehearsal. Photos by Ethan Kauffman.
Student actors in the Department of Performing Art’s upcoming production of The Herstory of Henri IV pt. 1 have been swapping schoolbooks for swords. Henri IV is a gender-bent adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, pt. 1, opening this week at the Katzen Arts Center’s Studio Theatre.
To prepare students for the play’s complex fighting scenes, AU Fight Choreographer-in-Residence Robb Hunter has been working closely with students through rehearsals. Hunter has been with AU for 16 years, teaching classes in movement, stage combat, and acting, and choreographing movement for more than 40 theater productions. While many shows do not include fight scenes, Hunter’s work involves teaching many aspects of choreography, including how to move, fall, and work with other actors. “A lot of the work that I do crosses into partnered movement, consent and boundary work,” Hunter says. “It’s rare that we actually have long, intricate fight scenes like we do in Henri. It’s really fun to do this type of work.”
Robb Hunter (left) and Jae K. Gee (right)
Students to Swordfighters
Behind what the audience sees—a seamless routine of movement clashing swords—are carefully choreographed sequences rehearsed countless times. Like most people in the twenty-first century, a majority of Henri actors had no experience with sword fighting before rehearsals began in January. “Fight choreography is a unique experience,” says Elena Zimmerman (CAS/KSB ‘25). “You have to be extremely tuned in to everything that is happening around you. It is really a team sport: you and your partner are in constant communication with your bodies, words, and postures.”
When productions include fight scenes, whether or not they involve weapons, Hunter’s first job is to ensure the actors’ safety. For Henri, Hunter taught the actors how to safely handle and wield weapons. Although the blades are unsharpened, the weapons the actors work with are real, and similar in weight and construction to those used in the fourteenth century. “Early rehearsals are about drilling in safety,” says Hunter. “The students are very conscious of it—you can really hurt yourself or others if you do not pay strict attention to the many safety techniques that make this work possible.”
Jae K. Gee (CAS ‘24), who plays The Douglas, has taken previous classes in both armed and unarmed conflict with Hunter. This time, she was challenged with wielding new weapons on stage—a double-bladed axe and a spear. “While the same principles of fighting that I have a strong background in apply, the specific moves and flow of the weapons in Henri is completely different,” Gee says. “It’s very similar to learning a new style of dance for a musical.”
Lucille Rieke (left) and Elena Zimmerman (right).
Storytelling through Movement
After teaching students how to handle the weapons safely, Hunter’s next job is to help the production’s director, Kate Eastwood Norris, tell the play’s story through movement. Hunter choreographed the sword fights with a mind towards historical accuracy, Shakespearian theatricality, and the play’s contemporary twists. For Zimmerman, who plays the fiery Hotspur, learning how to fight on stage was essential to telling her character’s story. “It’s been neat trying to figure out how this character releases energy through physical combat,” she says. “This character has been trained to be a strong fighter and exercises these skills on a regular basis. It’s important to me to become as comfortable as possible with movements that are second nature to my character.”
For Gee, learning to fight in character connects the mental and physical components of acting. “Fighting happens in a play when the stakes and tensions are so high that the only tool a character has left to pursue their objective is violence,” says Gee. “As a performer, it’s my job to embody that.”
Over the years, Hunter has found that AU students are always up for a new challenge, from hand-to-hand combat to wielding Medieval weapons. “They make my job fun and entertaining,” says Hunter. “There’s nothing better than going into a room where everyone is as excited as you are to work.”
See The Herstory of Henri IV, pt. 1 at the Katzen Arts Center Studio Theatre February 28-March 2. Tickets are $10-$15, free for AU students with ID.