Sunday, 23 February 2025

LAMDA Assessment September 2024

The British Guild of Stage Combat

Proficiency Examinations


LAMDA John Wood Studio


Wednesday 11th September 2024


Examiner: Jonathan Jaynes


Combat Masters: Rodney Cottier, Joseph Reed 


Level Three [Advanced]

Advanced with Distinction

Emma Green – Hutton Sabre

Carly Helms – Hutton Sabre

Andrew Vose – Hutton Sabre

Lilly Rose Zepeda – Hutton Sabre


Level Two [Intermediate]

Distinction

Eduardo Hernández - Sabre

Lucy Krubiner - Sabre

Leo Oliva - Sabre


Merit

Austin Evans -Sabre 

Philippine Fauchier-Magnan -Sabre 

Pepper Jensen- Sabre


Pass

Alexander Holliday - Sabre 

Jacob Proctor - Sabre


LAMDA Assessment June 2024

The British Guild of Stage Combat

Proficiency Examinations


LAMDA John Wood Studio


Monday 17th June 2024


Examiner: Jonathan Jaynes


Level Three [Advanced]

Advanced with Distinction and Examiner’s Gold Star

Benjamin Raymant – Swept-Hilt Rapier & Main Gauche Dagger

Jaylon Bolden - Stick & Unarmed

Max Pink – Swept-Hilt Rapier & Main Gauche Dagger

Nigel Sudarkasa – Stick & Unarmed


Advanced with Distinction

Alexandra Montalbano - Sabre

Brock Looser – c18th Smallsword

Emma Haines– c18th Smallsword

Karinna de Simone - Swept-Hilt Rapier & Whip

Kenndrick Horton – Case of c18th Smallswords

Leo Oliva – c18th Smallsword

Luke Stiles - Sabre

Nigel Sudarkasa – c18th Smallsword

Rita Rodrigues – Case of c18th Smallswords

Advanced with Merit

Alex Marlow – c18th Smallsword & Baldrick

Andrew Vose - Sabre

Cameron Chavers – c18th Smallsword & Fan

Carly Helms - Sabre

Dana Gough - Unarmed

Dani Rimada – c18th Smallsword & Cane

Emma Green - Sabre

Jake Phillips - Swept-Hilt Rapier & Dagger

Lara Kleyhans – c18th Smallsword & Fan

Lilly Rose Zepeda - Sabre

Max Younger – Cup-Hilt Rapier

Maxwell Allen – Cup-Hilt Rapier

Robert Voigt – Unarmed

Samuel Ferrer - Broadsword & Buckler

Thelma Georgiou – Broadsword & Buckler


Advanced

Mazlum Gul – c18th Smallsword


LAMDA Assessment April 2024

 The British Guild of Stage Combat

Proficiency Examinations


LAMDA John Wood Studio

Sunday 7th April 2024


Examiner: Jonathan Jaynes


Level Four [Advanced Specialisation]


Advanced with Distinction and Examiner’s Gold Star

Andrew Friedman – Hutton Sabre

Jonathan Aarons – Hutton Sabre


Level One [Standard]

Rapier & Dagger, c18th Smallsword, Unarmed


Pass with Distinction and Examiner’s Gold Star

Alexandra Montalbano

Brock Looser

Cameron Chavers

Carly Helms

Emma Green

Jake Phillips

Karina de Simone

Lara Kleyhans

Lilly Rose Zepeda

Max Younger

Maxwell Allen

 

Pass with Distinction

Andrew Vose

Dani Rimada

Emma Haines

Leo Oliva

Luke Stiles

 

Pass with Merit

Alex Marlow

Alexander Holliday

Austin Evans

Diego Zozaya

Eduardo Hernández

Eileen MacDonald

Jacob Proctor

Lucy Krubiner

Lucy Spreckley

Madeleine Bloxam

Pepper Jensen

Philippine Fauchier-Magnan

 


Pass

Abigail Devine

Justin Stirewalt

Nikki Trippler

Rachael Dowsett

Saaya Vaidya

Zaven McCarty


Saturday, 26 October 2024

LAMDA Assessment September 2023

 LAMDA John Wood Studio

Sunday 3rd September 2023

Examiner: Jonathan Jaynes

Level Three [Advanced Modules]

Advanced with Distinction and Examiner’s Gold Star

Andrew Friedman - Swept-Hilt Rapier & Main Gauche Dagger

Blake Stratso – c18th Smallsword

Dylan Hamilton Wright - Swept-Hilt Rapier & Main Gauche Dagger, Sabre

Grace Wallis - Sabre

Jonathan Aarons - c18th Smallsword


Level One [Standard]

Rapier & Dagger, c18th Smallsword, Unarmed


Pass with Distinction

Daniel Wallentine

John Selby


Pass with Merit

Alex Osborne

Bailey Edwards

Bronwyn Doe

Elliot Gosh

Lubka Strakhova

Sarah Thorn

Stefan Brundage


Pass

Alcina Chen

Anniina Piiparinen

Bonnie Langthorn

Jacob de Heer

Joyner Horn

Mercedez McDowell

Seth Retzlaff


Sunday, 15 September 2024

Rutgers Spring 2018

Spring 2018 Foundation 

Sword and Dagger. Single Sword. Unarmed 

Ashley Baker 

Isabella Gabriel Kessler 

Graham Poore

Magali Trench

Matisse Neal

Matthew Petrucelli

Sofia Duemichen

Timothy Bright

Ashley Williams

Candace Grace Taylor

Faith Wilansky

Hadar Busia-Singleton

Isabel Renner

Khandis Merritt

Kristine Amarante

Leslie Roth

Maia Karo

Tshiwela Nematswerani

Monday, 21 June 2021

Qulifications listed on Spotlight Website June 2021

Although as of wrting we are waiting for Spotlights IT deparetment to update the available list. Here is what will be up shortly. The British Guild of Stage Combat - BGSC Qualifications Assessments are awarded at - Pass - Merit - Distinction - Distinction Star BGSC Foundation BGSC Foundation – Staff BGSC Foundation – Sword and Dagger BGSC Foundation – Unarmed BGSC Level 1 Standard BGSC Level 1 Standard – Sword and Dagger BGSC Level 1 Standard – Single Sword BGSC Level 1 Standard – Unarmed BGSC Level 2 Intermediate – Sabre BGSC Level 2 Intermediate – Staff BGSC Level 2 Intermediate – Sword and Buckler BGSC Level 2 Intermediate – 18th Century Single sword BGSC Level 2 Intermediate – Sword and Dagger BGSC Level 2 Intermediate – Group Fight 18th Century Weapons BGSC Level 2 Intermediate – Group Fight Medieval Weapons BGSC Level 2 Intermediate – Chinese Fan BGSC Level 2 Intermediate – Knife BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Sabre BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Staff BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Sword and Buckler BGSC Level 3 Advanced - 18th Century Single sword BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Unarmed BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Found weapons BGSC Level 3 Advanced - 18th Century Small sword BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Single Rapier BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Rapier and Dagger BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Case of Rapier BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Case of Foils BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Case of Small swords BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Case of broad swords BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Two handed sword BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Sword and Cloak BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Sword and Shield BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Axe and Shield BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Flail and Shield BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Spear BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Group Fight 18th Century Weapons BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Group Fight Medieval Weapons BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Group Fight BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Sword & companion weapon BGSC Level 3 Advanced - Sword & Fan BGSC Level 3 Advanced – Sword & whip BGSC Level 3 Advanced – Chinese Fan BGSC Level 3 Advanced – Knife BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Sabre BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Staff BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Sword and Buckler BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - 18th Century Single sword BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Unarmed BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Found weapons BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - 18th Century Small sword BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Single Rapier BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Rapier and Dagger BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Case of Rapier BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Case of Foils BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Case of Small swords BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Sword and Cloak BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Military Sabre BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Sword and Shield BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Axe and Shield BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Flail and Shield BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Case of Broad swords BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Two handed sword BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Spear BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Group Fight 18th Century Weapons BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Group Fight Medieval Weapons BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Group Fight BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Sword & companion weapon BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Sword & Fan BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Sword & Whip BGSC Level 4 Specialisation – Chinese Fan BGSC Level 4 Specialisation - Knife

Tuesday, 1 June 2021

Another interview with John Waller, 1993

Also Published on the ART of Fighting blog


 Another slightly later slice of history

Extracted from Norrie Epsteins Book; The Friendly Shakespeare, Published 1993

Again, looking at how things have both moved and things have stayed the same.We must keep what works, while looking to see how we can make things achieve the outcomes better

John Waller: Swordplay and Dueling

Is it enough that a Shakespearean actor speak the lines and act; he must also appear to be an accomplished duelist. As a choreographer of combat, a fight director must make terrified actors look like fierce adversaries. John Waller has been directing fights, battles, and duels for over twenty-five years, and his numerous credits include Ian McKellen's 1989 Richard III at the National Theatre in London and the films Anne of the Thousand Days and The French Lieutenant's Woman.


NE: What is a fight director's goal?

JW: To have an actor do ten blows and have the audience believes that the characters are trying to kill each other. Too much stylistic choreography isn't convincing. It must be a matter of life and death.


NE: How do you get an actor to want to kill someone and at the same time, hold back?

JW: The actor should not feel like killing; the character they play should. Actors are not all that physical, so someone who is really aggressive and strong can be truly frightening. Though one opponent may be baring their teeth and flashing their eyes, the partner should be able to see that they are in control. But all the audience should see is the aggression ­ that's the hard bit
.

NE: How do you go about staging a fight?

JW: What you first do is assess an actor's physical presence, and then you try to persuade them that the character would have been good at fighting. If they are big and heavy, then you choreograph in character. You combine the actual fight with the actor's physique and choreograph around that.




NE: How about staging big battle scenes?

JW: You just have to get everybody moving to fill all the spaces. If you get three people fighting, two against one, and they're the main focus, then you get them to hold center stage. When it's time for them to move, their space is immediately filled by another couple. The other characters fight, but they put slightly less intensity into their movements; otherwise, the audience's eyes would stray from the central actors. If you have two young spear carriers swashbuckling away on stage and you find yourself looking at them instead of the main actors, well, that's wrong. That's not where the emphasis should be.



NE: What sort of fights do you think Shakespeare staged?

JW: They must have been phenomenal, and he always put them at the end of the play as a climax. The actors would have been laughed off the stage if they weren't any good. He wrote at a time when nearly all men fought with swords, from the aristocrats who knew all the newfangled Italian fencing styles and terms, to the apprentice boys who fought with sword and buckler in the English manner. Shakespeare even has Mercutio poking fun of Tybalt's Italian techniques in Romeo and Juliet. What Shakespeare seems to be saying is, it’s all a bit fancy for us English.


NE: How can Richard be a great warrior if he's handicapped?

JW: That's always a problem with Richard III. All actors want to play him with a deformity. But the play is set in about 1480, when the essence of being a knight was to ride horses - the knight on horseback was the equivalent of a tank. When a person is as deformed as Richard is portrayed as being, with a withered arm and a gamey leg, then he logically wouldn't be able to ride a medieval war-horse, which you ride with your left hand because your right hand is the one you fight with.


NE: So how did the real Richard III fight?

JW: It's Olivier's portrayal that everyone copies. Richard had been fighting hand to hand for years and was still fighting when he was killed. Though an actor can play him with some deformity, it shouldn't hinder him from proving what a great warrior he was. If he is too deformed he wouldn't be able to ride a medieval war-horse, so there would be little point in him saying, "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"


NE: What's your opinion of the famous duel in Olivier's Hamlet ?

JW: It's exciting. But if you ask me if I believe in it, well, not completely. It does not tell the story of Hamlet as much as it should. Hamlets duel is a very difficult thing to direct. Hamlet sets out to patch up the argument with Laertes, and he thinks the duel is just an ordinary fencing match. But Laertes intends to cheat him with a poisoned sword. So they begin to fence, and Hamlet keeps scoring the points, and Laertes can't get him with the sharp sword. So when Hamlet finally is hit and sees his blood, he becomes upset, because he's trying to be a nice guy and his opponent is going for him with a sharp sword. But he still doesn't realize he's dying. So he tries to get the sword away from Laertes, and then he goes for him with it. Now he thinks Laertes is frightened because he has a sharp sword, but he doesn't know that Laertes is frightened because he's got a poisoned sharp sword! Do you see what I mean? It's quite complicated to dramatize. And then, of course, the match turns into a brawl. So you've got an ordinary fencing match and then an aggressive fencing match with Laertes actually fighting for his life. All the while Hamlet never knows that he's also fighting for his life. Although Olivier's duel is exciting, it didn't show all of this.



NE: Wouldn't this be lost on an audience?

JW: If it's done properly and they know the story, no. The movement and the choreography should tell the story of the play. Most of all, the audience has to believe that the characters are fulfilling the demands of the plot. At no time must the audience believe that the actor is in danger. That's the hard part.