Customer Reviews

Combat Mime: A Non-Violent Approach to Stage Violence

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Simply put, "Combat Mime" is the best book on it's subject I have seen. While there are a number of books covering swordplay, Martinez (an experienced Fight Director) focuses entirely on unarmed stage combat and how to perform it safely and convincingly. Safety is stressed throughout, and everything is well illustrated with simple but clear line drawings.

The book covers a wide range of topics including punches, kicks, falls, slaps, hair pulling, and such extras as stage blood and sound effects for a breaking bone. The many ingenious ways Martinez presents for achieving the "knap," the all-important sound of impact that sells a fake hit, are invaluable. Without that sound, any stage fight looks phony, and Martinez illustrates several simple but very effective methods to avoid that pitfall.

Martinez stresses that stage combat is nothing like a real fight, but actually a partnership between the actors involved in which the supposed "victim" is always in control. This sound, safety-concious philosophy is reflected in the title, and in every illusion presented. Despite this "peaceful" underpinning, the methods Martinez describes can produce stage fights that are quite convincingly violent, as I discovered when I put them to the test in my own work as a Fight Director.

All in all, this is a highly recommended text for anyone interested in this stage craft. It's invaluable for any small theater company that has no fight director but wants to present convincing, dramatically powerful fights without putting their actors in the hospital.