Carter Ferguson : Fight Director : Scotland : UK

Fight Direction

Pro Practice

Fight Notation

Insurance

I now digitally video most productions as I rehearse, so will feed in more and more pictures as they become available. CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE.

WITH STUDENTS FROM THE ROYAL SCOTTISH ACADEMY OF MUSIC AND DRAMA

	SYT PRODUCTIONS' MACBETH, AT THE CITIZENS THEATRE, GLASGOW
*CARTER WORKING RECENTLY WITH STUDENTS FROM SHETLAND* AT THE ROYAL LYCEUM, EDINBURGH**	SYT PRODUCTIONS' MACBETH, AT THE CITIZENS THEATRE, GLASGOW	Here we see Macbeth parry his opponents blade and pass by on the outside line while keeping his blade in opposition. Turning the action can often allow you to use a repeated sequence shown to the audience from the other side	The Macduff murders. The action happened downstage centre, extremely close to the audience, so actions had to be well hidden but strong enough to feel realistic. This relatively simple sequence always drew an audible gasp from the audience

The death of Banquo. In the foreground we see Lady Macbeth (Jenny Cook) and her husband as the bloody deed takes place upstage. This somewhat stylised presentation added weight the murderer's actions which had been ordered by Macbeth	We see here the final moment as Young Siward insufficiently blocks the attack with his shield, and Macbeth "kills" his man. The witches look on, upstage	A rehearsal from the final fight of the show. Macbeth faces down Macduff (Fraser Macleod). This is from near the beginning of the fight. Note the effort on the actors' faces as they wield these heavy weapons. Macbeth striking a blow here with a hand and a half, parried in five by Macduff. Sword and shield versus sword and shield can often become boring, so here we were tried when possible to bring different parrying actions in to deflect the blade, rather than relying on the shield	Here we see Macbeth in black and Macduff in white, a clear decision by the director to show what Macbeth has become. This subtle symbolism added an extra dimension to the moment. At this point in the fight, Macbeth has ditched his shield and is fighting with the sword as a two handed. Note the backward footwork of Macduff as he attempts to get himself out of trouble. His blow has been parried by Macbeth (With the assistance of his left hand) and now Macbeth uses a quillion bash to strike the blade upward and out of line

At this point the volume of the accompanying music increased and the fighters moved into slow motion. This final change of pace added considerable strength and focus to the last sequence	This is the final move of the fight. Macbeth makes a last thrust at his opponent who parries and straightens as Macbeth walks onto the tip. Both Fraser's and Gregor's blades are off line and upstage, so the audience were not sure which character had been hit. This move was specifically designed so that the actors ended in each other arms. Again this is a rehearsal shot and it is worth pointing out the use of some costume. Gloves for safety and Fraser wears his combat harness as it effects his balance	There was to be no further dialogue in this particular production and it was our aim to leave the audience with a lasting image of the two warriors. Here we see them as they separate. It is now clear to our audience what has happened. Macbeth falls back as Macduff's blade slides out of his gut	Macduff at the end of the sequence. It should be remembered that this is about acting and not just a series of moves. The moments that surround the fight (Indeed the rest of the play itself.) are so much more important than any wonderful combination of flashy moves that has come before or after. Moves are just moves unless acted with intent and character

CYRANO DE BERGERAC - CATHERINE WHEELS THEATRE COMPANY 2004/ 2005

COATBRIDGE COLLEGE HNC
2002, ROMEO AND JULIET

SCOTTISH YOUTH THEATRE 1993, MACBETH

Left hand picture shows Charlie Macguire as Young Siward stepping in to face David Walker as Macbeth. Right hand picture shows Raymond Short, the FD, on the left hand side and Keith Munro as Macduff on the right.

Several shots of Carter (on the right) working with one of the students at Coatbridge on their production of Romeo and Juliet. The students achieved a high standard in a short rehearsal time, of about 15 hours. During that time I covered all the fights, including a stylised opening battle.

Christopher Duffy
as MACBETH

This production of Macbeth, directed by Suzanne Lofthus, is currently touring castle venues throughout Scotland. If you want more info about the tour you email cuttedge@dircon.co.uk The production will be touring until the end of August 2001. Because some venues are exposed to the elements, two sets of fights were devised for this production. The actual fights and a cut down version of these for safety in wet weather, known as the "rain" fight or the "wet" fight. The pictures in this section were taken from a DV recording of the second day of fight rehearsals. The actors have been rehearsing the Macduff fight for approx. four hours only.

Here Banquo tries to draw his sword but can only manage to block the attack with his forearm. He then draws the sword but is quickly overpowered by the three murderers.

Macbeth squares up to Macduff during the dialogue prior to the fight. This posturing and dialogue is as much a part of the fight as the moves themselves, in fact, even more so.


Macduff attempts to catch Macbeth with a surprise thrust on the pass at his right leg. Macbeth narrowly avoids this by passing back and using a beat parry.

The director particularly wanted Macbeth to be killed with his own dagger, and for that action to mirror the "Is this a dagger..." scene from earlier in the play. In order that Macduff get a hold of the dagger, I had to orchestrate this opportunity. As Macbeth gripped Macduff round the neck with his left arm, Macduff grabs the dagger and elbows his opponent in the stomach.

Final thrust with the dagger. Macduff performs a form of coule or graze on Macbeth's blade, forcing it off line, and thrusts the dagger into him on the pass forward. Mark utilised care with this maneuver, as the quillions of the dagger might bump into Chris's ribs during the thrust. Nice fight and an altogether pleasant cast and crew to work with.

SHOCKED

This was a test film shot on digital video. A important part of the fights in this piece was that the actors costumes could should not be dirtied by the action, as there were no backups, and we were shooting out of sequence.

Other misc images

SCOTTISH YOUTH THEATRE SUMMER FESTIVAL 2001

MERLIN -
THE WILD BOY
by Paul Wignall

Above: The cast and crew of MERLIN

(from left to right): Ian Birse, Rhianna Andrews, Donald James and Scott MacDonald, exiting after the sword dance

I had an extremely heavy involvement in this production.

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