- Justin Lee Ford
- Sep 6, 2024
- 2 min read
What do jesters, swashbucklers, and Jackie Chan all have in common?
Well, they each left a major mark on the history of fight choreography.
Action scenes weren’t always the adrenaline-pumping spectacles we know today. Long before Bruce Lee ever picked up a nunchaku and shouted “wah!”, innovators around the globe were perfecting the art of fight choreography in stage performance.
The Early Years
Let’s take a trip back to Elizabethan England, where the legendary Blackfriars Theatre stood as a beacon of entertainment.
Amidst the flickering candlelight and the smell of fresh ink on parchment, a man named Richard Tarlton was making history. Tarlton wasn’t just any actor; he was Queen Elizabeth I’s favorite jester, a member of William Shakespeare’s acting troupe, and—most importantly—a fencing master.
This was the late 1500s, a time when the line between performance and reality blurred on stage. Tarlton brought a new level of realism to the stage fights, thanks to his mastery of fencing. He wasn’t just swinging a sword for show; he was crafting fights that looked both believable and engaging to the audience.
His work at Blackfriars Theatre didn’t just entertain—it set the stage (literally) for what would become a key chapter in the history of fight choreography.
The Dawn of Cinematic Swordplay
Fast forward to the 1920s, and the silver screen was beginning to flicker to life with silent films.
Enter Douglas Fairbanks, the swashbuckling hero of early Hollywood. Fairbanks wasn’t content with the simplistic duels that characterized early film swordplay. In The Mark of Zorro (1920), he brought in fencing masters to create fight scenes that actually resembled real duels.
This. Was. A. Game-changer.
But it wasn’t until Errol Flynn swashbuckled in films like Captain Blood (1935) that sword fights really became the thrilling scenes that captured audiences. Flynn’s duels were fast, fluid, and filled with dramatic flair. He made sure every lunge, parry, and riposte was a performance in itself—something that could make an audience gasp, cheer, or wince.
These scenes weren’t just fights; they were stories being told through the clash of steel.
The Global History of Fight Choreography
As the West was shaping its cinematic combat style, other regions were developing their own. In Japan, kabuki theatre was perfecting tachimawari—dramatic sword fights focused more on theatricality than combat.
In Southeast Asia, traditional performances like randai in West Sumatra blended martial arts with dance and drama, adding a unique storytelling element to the stage.
By the 1950s and 60s, the cinematic world began to see how cultures influenced each other. Japanese chanbara films, emphasizing samurai ethics and swordplay, echoed the American Westerns featuring gun-slinging cowboys. This influence is perhaps most evident in Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954) inspiring John Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven (1960).
This cross-cultural exchange ignited the global phenomenon of fight choreography we see today. But little did anyone know, this was just the beginning.
Big changes were on the horizon, setting the stage for a brazen new era in action cinema.
