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Case Study: Richard III ~ The Bloomsbury Theatre, London England |
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Monday, 28 March 2005 |
 Dashing Blades was particularly excited at the opportunity to work with
this production of Richard III in the West End of London England - a
play which, in itself, always poses unique obstacles. A cast of 30
untrained fighters, a first time director and only three weeks of
rehearsal meant challenging times ahead for the DB team, who were able
to nonetheless exceed the expectations of cast, crew and discerning
audience members.
Before arriving in London, Dashing Blades created an array of design
materials for the director, cast and crew: these included such items as
storyboards, blocking charts and aide memoir workbooks. This
preparation contributed to the production's smooth start: the initially
nervous cast got into the swing of things quickly through a series of
daily training sessions that were both fun and informative. In
addition to customizing fight choreography to match the unique
strengths and weaknesses of individual actors, Dashing Blades armed the
entire production with weapons of their own design, props that were
optimized for both safety and visual effect.
The final performance was extremely well received. The fight sequences,
in particular, were met with thunderous applause after every
completion; the chairman of the Richard III Society of England called
it "The finest staging of the Battle of Bosworth I have ever seen."
High praise indeed!
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