Daniel Levinson at Stratford

Daniel Levinson is one of the best Fight Directors in the business. He has deep knowledge of acting, stage violence, direction and human nature, all gained through years of experience.

He's also a friend of mine and one I don't see often enough. We both have busy lives and their no longer in the same business, unfortunately.

This year, Daniel Levinson is one of the fight directors at the Stratford festival, and if you go here you will read a great article where he talks about his work. And buried in the article is a video of him doing his work.

Dan is amazing. My wife and I are going to Stratford this summer, and his work is one of the big reasons.

A Little Violence, Because It's Tuesday

So I'm sure I've mentioned that I'm a fight director, right? Been out of the business a while, what having a kid to pay for and a Toronto mortgage to feed. Even so, I like to keep a hand in now and again.

So a friend of mine in Japan is doing Richard III, and he was wondering about fight stuff. He's trying to convince me to go and I'm trying to explain exactly what that would cost. Even so, I put something together for him to give him some ideas.

Now, what you see here was done after only 1.5 hours of rehearsal. It is not performance quality. Instead, it is beginning to take it's first shape. For this fight scene, I'd want at least 10 hours more work to make it passible. 20 hours if I was working with beginners.

Anyway, here it is. Enjoy it for what it is, and my thanks to Alex who took the time to shoot it and put it together, and to Dan who loaned us his space.



You want to see some good film work? Check out Alex's website.

And for some of the best in stage combat, check out Dan's website.