An interview with the fight choreographer for the Teen Summer Intensives Sweeney Todd and Titus Andronicus, Matt Smith.
1.) What’s your process for choreographing the fight scenes?
When I am asked to choreograph a fight the first thing I do is read the play. This gives me the characters, how the fight starts, and how it ends. Then I start from the completion of the particular fight. Kills and finishers are some of the most dramatic and fun things to bring to life on stage and I like to begin with creating how I want the fight to come to a close. From there I create the fight taking into consideration the space I have on the set, the blocking the director has done and any special considerations I have to make for the actors playing the rolls. No fight is ever concrete when it gets to the actors. I try to keep myself from getting attracted to certain moves or phrases because they can change in a heartbeat if they are too hard or don’t fit with the director’s vision. Sometimes things have to change and move with character motivations, but I find having a solid base to work from speeds the process up considerably.
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