The art of compelling combat
If there was ever a moment Alexander Holloway stood still for a measurable amount of time no one actually remembers it.
For a man whose resume of skills, and probably also his idea of relaxing, includes abseiling, combat, ice-skating, kayaking, martial arts, motor biking and sword fighting Holloway is something of a force of nature.
As a child he was always either into, up, down, over or through something, all of which makes his work as Head of Stage Combat and Special Effects for the Pop-Up Globe Theatre absolutely perfect.
Holloway’s impressive career across stage, film and television includes some of the best known productions in the UK and New Zealand.
What is stage combat or fight choreography?
“It’s a specialised technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers by mapping out and overseeing staged combat.”
You seem to be born for this.
“I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder as a child. I was lucky that my parents were absolutely supportive of anything I wanted to do as long as I was happy.”
“I loved the arts so at about 18 I trained in acting and stage combat at the East 15 Acting School in the United Kingdom.”
You founded the New Zealand Stage Combat School. How hard is it to teach someone to fight in a performance?
“It’s actually not that hard. Many of the people I teach have never, for example, picked up a sword before, but it really doesn’t take long for them to get into it.”
“The trick is in building up the staging. You don’t just throw people into the deep end and expect them to literally come out fighting. You build up each stage and they must follow some basic rules so no one actually gets hurt.”
“Successfully training someone to fight can be as much about what’s going on in someone’s head as the physical aspect. You may have to get them to overcome their fear of heights, or of falling.
Once you get that out of the way they can learn the techniques to fight safely.”
Holloway has been doing it so long now he tends to minimise the very real talent and skill he has for making even the fiercest fighting look real while keeping everyone safe.
Choreographing and directing a fight scene is a complicated business.
There’s a lot of movement, often very fast and it all has to be synchronised, look believable and sound real.
If you find yourself flinching involuntarily while watching his work you realise just how good he is.
“The trick is in building up the staging. You don’t just throw people into the deep end and expect them to literally come out fighting.” - Alexander Holloway