Playing Shakespeare | Romeo + Juliet

Fight Direction

The fight director, Tybalt and Benvolio rehearse the opening scene. Photo by Nick Gurney,

Who is responsible for directing the fights in the play?

Romeo and Juliet is a play that has a lot of fighting in it, so we interviewed the fight director, ALISON DE BURGH about:

- what the fight director has to do;

- how and why characters fight in the play;

- the advantages of staging fights at the Globe;

- the importance of saftey;

- how she got into fight directing.

What does a fight director have to do?

The key responsibility of the fight director is to create all the action that happens on stage

Read Entry

How and why do characters fight in the play?

Fights tend to happen when words run out, when you become so frustrated or so angry that you c

Read Entry

What is it like to direct fights on the Globe stage?

One of the nice things about the Globe stage is actually the setting – having the audience o

Read Entry

How do you ensure that stage fights are safe?

Before you start you have to give the general health and safety bit: to say, “Look guys, the

Read Entry

How did you get into fight directing?

I went to drama school, I wanted to be an actress and part of your training is in stage fighti

Read Entry