Two of the men onstage are fighting with swords while two others watch. Each clink of the broadswords is clear, distinct; this is a simple two-man, two-sword fight. Suddenly, the observers unsheath their weapons and join in, stepping between the other two. The newcomers stand back-to-back as the other two circle them. In the heat of battle, they occasionally change partners. Every so often, one of them reels backward, injured, and the fight is two against one. The simple fight has become impressive and complicated, and the separate clinks are now a chorus.
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“There’s something about stage combat that you really don’t get from other forms of creative expression,” Dewey says. “It has elements of dance in it and it’s intricately choreographed, with an element of danger–that if you forget the choreography, you can get hurt. There’s a lot of acting involved in it. There’s a sense of power that you get doing it that I don’t think you can get from other kinds of art. I’d rather be doing it than anything else.”
Dewey, Calin, and Rupkalvis have worked at King Richard’s Faire, and all four were also members of the Ring of Steel, a large group that studied, practiced, and demonstrated sword fighting and other stage combat. When the Ring of Steel folded last year, Dewey, Rupkalvis, and Szum formed their own group; Calin joined later.
The play’s time-travel element allowed them to stage fights using weapons from different eras: three sizes of broadswords, the largest a two-handed model that is five feet, six inches long and weighs eight pounds; rapiers from France, Italy, and Japan, including a French shell-hilt rapier, whose blade consists of two perpendicular surfaces; various daggers, among them an aikuchi, a type of Japanese suicide knife; a lead pipe; and a gun. One farcical scene mixes weapon and costume styles; French rapiers whirl around the head of a Japanese politician who is too distracted to notice because he is busy composing poetry. “We needed humorous elements,” Calin says. “Fights are great, but they’re very tense, and you need something there to offset them.”
Time in a Battle runs through July 3 at the Organic Theater’s main stage, 3319 N. Clark; performances are at 11 PM Friday and Saturday and 3 PM Sunday. Tickets are $6, $4 with a student ID or Organic donor card. Call 327-5588 for reservations.
