SWORD PLAY

Sword fighting isn’t just an adventure for Ella Shane. It’s her job.
And once the Duke is on the scene, it’s a whole new game. A very exciting one, as their relationship develops.
As a woman who plays heroic male roles in opera, Ella has to be able to duel with the best of them. If it happens to come in handy when trying to catch a killer, or discourage an overly enthusiastic admirer, well, that’s just a fringe benefit.
While Ella, as a woman who sings roles originally written for men with artificially high voices (another story for another #ThrowbackThursday!) is relatively new, she’s part of a very long tradition of stage combat. Actors have been simulating battles onstage pretty much since we’ve had stages, and they’ve been training to fight convincingly and safely almost as long.
By Shakespeare’s time, when sword fights were pretty much a requirement for a good show, they’d mastered the convincing part, as audiences could attest. They were still working on the safety, though – several actors were seriously hurt in stage or rehearsal mishaps in the period, and at least one lost an eye.
That, obviously, wasn’t good for anyone, and as the acting profession evolved, so did the training for the stage, with the understanding that what works in a real duel might not work in a show. After all, a real duelist is trying to kill their opponent, not please an audience.
So, stage fighters focus on what looks and sounds good, while still keeping the performers and audience safe. The look and style evolved over time, and by the late-19th century there were even widely-known set fights called “standard combats.” A director could call for the “Round Eights” in a scene and the company would know exactly what was desired.
While it was usually male actors who did the actual fighting in front of an audience, women were often trained in the art. Stage fencing was part of the curriculum in some top theatre academies into the 20th century; so it’s entirely possible that many Juliets not only knew the choreography of Romeo’s duel…they could have done it better!
Ella, a stage fighter by trade, and a street fighter from childhood, enjoys a good duel onstage or off. It’s no surprise she makes the Duke fence with her when they meet in A FATAL FINALE.
It’s also no surprise their friendly fencing matches develop new resonance as their romance moves forward. The fencing becomes a socially acceptable but very highly-charged way for the two of them to act out their feelings.
While neither of them would ever express it this way, by the time of A FATAL RECEPTION, the fencing matches are clearly a substitute for the marital privileges they aren’t yet enjoying. Days before the wedding, they square off one last time as an engaged couple…and you’ll have to read the book to see what happens!

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