Daniel Lamech is a fight director and stage combat teacher for theatre, film & TV. He talks to ArtsHub about his craft, what he’s learned and what advice he’d give to those wanting to develop similar professional skills.
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Daniel Lamech: video transcript
My name is Daniel Lamech and I’m a fight director and stage combat teacher.
Basically, I teach actors how to perform fight scenes and moments of physical risk when they’re on stage or on film and TV. So, anytime there’s an actor needs to push another actor or slap them, I make sure that it looks real without actually making someone get hurt.
There’s always going to be props coordinators, stunt coordinators – there are multiple levels of safety at every level.
That being said, accidents do happen, and so this element of safety means that if something goes wrong, it’s not a worst case scenario.
Daniel Lamech: lessons learned
I think working with your partner is important, not end-gaming a goal. Rather than trying to enact what you think the story should be and trying to squish the scene into that, it’s about working with your partner and being adaptive in real time.
With stage combat you have to be adaptive in real time because there are fists and weapons and things flying around. Every time it’s going to be slightly different – someone takes a slightly bigger step or the lights have changed, or anything. That’s the beauty of live theatre or even a film – every take is slightly different and you need to be adaptive in real time and responsive and to be watching your partner.
I think being able to get out of your head and be working towards making your partner look good and to look after your partner has translated really well into my other work, and in my own life, being like: ‘No, this isn’t just about me – this is about us as a partnership and I’m going to make this the best it can be.’
Daniel Lamech: advice for others
Firstly I would say: research. Look around. There are people around Australia – there aren’t many of us, but there’s SAFDi, which is the Society of Australian Fight Directors incorporated.
Look people up. Find people that you like and go to a class, learn a thing. The chances are we’ll want to talk about it because we love what we do – we’re big old nerds.
