Approaching fights for theatre - character, story and rehearsal IN PERSON with Lyndall Grant

Details

  • 17 March 2026
    6:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Dancehouse Carlton, 150 Princes St, Carlton North VIC 3054
Applications Open 23 February 2026 8:00 am
Applications Close 5 March 2026 12:00 pm
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Synopsis

This workshop with leading fight director Lyndall Grant explores how stage combat technique and choreography can be embedded and rehearsed in ways that actively support storytelling. The focus is on keeping character intention clear, allowing instinctive dramatic choices, and maintaining momentum through the character’s journey. When performing scenes that involve dramatic physical conflict, learning safety techniques and choreography is only the first step. Without performance, character, and story, a fight can easily read as awkward or empty “staged combat”. This workshop addresses how to move beyond that by integrating acting, physicality, and rehearsal process from the outset. Participants will explore physicality, breath, blocking, and practical acting tools that support the creation of compelling fight scenes. We will also look at rehearsal techniques that help keep fights alive, safe, and responsive over time. The goal is to create dynamic, engaging fight scenes that say something about character and desire — not just what happens, but why it matters. Please note: This in-person Melbourne event is from 6:30pm - 9:30pm (AEDT) (Melbourne time) and numbers will be limited so a ballot will need to be held. 

Host(s)

  • Lyndall Grant

    Lyndall Grant is a fight director, movement director, actor and motion capture specialist. She trained in acting at London’s ArtsEd School of Acting and then specialised in fight performance and movement from 2007. Lyndall is an accredited teacher with the British Academy of Dramatic Combat and a member of the Society of Australian Fight Directors. In 2013 she founded Captivate Action, which trains actors in stage/screen combat and motion capture in Australia and the U.K. Lyndall was recently a guest instructor at the Paddy Crean International Stage Combat Workshop in Canada, and teaches regularly at the Victorian College of the Arts and 16th Street Actors Studio. Recent fight/movement credits include Rusalka (West Australian Opera); Sunset Boulevard, Groundhog Day The Musical, Death of A Salesman, An American in Paris, 2:22 A Ghost Story (GWB); The Picture of Dorian Gray (Michael Cassel Group); Beauty and the Beast (Disney Australia); Topdog-Underdog, The Almighty Sometimes, 37, My Sister Jill, A Very Jewish Christmas Carol, Is God Is, Sunday, As You Like It, Berlin, The Lifespan of a Fact, The Architect, Cosi, Torch the Place, The Lady in the Van, Astroman (Melbourne Theatre Company); Cruel Intentions the Musical (David Venn Enterprises); Nosferatu, Looking for Alibrandi, Atlantis, The Return, Because the Night and Cloudstreet (Malthouse Theatre); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? (Red Stitch). As a performer, Lyndall was Movement Captain, ensemble member, principal role cover and aerialist in Melbourne’s production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child from 2018-2022.

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