FEB
18

Thanks, I Needed That!

How to Slap and Punch Safely 

By Kevin Stone 

Kevin Stone has been writing and directing plays for over 20 years.  He has experience as an actor and as a director of community theatre, church plays, high school productions and touring collegiate groups.  Besides teaching drama classes, Kevin is the pastor of a church and the managing editor of a ministry website.  Kevin’s play After Hours won the Shubert Fendrich Memorial Playwriting Contest. 

A little on-stage violence can be an exciting way to grab attention, heighten (or relieve) tension, and reveal character.  For the sake of this article, we’ll assume you’re not tackling a stage adaptation of Rocky, but that your script calls for a bit of physical action.  Something to add a little “punch.”  Perhaps a well-deserved slap across the face.  Maybe a cross to the jaw followed by a roundhouse.  Whatever the level of physical violence, there are some must-knows to keep your actors safe and, at the same time, provide a measure of realism.

Safety First

No one wants an injury on stage — it stops the scene, scares the audience, and of course, hurts the actor.  We’re striving for the illusion of violence, after all, not actual violence.  Here are some general tips for slapping and punching safely on stage:

1. Practice.  Every move must be planned and rehearsed.  The fight should be carefully choreographed and every movement memorized by the participants.  No actor should ever be surprised to see a fist heading toward his face.  Practicing a fight should be done in slow-motion first and gradually sped up as the actors become familiar with their moves.
2. Stay on script.  Under no circumstance during a performance should an actor ever alter what was practiced.  Throwing a slap on the wrong cue can end up looking a little too real — and leave a mark.
3. Eye contact.  This is one of the most important rules:  never slap or punch unless you are making eye contact with the person on the receiving end.  Make sure you’re both on the same page and ready.
4. Hand details.  Fingernails should be kept trimmed.  A fingernail in the vicinity of someone’s face can do a surprising amount of damage if it strays off course.  And hand and wrist jewelry should be removed.

The Mechanics

Slapping.  There is no actual contact to the face in a stage slap.  To throw a basic, right-handed slap, first wind up (maintaining eye contact with your target) and then quickly extend your right hand toward a spot a couple inches away from your target’s left ear.  As the target “sells” the slap, draw your right hand toward your left shoulder as a follow-through.  Be careful to keep the slap high enough (away from the neck area) for it to look real.

Punching.  There are many kinds of punches, but we’ll just consider the basic, right-handed straight punch.  This punch works best when either you or your target is facing directly up stage.  First, make sure you’re standing a safe distance away from your target.  Then, make a fist — a somewhat hollow, loose fist.  Next (making eye contact with your target), wind up by raising your right fist to the level of your own face and keeping your right forearm parallel to the floor.  As you throw the punch, pivot your body to the left — feet first, then hips and shoulders — and swing your right arm across your own face.  Your right arm, on follow-through, should end up straight out to the left side of your body, and then your arm can sink toward the floor.  When done properly, the audience will interpret these movements as the target being hit on the left side of the face.

Selling It

The real aid to establishing realism is the target’s reaction.  The receiver of the slap “sells” the slap by reacting realistically.  If she was to be slapped on the left cheek, she turns her face sharply to the right and expresses dismay, shock, or pain.  If he was to be punched on the right side of his face, he turns his face sharply to the left.  Depending on how hard the receiver was to be hit, this actor should also be knocked off balance.  Timing of the physical reaction is key, as is the vocal reaction.  The receiver should groan, gasp, or make whatever sound would be appropriate if the slap or punch was actually landed.

Besides the sound the receiver makes, the actual sound of the slap or the punch is also important to sell the violence.  To create the sound of a slap, the receiver of the slap can clap his hands as the slap is to land.  For example, during the wind-up for a slap on the left cheek, the receiver (making eye contact with the attacker) will place his right hand palm-down in front of his body.  When the slap is thrown, the receiver raises his left hand palm-up to strike his right hand; the left hand can then continue upward to the face to further sell the pain.  This will need to be practiced repeatedly to make it convincing and get the timing just right.

One way to create the sound of a punch is to hit yourself with an open hand in the upper pectoral region.  Either the attacker or the target can provide this sound, depending on the position of the actors in relation to the audience.

With practice, an eye on safety, proper blocking, and good technique, those slaps and punches on stage can look real enough to elicit gasps from the audience — and leave your actors in good shape to do it all again next performance.