One Platform - Multiple Weapons: workshop with Nigel Poulton!

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Stage & Screen Combat Workshop with Nigel Poulton: One Platform. Multiple Weapons. 

Nigel Poulton is an internationally recognised, multi-award-winning movement and fight director and stunt performer whose work bridges historical European and Asian (archipelago) martial arts, Theatrical Biomechanics and contemporary stage and screen combat through more than three decades of professional practice. This workshop weekend consists of two intensives, each exploring a different movement language and approach to weapon-based performance.

DAY 1: Silver Screen Swordplay and Beyond: The Craft of Dynamic Swordplay

Inspired by the Golden Age of cinematic swordplay, Panachery is an advanced choreography workshop celebrating the artistry, rhythm and theatricality of the swashbuckling tradition. Drawing on generations of iconic stage and screen swordplay — from Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn to The Princess Bride and Pirates of the Caribbean — the workshop explores the creative principles that transform technical swordsmanship into compelling physical storytelling. Designed for experienced practitioners, the workshop places choreography at the centre of the learning process. Through collaborative devising, participants investigate rhythm, pacing, flourish, spatial composition, character, dramatic tension and spectacle, learning how these elements combine to create dynamic, expressive and memorable swordplay. Rather than reproducing existing fight sequences, participants develop original choreography that captures the excitement, elegance and sense of adventure that have defined the swashbuckling tradition for generations. DAY 2: Flow, Rhythm & Action Archipelago Martial Arts for Stage & Screen  

Drawing on advanced training methods of the Malay Archipelago — including Escrima, Kali and Silat — alongside contemporary stunt practice, this workshop explores the movement principles that underpin modern action choreography. Through empty-hand work, knife, and other edged weapon transitions, participants will investigate how flow, rhythm, structure and adaptability create dynamic, believable combat for both stage and screen. Workshop will also explore the blade logic and movement templates used to develop dexterity, coordination, adaptability and tactical awareness with the blade. The workshop focuses on building the physical attributes that underpin confident, adaptable blade work, providing participants with a transferable movement framework that can be applied across a wide range of stage and screen performance contexts.

Saturday

• 10:00–13:00 (with a 15/20 minute break)

• Lunch

• 14:00–17:00 (with a 15/20 minute break)

Sunday

• 11:00–14:00 (with a 15/20 minute break)

• Lunch

• 15:00–18:00 (with a 15/20 minute break)
  

Prices & Payment Normal price until 1.9.: 180€ Discount price for members* until 1.9.: 130€ *In order to be eligible for the member discount you have to be a member of DCF, other NSFS National Organization, or similar international stage combat society. Last minute price after 1.9. is 150/200€.

Pay to Dramatic Combat Finland's account FI82 6601 0001 0767 36 Reference number: 2 02675

_____________________________ ABOUT NIGEL POULTON

Nigel Poulton is an internationally recognised, multi-award-winning movement director, fight and intimacy coordinator, stunt performer and educator with more than 30 years' professional experience across theatre, film and television. A Fight Master with the Society of American Fight Directors, former President of the Society of Australian Fight Directors, and Honorary Fight Director with Fight Directors Canada, Nigel specialises in the integration of martial arts, biomechanics and physical storytelling. His practice draws on extensive training in Historical European Martial Arts, classical fencing, Filipino Martial Arts, Silat and other Asian martial systems, alongside Vsevolod Meyerhold's Theatrical Biomechanics. His screen credits include Thor: Love and Thunder, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Boy Swallows Universe, Nautilus and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, while his choreography credits span major companies including the Sydney Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare, Opera Australia, the Australian Ballet, the Finnish National Ballet, New York City Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera. A Churchill Fellow and recipient of two Melbourne Green Room Awards, Nigel teaches internationally and is widely recognised for bridging historical martial traditions with contemporary performance practice.

Full bio:

Nigel is a multi award-winning movement director, fight and intimacy coordinator, SAG-AFTRA / MEAA stunt performer, and actor with over 30 years of professional experience. He is a Fight Master with the Society of American Fight Directors (one of only two awarded this distinction outside the United States), a Fight Director and former President of the Society of Australian Fight Directors Inc., an Honorary Fight Director with Fight Directors Canada, and a certified Intimacy Director and Coordinator with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC). Nigel’s practice centres on the integration of kinaesthetic movement processes, combat systems, and physical storytelling. He has particular expertise in classical, historical, and adaptive swordplay, as well as edged weapon work. He has worked internationally for over 20 years, is a classically trained fencer, and has trained and taught extensively in Historical European Martial Arts worldwide. His training also includes over two decades of experience across a range of mainland and archipelago Asian martial systems. Nigel is also a practitioner of Vsevolod Meyerhold’s Theatrical Biomechanics, having trained intensively with Gennadi Bogdanov, who has continued the system in contemporary practice.

Nigel’s film and television work includes: The Mark, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Primitive War, Boy Swallows Universe, Deadloch, Nautilus, Poker Face, Thor: Love and Thunder, Escape from Spiderhead, Ding Dong You’re Gay, Occupation 2, Pirates of the Caribbean V, Deadline Gallipoli, The Water Diviner, Vikingdom and Winter’s Tale. Through Nigel’s association with Weapons Specialists Ltd creative team in New York, he has worked on productions including: The Good Wife (Scott Free Productions), Person of Interest (Kilter Films), One Shot (Paramount Pictures), Boardwalk Empire (HBO), Salt (Columbia Pictures), I Am Legend (Warner Bros. Pictures), Sopranos – 1997 Season (HBO), The Ministers, (Collective), 30 Rock (Broadway Video) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Wolf Films).

Choreography credits include Sydney Theatre Company (20+ years), the Bell Shakespeare Company (20+ years), the Finnish National Ballet (2021), the Australian Ballet (2018), the New York City Ballet (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018), The Metropolitan Opera (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2014 and 2015), Washington Opera Company (2002 tour of Japan), Opera Australia, Circus Oz, Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, Belvoir Street, La Boite Theatre (Brisbane), Playbox Theatre (Melbourne), and Kooemba Jdarra (Brisbane).

Nigel was Lead Teacher for the Society of American Fight Directors' 2026 Teacher Certification Workshop, the organisation's flagship programme for training and mentoring the next generation of stage combat instructors. Previously, in 2022 he was invited to teach the Advanced stream at the Nordic Stage Fight Society's annual international stage combat workshop in Helsinki, and in 2019 co-taught the Advanced Actor Combatant stream at the SAFD National Stage Combat Workshop in the United States. In 2016 he represented both the Society of American Fight Directors and the Society of Australian Fight Directors Inc. at the inaugural World Stage Combat Training Conference in Toronto, Canada. He has been studying and teaching martial and combat systems for more than 30 years and has taught internationally throughout Australia, North America and Europe. Nigel served as resident stage combat instructor at the University of Southern Queensland from 2001 to 2012, has taught regularly at the National Institute of Dramatic Art since 2000, and has been a guest teacher at institutions including The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and The Shakespeare Theatre Academy for Classical Acting (Washington, DC). He is also a past coordinator of the Paddy Crean International Workshop and Symposium, a regular guest presenter at historical swordplay conferences throughout Australia, and was a guest presenter at the 2006 World Shakespeare Congress.

Nigel is a Churchill Fellow and recipient of two Melbourne Green Room Awards — Outstanding Movement, Fight and/or Intimacy (2026) and Outstanding Contribution to the Melbourne Stage (2012)— and has received professional development grants from the Australia Council for the Arts and Queensland Arts Council to support ongoing international training, and is the proud recipient of a Churchill Fellowship.