Choreographing a Duel

Overview and Issue

• Choreographing a Duel
• WG149

Abstract

• Sword fighting is nothing like the movies, which involves careful choreography. The epic sword fight between Richard and Francis Crawford in The Game of Kings is a masterful combination of a fencing duel, dance, and chess choreographed by Dorothy Dunnett so that you will feel as if you are in the room experiencing the tension and expert swordsmanship of the two brothers.

Author

• Rachel Walkley

Dunnett Book References

• GOK 4.2.3, QP 4.6

Historical People

• Errol Flynn
• Basil Rathbone
• Douglas Fairbanks
• Richard Tarleton
• Paddy Crean
• William Hobbs
• Ridley Scott
• Rob Reiner
• Tom Erskine
• Shakespeare

Fictional Characters

• Francis Crawford of Lymond
• Richard Crawford
• Gideon Somerville
• Kate Somerville
• Chronos, the Titan

Locations

• None

Literature

• None

Historical Events

• None

Other Topics

• The Adventures of Robin Hood
• The Master of Ballantrae
• The Three Musketeers (1973)
• Rob Roy
• Dangerous Liaisons
• Cyrano de Bergerac
• The Game of Thrones
• The Duellists
• The Princess Bride
• Encyclopedia of the Sword. Nick Evangelista. 1995.
• Images of swordplay from Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (MSS Dresd. C.93/C.94), compiled by Paulus Hector Mair, 1542. Images: Saxon State and University Library Dresden, CC license.
• By the Sword: A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions. Richard Cohen, 2010.
• Witkowski et al., 'Fighting Left Handers Promotes Different Visual Perceptual Strategies than Right Handers: The Study of Eye Movements of Foil Fencers in Attack and Defence' in BioMed Research International 2020, 2020, 4646271.
• Image of 'That which denotes the play, or the fight, of two swords, one for each hand'. From Opera Nova by Achille Marozzo, 1536.

Quotes from Dunnett

• None