CHILDREN in the Saturday morning drama club at Mount House School in Tavistock had a lesson in fighting from a professional recently, when Jonathan Howell, fight director at Bristol Old Vic, spent a morning putting members through their paces. The club was started in autumn 2005 by Caroline Secombe, the former James Bond film actress. She invited Jonathan to give the 'actors', aged seven to nine, advice on general stage combat techniques and subsequently visited the school for a coaching session. It proved so successful that when they decided the next show the club put on in the school would include the fight scene in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Caroline asked Jonathan to make a repeat visit. He spent some time choreographing the entire scene, then a morning at the school teaching the budding actors and actresses how to perform it, using mock swords. Caroline Secombe said: 'The children were really excited, and I am sure they look at fight scenes on television in a new light now. Jonathan showed them how to make fighting look convincing without taking risks.'
