When a scene calls for violence, it’s combat choreographers who prevent actors coming a cropper during the action. They explain the rules of stage conflict

Philip d’Orléans points the sword to my sternum. “The blade may be blunt,” he cautions, “but this could still take your eye out.” I cut his sword away with a dizzying metallic swish. Palm down, wrist loose. “Cast the energy to the wall,” he nods. “It needs to go past your partner, not into them.” I ready the dagger in my other hand to defend against his next attack.

As a fight director, D’Orléans has created complex choreography for companies around the world, teaching hundreds of actors how to tell stories with fist and steel. This Christmas, he’s reviving the spirit of the golden age of Hollywood swashbucklers for an action-packed production of The Three Musketeers at Newcastle-under-Lyme’s New Vic theatre. This new adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 classic takes sword fighting seriously: no actors were considered until they had passed D’Orléans’ tough trial of balance-shifting battle moves. “A lot of people can blag the ability to fight,” he shrugs, throwing his waist-length hair over one shoulder. “But once you turn up the heat on the choreography, you can quickly weed out the rocky skill-sets.”