DAVID BLIXT

Reviews

MALAPERT LOVE  - The Artistic Home, 2022

Chicago On Stage: "Eventually, all of these characters come together in a completely absurd and convoluted set of interwoven conflicts that culminates in the single best comical stage sword fight I think I’ve ever seen. No fewer than six swords are simultaneously in play, and fight choreographer David Blixt manages to keep them all occupied, sometimes three or four (or more) against one, as mayhem breaks out all over the stage. For a comic fight, it feels wonderfully realistic and well-paced; it has to be seen to be believed."

ATHENA - Writers Theatre, 2022

Chicago Reader: "The precise fight choreography of David Blixt and Christian Kelly-Sordelet, which plays out on Arnel Sancianco’s cool minimalist runway set (it almost feels like a Holodeck from Star Trek, particularly in combination with Paul Toben’s stark white lighting), provides cunning physical metaphors for the ways they get close, pull back, and meet each other head-on. The piste is both a proving ground for their desire to qualify for nationals (and possibly the Olympics), and a place where they concentrate on themselves and each other."

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JULIUS CAESAR - Michigan Shakespeare Festival, 2017

Shakespeareances: "The most powerfully moving Caesar assassination I've ever seen. After the first round of stabs, Caesar manages to wield his own knife and fend off everybody until he turns and sees Brutus with knife poised to strike. "Et tu Brute?" Caesar says. "Then fall Caesar." He drops his knife and, with some physical effort, stands fully erect, coming to a statue-like pose of authority as he awaits Brutus's thrust."

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GRIZZLY MAMA – Rivendell Theater, 2016

Windy City Times: “Megan Carney directs a trio of actors navigating Brant's shivery boundaries between slapstick farce (high marks to violence designer David Blixt) and stranded-in-the-woods horror with never a misstep.”

THE RIVALS – Michigan Shakespeare Festival, 2015

Encore Michigan: “Blixt grounds O’Trigger with a gravitas that is in perfect contrast to Malisic’s outlandishness. Blixt also doubles as the fight director and O’Trigger’s sword fight with Jack is skilled and filled with finesse.”

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HENRY IV – Michigan Shakespeare Festival, 2015

Encore Michigan: “For those who attend Shakespeare because they like the sword fighting, Henry IV won’t disappoint. This is a war play and the first act ends with a great battle that brings out the whole company for intensive sword fights that range from single duels to large-scale group battles. Fight Director David Blixt (who also plays Owain Glyndwr, Douglas, and the Archbishop of York) choreographs an exciting battle that encompasses several fighting styles from great-sword to axe to sword and shield.”

HAMLET – Michigan Shakespeare Festival, 2014

Michigan Examiner: “The sword fight between Laertes (Sam Hubbard) and Hamlet at the end of the play – devised by Fight Director David Blixt – is perhaps the best staged duel we have ever seen. By best, we mean violent, authentic and so frightening that we closed our eyes more than once – certain that someone was going to lose a valuable appendage.”

ROMEO & JULIET – Hope Summer Rep, 2013

Encore Michigan: “Drugs, dispensed from a manhole cover in the street, also fuel the young punks' frequent street fighting, which is very well choreographed and believable. Even the fatal fight between Mercutio and Tybalt is presented as a somewhat friendly, foolish contest, so the audience feels the loss when Mercutio is killed.”

InFusion Theatre’s FIGHT GIRL, BATTLE WORLD – 2013

Chicago Theatre Beat: “The fighting is as impressive as the special effects. Fight Director David Blixt balances the physicality with humor.  His well-choreographed fights have Sheila O’Conner (E-V) kicking ass on the ground and in the air.  Her ferocity often takes flight as her stunts get a helping hand from the Ninja stage crew.”

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RICHARD III – Michigan Shakespeare Festival, 2012

The Daily Tribune: “The pivotal moment of the show is thanks to David Blixt, who choreographed the final battle at Bosworth Field. It was poetry in motion as swords, armor and the king and his men fought the Earl of Richmond. It is an oxymoron of elegant violence that left the play exactly where Shakespeare intended, an epic battle in which good conquers evil.”

ROMEO & JULIET – Michigan Shakespeare Festival, 2010

Encore Michigan: “Scott Stangland's somewhat devious Mercutio, too, adds greatly to the production, and marks the high point of David Blixt's violence design that includes some excellently choreographed swordsmanship.”

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE – Defiant Theatre, 2005

The Chicago Tribune: “David Blixt's fight choreography is "razrez" (ripping), as are both the actors who take it and those who dish it out.”

RICHARD III – Michigan Shakespeare Festival, 2000

The Ann Arbor News: “Blixt has choreographed a play's-end clash of swords, lances and battle axes so breathtaking it drew audience applause. Ultimately it's Richard vs. Richmond ax-to-sword, and for a moment it appears the hump-backed tyrant will lay waste his rival - a feasible outcome, since physical courage is Richard's sole virtue.”

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David has taught combat workshops at high schools, colleges, and universities, including: The University of Illinois, Beloit College, The College of Wooster, Graceland University, the University of Michigan's Residential College, Eastern Michigan University, Washtenaw and Jackson Community Colleges.