Swordplay

"Advance! . . . Advance! . . . Lunge! . . . Retreat!" Instructor Carlos Fuertes' steady commands slice through the warm air. So, too, do the swords. And it all happens at SwordPlay, a flashy gym of sorts for the Errol Flynn or "Braveheart" set. It's a bustling place, filled with pirate-wannabes and Olympic hopefuls, science-fiction fans and archery buffs.

With the possible exception of that football team in Minnesota, the vikings have seen some fairly serious brand slippage over the years. Once the scourge of Europe, vikings have increasingly lost their mojo - the Wagnerian soprano in the horned hat and even the scraggly barbarians of Capitol One ads are actually Visigoths, although the Viking cruise line still proudly tours where its titular progenitors once conquered. So the time is right for an image refurbishment, and here is History, in the midst of its own makeover, to provide just that.

Fringe shows shouldn't duplicate what can be seen any weekend in small theater. "The Ring of Steel" certainly supplied something different Monday night at the Mark Taper Forum--and on the "Babbitt" set, at that. It was an evening of sword fights. It didn't get monotonous. In fact there was too much variety, as with a piano recital where absolutely everybody in the studio gets a chance to perform. The show needed a stronger point of view, a narrator and a smaller, better-matched cast.

In the name of good sportsmanship, what's going on around here? I don't know the gladiator or whatever USC calls the brute with the sword, but I believe he's a college kid. And if you're a college kid like every other college kid and someone tells you not to do something, what do you do? You do it. If there is one thing we've always been able to count on from our younger generation it's defiance. The whole college experience is pretty much built on it: protests, sit-ins, marches or whatever.

"Death Shadows" (at Little Tokyo Cinema) is the latest samurai movie from Hideo Gosha, the best director working regularly in the classic genre. "Death Shadows" has it all: outrageous plotting, dazzling swordplay, a gorgeous heroine and an equally spectacular woman villain, plus a dash of dark humor to keep us from taking everything too seriously. And there's such a keen sense of the visual in "Death Shadows," especially in its lighting, that it has a sculptured look.

In the waning days of Japan's feudal era, an army marches into a village and is ambushed by a small band of samurai determined to topple the merciless lord leading the much larger force. As "13 Assassins" moves toward its dazzling, dizzyingly over-the-top climactic battle sequence, it gains a momentum of startling inevitability, as if these events simply must come to pass. The lengthy frenzy of blood, mud, arrows, swordplay and honor righteously defended that ensues is furious, intense and unrelenting.

It's a gas. It's a multimillion-dollar, high-tech, computerized theatrical extravaganza. "The Masters of the Universe Power Tour," a glitzy combo of sizzling special effects and non-stop action, opened Tuesday night at the Anaheim Convention Center, following much television and radio hoopla, and Mayor Bradley's proclamation of April 28 as "Masters of the Universe Day" in Los Angeles.

En garde! A fledgling high school fencing league, including Chaminade, Harvard-Westlake and Villanova Prep, will begin swordplay next week and culminate with the crowning of team and individual champions in January and February. The Southern California High School Fencing League, sanctioned by the Southern California Division of the U.S. Fencing Assn., also includes Bellflower, Norwalk and Victor Valley highs. The first of three individual tournaments is scheduled for Sept. 24 at 9 a.m.

High time television viewers had a swashbuckler of their own. Adrian Paul, that heartthrob, is the right man for the job. He stars as Duncan MacLeod, a 400-year-old immortal, in "Highlander, the Series." As MacLeod, Paul has to fight evil forces, but the actor has no quarrel with calories. "It's really tough for me to gain weight," said Paul, 37, even in Paris where the syndicated TV series is filmed half of the year (the other half in Vancouver, Canada).

Don't expect Will & Co.'s new "family accessible" production of "The Three Musketeers" at the Los Angeles Theatre Center to be a faithful staging of Dumas' swashbuckling saga. If you thought the Disney version took liberties. . . . In this hourlong show, kicking off Will & Co.'s "Quicktakes" series for family audiences, a cast of six youthful adult professionals, led by the company's artistic director Colin Cox, plays multiple roles.

A $100-million apartment and shopping complex is being planned for a formerly neglected stretch of Hollywood Boulevard that once held a legendary rehearsal studio where generations of actors learned to dance and wield swords. Commercial real estate developer Sonny Astani said he bought a 1.9-acre site on Hollywood near Western Avenue for almost $11 million. Among the structures on the property is a building that was part of Falcon Studios, a performing arts school founded in 1929.

In the waning days of Japan's feudal era, an army marches into a village and is ambushed by a small band of samurai determined to topple the merciless lord leading the much larger force. As "13 Assassins" moves toward its dazzling, dizzyingly over-the-top climactic battle sequence, it gains a momentum of startling inevitability, as if these events simply must come to pass. The lengthy frenzy of blood, mud, arrows, swordplay and honor righteously defended that ensues is furious, intense and unrelenting.

GEN-X poetry has a reputation for being lightweight. Clever and ironic, more like Polonius than Hamlet. And when it does sound like Hamlet, it's Hamlet as a whiner. Many young poets are figuring out how to deal with being members of the global society without being overwhelmed -- irony and cleverness are ways to avoid drowning.

Everything I know about sword fighting came from the cinema. The big screen showcased swashbuckling heroes who swung from chandeliers, leapt from balconies or battled their way up castle staircases before finally defeating the arch villain. In real life, fencing is less dramatic and choreographed but still a great deal of fun, even for beginners like me. No matter how many times you've seen it at the movies, nothing revs the heart like a masked stranger lunging toward your chest with a sword.

'There is nothing worse than being a damsel in distress," proclaims Catherine Zeta-Jones. "It's very boring." The British actress is anything but a shrinking violet in her first starring role in "The Mask of Zorro," opening July 17. As the daughter of Zorro (Anthony Hopkins), she rides horses, engages in sexually charged swordplay with Antonio Banderas and dances a mean tango with the Spanish heartthrob. "She's a very gutsy girl," says Zeta-Jones of her character.

"The Man in the Iron Mask" swashes until it buckles. Heavy on swordplay and spectacle, it's so intent on reviving the costume epics of the past it doesn't realize it's trying to be too many things to too many people until it collapses under its own weight.

Buzz Hurst was about to give a 50-minute fencing lesson to four boys, average age 10. They were outfitted with padded jerseys and wire masks and issued swords--long, thin foils like the weapon Zorro used to carve his trademark letter on a villain's chest. Lesson No. 1: Even though the tips are covered, Hurst tells his young students, "When you're not doing drills, walk around with the point down."

While more than 25 community and college theater companies dot Ventura County from Ojai to Simi Valley, most deal with established works. Part of this is for artistic reasons and part is commercial: The fact is, audiences are more likely to pay to see something they recognize than something they don't. This week, by pure coincidence, two plays will have their world premieres in Ventura County, and both were written by local residents.

"Advance! . . . Advance! . . . Lunge! . . . Retreat!" Instructor Carlos Fuertes' steady commands slice through the warm air. So, too, do the swords. And it all happens at SwordPlay, a flashy gym of sorts for the Errol Flynn or "Braveheart" set. It's a bustling place, filled with pirate-wannabes and Olympic hopefuls, science-fiction fans and archery buffs.

High time television viewers had a swashbuckler of their own. Adrian Paul, that heartthrob, is the right man for the job. He stars as Duncan MacLeod, a 400-year-old immortal, in "Highlander, the Series." As MacLeod, Paul has to fight evil forces, but the actor has no quarrel with calories. "It's really tough for me to gain weight," said Paul, 37, even in Paris where the syndicated TV series is filmed half of the year (the other half in Vancouver, Canada).