Garrett Kelly, center, and Chris McGillivray, right, rehearse a fight scene for University Theatre’s production of “Macbeth.”

From left, actors Josh Murray, Drew Cheek, Anson Ornery and Madelyn Johnson rehearse a fight and death scene.

From left, Hannah Roark and Josh Murray listen as fight director Jeremy Riggs goes through fight scene movements. Careful planning and timely choreography are crucial parts for the fight scenes University Theatre’s production of “Macbeth.”

Fight director Jeremy Riggs, left, demonstrates the most convincing way to break the neck on a stunt doll for a fight scene. Careful planning and timely choreography are crucial parts for the fight scenes University Theatre’s production of “Macbeth.”

Alex Salamat plops down on a seat in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre, sweat beading on his bald head.

He just finished five minutes of running around the stage, thrusting a 5-pound broad sword at his buddy, Erik LaPointe, yelling, grunting and trying to convince an audience he really wanted to kill someone.

Sure, this is acting. But it’s still a lot of work.

“I will kill almost everyone at least once,” Salamat says.

Salamat plays the title character in the University Theatre production of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” which opens this week.

But lest thou thinketh this is the same “Macbeth” you read in high school, thinketh again: This Kansas University production plays up the toil and trouble, with multiple fight scenes and some fairly violent imagery on stage.

This is “Macbeth” on testosterone.

‘Intense’ show

The production is being directed by Tazewell Thompson, an award-winning guest artist whose credits include the New York City Opera and Boston Lyric Opera, among many others.

“The drama is one of Shakespeare’s finest masterpieces of evil, outsized ambition and a raging lust for power,” Thompson says. “The KU production will be very intense, fast-moving and highly physical — especially the fight scenes.”

A quick refresher from high school English class: “Macbeth” opens with three witches prophesizing to Macbeth that he will become king of Scotland. With encouragement from his wife, Macbeth kills the reigning king of Scotland, and once he becomes king, kills anyone, including his friend Banquo, who could threaten his position as king.

When Banquo’s ghost appears, Macbeth is unnerved and returns to the witches, who assures him he will not be killed by “any man born of woman.”

When guilt becomes too much for Lady Macbeth, she loses her mind and kills herself. Macduff, born by C-section, leads an army to Macbeth’s castle. Macbeth is killed by Macduff.

‘Inherent risk’

All of this, according to Jeremy Riggs, is fine fodder for fighting.

Riggs is the fight coordinator for the play.

“‘Macbeth’ is always a violent play,” he says. “Everything in it is about killing and revenge. It’s about making yourself better, ambition. All of these things that make this show call forth violence. They need violence.”

Riggs attended KU for a year after his 1995 graduation from De Soto High School. But he dropped out, finding professional theater work and getting certified by the Society for American Fight Directors.

He’s worked on fight choreography and stunts both with stage productions and films, most recently on a Hollywood film called “Reach” being shot in and around Wichita. He returned to KU in the mid-2000s to complete his theater degree, graduating in May.

He says there’s one common misconception about on-stage violence: “That it’s safe, and it’s not dangerous. But there is inherent risk. The slap is the most singly dangerous move in stage combat.”

That’s because the average human hand is around 4 inches by 4 inches, and there isn’t much room for error with an actor’s eyes, nose and carotid artery near the cheek being slapped.

Add running, tackling, punches and swords to the mix, and there’s always a possibility for mishaps.

Although Riggs says he has a “100 percent safety record” on productions he’s done fight choreography for, he’s been on the set of other shows where that wasn’t the case. In one instance, a sword missed its target and cut open an actor’s head. In another, a zip line broke, sending an actress on a fall that broke her back.

Planned out

That’s what makes the careful choreography and rehearsals so important.

Riggs, 32, got involved in “Macbeth” during auditions, getting a feel for how well those auditioning moved around the stage. He then led a full weekend workshop with the cast, showing them the basics of stage violence and teaching them the vocabulary of sword fighting. Each location on the body corresponds with a number, and each type of sword swing has a name, making the choreography easier to discuss.

He had six major fight scenes to choreograph, including a scene where Macduff’s family is killed at their home (and their baby’s neck is snapped, with raw celery providing the sound effect).

The goal is to do each scene enough that the fighting develops its own rhythm, and that muscle memory takes over.

“Everything that happens has to be choreographed,” Riggs says. “With the swords hitting each other, they start to make music. And with the vocals and the sound of the feet on the stage, it’s very musical.”

Riggs says there are plenty of tricks to the trade, noting that a good portion of stage violence is “misdirection and illusion.” For instance, an actor hits his own chest while “punching” another actor to give the sound of a punch. And with proper placement on stage and just the right angles, a sword swipe can look like it actually cut through someone on stage.

Child’s play

All of these tricks have been just as difficult as learning the lines of the play, says Salamat, the senior from Prairie Village who plays the title character. He has a martial arts background, but he’s had to un-learn some of his techniques for the stage.

“It’s a whole new way of moving your body,” he says. “I’ve never handled swords before. It’s an entire new world.”

And the physical nature of running around the stage doesn’t make it any easier to project those Shakespearean lines to the top of the balcony.

“I have to keep remembering to take deep breaths,” he says.

Erik LaPointe, a senior from Kansas City, Mo., who plays Macduff, says the fight choreography has been a lot of work, especially finding the right pacing to make it believable for those watching.

“It needs to be slowed down,” he says. “If you go too fast, the audience doesn’t get it.”

But it’s not like he minds putting in the time to get it right.

“We get to be little kids on stage,” he says. “Who doesn’t like that?”