FIGHT DIRECTOR – QUOTES

‘Working with Renny is an absolute dream. When it comes to fights, he’s got it down baby.’
Kwame Kwei-Armah, Artistic Director Young Vic

‘Renny is dedicated, involved and constantly inventive. His approach is calm and considered, always putting actors at ease, giving them the physical confidence which is invaluable to their performances. He understands the pressure of shooting, always strives for authenticity and impact, both with the punches and the drama. His knowledge, practicality and patience make him indispensable to any TV production.’
Neil Alderton, Director Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Eastenders

‘I’ve worked with Renny for more than 15 years – on drama, sitcom, children’s shows and soaps. He brings a technician’s responsibilities, an actor’s sensibility and a director’s understanding of a scene to play every time. He’s reliable, fast, and a great problem-solver.’
Ian Bevitt, Director Emmerdale, Coronation Street, World’s End, The Chase, Heartbeat, Hollyoaks In The City, The Royal

‘Renny is a natural story teller and a great collaborator. His (fantastic) technique is watchful, sensitive and subtle – enthused by the narrative and the actor and never mechanical or imposed. He makes safety explosive. And exhilarating.’
David Leveaux, Director, 5 time Tony Award nominee

‘I learned to sword fight for the stage from the BEST. And the best is Renny Krupinski.’
Henry Winkler, actor, Golden Globe & Primetime Emmy award winner

‘Renny Krupinski is the best in the business. He’s elevated fight direction to a fine art, he’s a core member of the creative team from day one of the process. Always sensitive to the material, always surprising and revealing, never cliché. Able to offer elegance, beauty and when required out and out bloody brutality.’
Phillip Breen, Director RSC

‘Renny is a superb fight director and wonderful collaborator. We have worked together on many productions over the last twenty years. What makes him stand out in my mind is his ability to combine his brilliant expertise with acute psychological understanding, vast imagination and endless ingenuity. He has natural flare for staging, comic timing and visualisation – that makes him unique.’
Lucy Bailey, Director RSC

‘Working with Renny means you can concentrate on directing because you can rely on him to realise your vision’
Pip Short, Director Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Fair City, Doctors, Holby City

‘Renny Krupinski is my ‘go to’ Fight Director. Adaptable, collaborative and always offering creative solutions to the demands of any production. He consistently serves the vision of the play he is working on and the impressive fights he choreographs, sometimes shocking, sometimes funny, always making a significant contribution to the quality of the play are exciting, realistic, innovative and, above all, safe.’
Kevin Shaw, Chief Executive & Artistic Director Oldham Coliseum Theatre 2002 -2018

‘Renny is a terrific fight Director. I have worked with him across all genres and all kinds of fights – he is inventive and easy to work with and gets great results.’
Dominic Hill, Director RSC, Glasgow Citz

‘Renny Krupinski is easily the best fight director I know. He’s also the best writer, too. Damn his eyes but he’s good looking as well. As for his fight directing I had both eyes gouged out nightly, never felt safer. To an actor, that’s a gift, that; especially as you hear the audience squirming.’
George Costigan, actor

‘You prepare for a shot all night and Renny comes up with a simple solution that makes the whole thing work. Love working with you pal.’
George Siougas, Director Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, So Awkward CBBC

‘Renny is one of the most committed, immersive stunt directors working today. Whatever you think is right for a scene, Renny will improve upon it. A creative head on an acrobatic set of shoulders’
Ian Curtis, Director  BAFTA award winner, So Awkward CBBC, Hollyoaks, Horrible Histories

‘Renny is a real collaborator, a team player – yet at the same time he maintains a clear vision as to what is required to tell the story – nothing is ever gratuitous – his arranged action always comes from a truth and is therefore staged with authenticity and a sparkling panache. He works brilliantly with actors – building their trust and giving them confidence in the moves required. From a Director’s point of view, that trust is priceless.’
Di Patrick, Director Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Casualty.

‘If you want a stage fight done brilliantly, with a fight director who’s a great collaborator and who’ll be absolutely faithful to the production’s concept, then Renny’s the person to go to.’
Chris Honer, freelance director & artistic director Library Theatre Manchester 1987-2014

When words fail and Brute rough-handles his spouse with rapine hands and, lingeringly, drunkenly, revoltingly kisses her to test her physical reaction for revulsion, the effect is shocking.
The Provoked Wife, RSC Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph

‘The fight sequences by Renny Krupinski are masterful’ ****
Shakespeare In Love, National tour 2018

‘…fight director Renny Krupinski must be credited for the drama and wonder of the exhilarating first duel.’ ****
Cyrano de Bergerac, National Theatre of Scotland/Glasgow Citz/Edinburgh Lyceum 2018

‘Violence this realistic is rarely seen onstage.’ ****
Bare, Edinburgh Festival 2010

‘The Matrix-style slowing down of one fight was very impressive.’ ****
Lady Macbeth Rewrites The Rulebook, Edinburgh Festival 2001

‘…bullets piercing brains with gruesome clarity ****
Julius Caesar, Sheffield Crucible 2017 

‘…and the climactic scene where McMurphy drags Ratchet offstage to rape her is convincingly horrific.’ ****
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Sheffield Crucible 2018

‘…a brilliantly choreographed fight scene.’ *****
Treasure Island, Birmingham Rep 2016

‘…As in “bare-knuckle boxing”, but there’s more at play here than fists. Acclaimed fight director Renny Krupinski’s tale of a working-class Englishman’s descent into the underworld of illegal boxing is as riveting as its many loud skirmishes. Brimming with tragic pathos and dark humour (especially in the figure of wisecracking, Sinatra-loving mobster Arden, played with flamboyant malice by Krupinski himself), Bare proves that gritty crime thrillers belong onstage as much as on screen.’
Bare – Erotic Review, Edinburgh

‘…there is a lot of physicality in the production, at times leading to levels of violence that Quentin Tarantino would be proud of (albeit handled in a way makes this play suitable for all ages). ‘
John Waterhouse

‘Renny Krupinski’s fight scenes bring the realism right into the round.’
Whistle In The Dark, Royal Exchange Manchester, What’s On Stage

‘Krupinski’s skill as a fight director, choreographing the action so that you feel the pain as well as the excitement, comes into its own to make its own statement’
Robin Thornber The Guardian

‘Another regular on the team is Renny Krupinski who has choreographed some pretty impressive fist and sword fights.’
David Chadderton

All too believable
‘…He also choreographed the all-too-believable bare-knuckle confrontations that were the centrepiece of this underworld story about illegal fight clubs. Despite the audience sitting at close quarters on three sides of the stage, he made it look as though the actors were doing it for real.‘
Bare, The Scotsman,  Edinburgh 2010

‘The fights, staged by Renny Krupinski, are messy and ugly, just as they should be, and very well realised.’
British Theatre Guide

‘The climax of the show is a superb fight sequence with swords, sticks and fists choreographed by the great Renny Krupinski that is way above the standard of stage fighting normally expected in a pantomime.‘
Robin Hood, Lowry

‘Renny Krupinski’s fight scenes bring the realism right into the round.’
Whistle In The Dark, Royal Exchange Manchester, What’s On Stage

‘’Renny Krupinski is the best in the Country and his work on The Hard Man is truly frightening’
The Hard Man, Kings Theatre Edinburgh, Edinburgh Review

‘The fight sequences by Renny Krupinski are masterful and entertaining’
Shakespeare In Love, Behind The Arras

‘An electric hour of cathartic criminal exuberance.’
Editorial Rating: **** Outstanding. A Dangerous Woman, Edinburgh 2018

‘Brilliant fight director. Very fast worker. Superb at his job. Can’t recommend more highly. Top Qualities: Great Results, Personable, Expert‘
Lucy Bailey, Theatre director

The domestic fights, staged by Renny Krupinski, are very both shocking and funny…and realistic.
Private Lives, Library Theatre Manchester

‘Renny Krupinski’s contribution as fight director is worthy of a round of applause in its own right’
York Press

‘I was scared. Indeed, I was scared stiff…’
Bare, Jim Burns, Martial Arts Illustrated

‘This is partly due to the bare-knuckle realism of Renny Krupinski’s fight direction,..’
Starcross’d, The Guardian

‘…fantastic fight choreography by Renny Krupinski.’
The Public Reviews, 4/12/13

‘Brave displays of gymnastics in the fighting scenes were near perfect and the punching/hitting scenes (and there were a lot of them) were so realistic that I would not be surprised if it was later found that there were one or two shiners knocking about.’
Salford Online 4/12/13

‘Renny Krupinski’s expertly choreographed stage fights raise the dramatic pulse.’
The Stage 4/12/13

‘…the fight scenes, directed by Renny Krupinski, are the undoubted highlight as Hood and his Merry Men battle with staffs, swords, daggers, feet and fists. Even Maid Marian (Amelia Donker) gets in on the action and proves herself to have a firm right hook.’
Robin Hood, Lowry, Manchester Theatre Awards, 4/12/13

‘…some cracking fights, ..Fight Director, Renny Krupinski deserves great credit.’
Remote Goat, 5/12/13

…with breath-taking fight scenes immaculately choreographed.
Raring-to-go, 5/12/13

‘Combat director Renny Krupinski excels himself with the flair shown in the fighting scenes.’
Lancashire Evening Post, 11/12/13

‘…brilliant fight scenes.’
The Good Review, 5/12/13

‘Shaw’s direction is beautifully complemented by Renny Krupinski’s fight scenes which start as slapstick (complete with on-stage sound effects) but rapidly turn brutal…’
The Public Reviews

‘The climax of the show is a superb fight sequence with swords, sticks and fists choreographed by the great Renny Krupinski that is way above the standard of stage fighting normally expected in a pantomime. ‘
Oldham Coliseum

‘…some great fights directed by Renny Krupinski…’
David Chadderton

‘…there is a lot of physicality in the production, at times leading to levels of violence that Quentin Tarantino would be proud of (albeit handled in a way makes this play suitable for all ages). ‘
The Ladykillers, Oldham Coliseum, John Waterhouse Manchester Salon

‘Another regular on the team is Renny Krupinski who has choreographed some pretty impressive fist and sword fights’
Dick Whittington, Oldham Coliseum, David Chadderton Manchester Theatre Awards

‘…the pace never flags. Crucially, though, it’s emotion that really holds a complex and puzzling story together, largely thanks to the astonishing Kaitlin Howard, who totally owns a quicksilver role that may yet become a new definition for ‘challenging’. The ensemble are excellent throughout, and I haven’t even mentioned the sword-fighting, snakes, sex and nudity…! Catch it if you possibly can – it certainly deserves to live on in some form.’
Kevin Bourke, Manchester Theatre Awards, ***** D’Eon, Hope Mill Theatre Manchester