While we might look to other eras, or, you know, epochs (hi, Paleo people) for wellness inspiration, none is quite as dramatic and as “Princess Bride”-esque as LA.’s fencing community. At its center is Swordplay LA. The Burbank-area club is sporty but approachable, leaning into fencing’s cultural impact — and its fantasy — by extending a pointed invitation (see what I did there?) to make friends, be merry and break a sweat.
Alex Blugerman suits up with protective gear before a class at Swordplay LA.
Since the 12th century BC, fencing has been a source of both combat and entertainment. Egyptians in antiquity engaged in sword combat for warfare, but also for competition — Romans utilized swords in gladiator events, rituals and duels. During the Renaissance, Italians refined fencing into its modern form, and soon fencing schools began popping up all over Europe. Fast forward to the 1800s, when fencing’s popularity was so widespread that it became one of the five original games at the 1896 Olympics, where it continues to be a beloved summer event.
And yes, while the Olympics are one point of public familiarity, that’s just one small part of our collective cultural consciousness around the sport.
“Everyone has some kind of relationship to fencing,” said Mary Sola Spohn, the owner of Swordplay LA. “It’s mostly like, my kid saw this movie, or I love this character. It’s the stories around fencing that bring people in.”
Spohn cites “Game of Thrones,”“Lord of the Rings,”“Dungeons & Dragons,”“Star Wars” and even “The Parent Trap” as some of the more popular cultural inspirations for newbies. While clearly rooted in some serious history and tradition, according to Spohn, fencing’s representation in media is its most powerful draw.
Swordplay LA owner Mary Sola Spohn shows off the gym’s fencing gear. Spohn has trained the likes of Academy Award-winning actors and Olympic athletes.
“And ‘Wednesday,’” Spohn adds, of the influx of interest after the Netflix series debuted. “I’m not gonna say that ‘Wednesday,’ you know, saved the day, but, it is very interesting how certain things in pop culture kind of influence the interest level.”
Spohn should know. As a 7-year-old, she was mesmerized by the swordplay in “Hook” and “Peter Pan.” A native Angeleno, she started taking classes at Swordplay LA and soon became a nationally-ranked fencing youth. She participated in the U.S. Olympic trials and was recruited to Northwestern University’s Division 1 fencing team. After college, she worked as a stunt actor, fight choreographer and action designer specializing in European weapons. Spohn was training famous actors, athletes and Olympians (one of her favorite experiences was teaching Charlize Theron rapier for the film “Old Guard 2)” when she was given the opportunity to own the very business where her love of the sport began — and she took it.
Seven years later, Spohn is less interested in high competitive stakes than she is in fostering an all-inclusive, supportive community for her students at Sportsplay L.A. Participants come from all over Los Angeles and range in age from 7 to 85 years old. And she’s succeeded: nearly 170 members and hundreds of classes later, Swordplay LA is now one of the longest established fencing clubs in Los Angeles, with diversified offerings like stunts, pro-wrestling and historical European martial arts (or HEMA, for short) that offer some of the most unique workouts in the city.
Alex Blugerman, left, and Aiden Kelly duel during a class at Swordplay LA.
En garde! Inside the sword-fighting gym
Entering Swordplay LA’s large Burbank headquarters, I was worried I was in over my head. Like many beginners, I had no idea about the reality of fencing: the rigorousness, the gear, the clientele. Would I be the only woman there? Would I injure myself, or someone else? Should I have dressed preppier, like the quick-reflexed, collegiate fencing villains in the movies?
Immediately, my worries were assuaged — there were, in fact, women there. There was also a weapons wall, “Game of Thrones”-style wood accents and a prominently placed map of Middle-earth. While it’s definitely sporty, Spohn has carefully curated Swordplay LA’s atmosphere to be about storytelling — acknowledging the books, TV and films that inspire the club’s clientele.
“I put a lot of thought into the way this place looks and feels. I wanted it to still feel like an athletic facility, but with a creative, artistic side to it. Leaning into what brings people here,” she said.
Everyone was extremely friendly and on the fashion front, no popped collars in sight — only gym clothes and cool-looking fencing gear: mask, chest protector and underarm protector.
Swordplay LA participants Jonathan Proft, left, and Traviss Nguyen strike their weapons.
I did, in fact, feel cool when I put on said gear. I felt even cooler holding my sword, knees bent, feet wide, ready and waiting in my “advance” stance.
While we see lots of depictions of fencing, the rules are, in fact, fairly intuitive: Staying in the narrow playing area, or “piste,” two athletes wield their swords, trying to be the first to make contact with the other while avoiding being hit (and yes, you do get to shout “en garde,” before you advance). Like yoga or dance, the experience is a workout that feels in alignment with the body’s natural movements, at an intensity appropriate to wielding an ancient weapon.
“There are so many natural elements to it,” Spohn assured me during our lesson. “You know, in a very basic sense, how to hold it, what to do with the sword. Everyone has a vision of what that looks and feels like, and people get it.”
At the end of our 30-minute intro class, we actually engaged in combat. Empowered, I leaned in, like a sweaty extra in Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” feeling none of the danger but all of the drama.
Vibe: Boxing gym meets “Game of Thrones.”
Effort: It’s an hourlong full-body workout that, for beginners, can be a bit more intense on the hands and wrists; the gear can be hot and take some getting used to. But the combat happens in short spurts, allowing a fair amount of downtime for recuperation, conversation and enjoyment of the sport.
X factor: It’s uniquely cool to be wielding weapons with so much history, whose use has been perfected over thousands of years. There’s also an immense amount of drama to the sport; leaning into that truly transports the student away from a club experience and into a kind of delicious, LARP-y fugue state.
Swordplay LA
Where: 130 W. Isabel St., Burbank
Cost: $40 for a single drop-in class, memberships range from $50-$450 per month
The Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish wrote, external: “At almost four hours, it’s a long evening, sometimes too dense with detail, and it lacks the grit and gore (not to mention the nudity) of the TV series.
“Still, it capably serves newbies and devotees, and speaks in a timely fashion to our age of unruly leaders.”
He added: “It’s not up there, yet, with the Harry Potter or Stranger Things prequels but, on balance, the Game of Thrones franchise has yet another worthwhile and lucrative spin-off on its hands.”
The Times’ critic Clive Davis, external had greater reservations, writing that while the play “gives hardcore GoT fans a chance to go hunting for ‘Easter eggs’, it seldom comes close to matching the grim aura of the TV series”.
“Duncan Macmillan’s script is sorely lacking in poetry. Events plod forward, one after the other, and although Michael Shaeffer is a thoroughly compelling presence as the cruel and chronically unstable monarch Aerys, other performances seem nuance-free. Too many lines are simply shouted. You expect better of the RSC.”
Davis concluded: “It goes without saying that there are more than enough GoT devotees to keep the box office ticking over for the rest of eternity, but only the most dedicated of them will have the energy for this marathon.”
George R.R. Martin says he fears “the worst may be yet to come” as he opened up about the personal challenges that ran parallel to a year of professional highs.
The fantasy author, who created the world of HBO series “Game of Thrones,” said in a post published to his website on Monday that he has “battled sadness and depression” amid a “stressful” and “overwhelming” year of some exciting endeavors, “dreams coming true” and “nightmares.” In his blog post, his first since February, Martin wrote that he has lost friends — he did not provide names — and briefly mused on aging: “I turned seventy-seven last September, and I tell you, getting old is no fun.”
“But there have been amazing times as well,” he continued, “I suppose that’s just life. Of course, I knew that.”
Martin, who is writing his long-awaited book “The Winds of Winter,” said he has fallen behind on blog entries and intends to get readers up to speed, “but my posts are likely to [be] short and rushed.” The author also highlighted the recent critical success of HBO’s “Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” also adapted from his work. While he acknowledged the drama’s nine Emmy nominations, “including the big one, Best Drama,” Martin also noted that his attendance at the upcoming Emmy Awards in September “depends…on, well a lot of things.”
His latest post rings similar to another entry he shared in March 2018, when he reveled in “lots of exciting things going on” but also shared with followers that he is “buried in work, so much that it is starting to overwhelm me.” He announced at the time he would be taking a break from writing his posts.
“I’ll return eventually,” he said in 2018, “Just don’t know when.”
Martin has faced seemingly endless questions about the status of “The Winds of Winter” and his ability to complete the planned sixth novel in his “A Song of Ice and Fire” series that inspired the hit HBO drama “Game of Thrones,” for more than a decade. He tried to shut down those concerns in 2014.
“I find that question pretty offensive, frankly, when people start speculating about my death and my health,” he told a Swiss newspaper at the time.
Since then he has assured fans that progress is ongoing, previously voicing hopes for completion dates that have since passed. What we do know is “it’s going to be a huge book,” Martin teased in 2020.
A giant eight-metre dragon swept around the Tower of London in a dramatic display. The mythical beast was marking a spin-off from popular show Game of Thrones
Dragon soars over the Tower of London
A giant eight-metre dragon soared above the Tower of London to mark the launch of the third series of Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon on HBO Max. An eight‑metre model of Syrax was brought to life using production scans from the hit show.
Built by German aeronautics firm Airstage, the dragon features 23 moving parts and moved using impellers built into its legs to create lifelike motion. The model weighs 13kg and took three months to build by a 14‑strong team using foam, carbon fibre and aluminium. The dragon was crafted from vacuum-formed Depron foam around a carbon fibre and aluminium frame.
The model was finished with detailed airbrushing for a lifelike look and took the team nearly 3,000 hours to complete.
A special evening reception following the flight was hosted by Harriet Rose and attended by stars of the show Kieran Bew, Tom Bennett, Clinton Liberty, who play Dragonseeds Hugh Hammer, Ulf White and Addam Of Hull, recruited as Dragon Riders by Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) in the series, and Abubakar Salim, who plays Alyn of Hull.
Nils Schlenther, chief operating officer at Airstage, said: “This is one of the most intricate flying models we have ever created.
“After months of R&D and complex construction, the team studied the movement of Syrax and underwent over seven test flights to ensure her flight was as close as what we see in the show as possible.
“We have been constantly refining and getting the motion as realistic as possible and so the crowd’s reaction was amazing to see as we know we got it right for the fans.”
The event celebrated the return of House of the Dragon after nearly a two-year wait.
The show is based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood and is set 200 years before the events of the hit show Game of Thrones, telling the story of House Targaryen.
The eight-episode season will air new episodes weekly on HBO Max, leading up to the season finale landing on screens Sunday 9th August.
Anna Kimber OBE, deputy governor of the Tower of London, said: “The Tower of London has stood at the heart of some of the most dramatic chapters in our history for nearly 1,000 years.
“While dragons may belong to the world of fantasy, the themes at the heart of House of the Dragon – power, ambition and the struggle for the throne – have strong echoes in the stories that played out within these walls.
“We’re delighted to welcome this spectacular stunt to the Tower, where history and fantasy will meet for an unforgettable moment.”
Former EastEnders star Ben Hardy is returning to screens in an Agatha Christie film that also includes a Game of Thrones actor
21:09, 09 Jun 2026Updated 21:09, 09 Jun 2026
Ben Hardy played Peter Beale in EastEnders more than 10 years ago (Image: BBC)
Former Peter Beale actor Ben Hardy is set to start filming an exciting new ‘whounnit’ based on real-life events.
The new film Eleven Missing Days will also star Vincent Cassel and Felicity Jones and tell the story of Agatha Christie’s real-life disappearance.
The novelist’s disappearance made national and international headlines during the 1920s, with famous names joining the search to find her, including leading politicians and fellow writers such as Arthur Conan Doyle, according to Deadline.
The synopsis reads for the film: “In December 1926, at the height of her fame, Agatha Christie became front-page news when she vanished in bizarre circumstances from her home.
“In a case of life imitating art, this whodunnit explores the investigation behind her disappearance, strangely resembling an Agatha Christie novel itself, where everyone in her life became a suspect.”
A stellar cast joins Ben Hardy in the forthcoming movie, including Say Nothing star Ryan McParland, Game of Thrones’s Alfie Allen, The Brutalist’s Stacy Martin, Nicole Elizabeth Berger from He’s Watching You, and The Gorge actor Oliver Trevena.
Currently in pre-production, the picture is on course to shoot this summer in the UK.
Who did Ben Hardy play in EastEnders?
The 35-year-old found fame on the BBC soap in 2013 when he arrived in Walford as legendary character Peter Beale. He had taken over the role from Thomas Law, who had played the part between 2006 and 2010 before returning in 2023.
Ben’s version of Peter was most memorable for being caught up in the ‘Who Killed Lucy Beale?’ saga and for dating Lola Peace (Danielle Harold) before rekindling his romance with Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa).
After finding out his own brother Bobby (Eliot Carrington) had killed Lucy, Peter struggled with life in Walford and moved to New Zealand to start a new life in 2015.
In an interview with The Independent, Ben said that he had “been battling it for a year, how to make things work” before ultimately deciding to leave the show.
“I have so much respect for everyone who works on that show, I felt myself getting lazy as an actor,” he explained. “I felt myself constantly going, ‘This scene doesn’t work’.”
Ben went on to say: “That laziness scared me. I said, ‘I have to get out of here’.”
He has since traded in his fruit-and-veg market stall for the bright lights of Hollywood and landed a role in the 2016 film X-Men: Apocalypse.
He also played Roger Taylor in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and portrayed the role of Four in the Netflix movie ‘6 Underground’ alongside Ryan Reynolds.
Ben also played Frank McCulled in the film Pixie, Seb in The Voyeurs, Simon in The Girl Before, and Tre in Tagged.
Most recently, he starred as Oliver Jones in the Netflix movie Love at First Sight (2023) and the 2025 horror movie The Conjuring: Last Rites.
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and iPlayer
