New students at the University of Cumbria spent the day fighting each other.

But, thankfully, there was not an injury among them, as they were actually learning the craft of stunt fighting from one of the country's most high-profile fight directors.

As part of their freshers' week taste of life at the University of Cumbria, the students were given a masterclass in staged fighting from Philip d'Orléans, a master teacher with the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat.

With an impressive list of credits that include work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Warner Bros and Hugh Jackman, Philip is a recognised authority in the field of stage combat.

Delivering an introductory class in stage combat skills to the 80 new students beginning degrees in acting, dance, musical theatre or performing arts, he had to be back in London the next day to teach a class at RADA.

Philip explained that his role in a production is a combination of telling a story through action and to ensure the performers stay safe.

“Simply put, the fight director tells violent stories safely,” he said.

“Fights are the simplest part of the work, anyone can bash together a fight. The important element is being able to tell the story through action safely.”

"A fight director's job is to make everybody look good, but also to convince the audience."

Drawing on his background as a county-level fencing competitor, Philip took up the Filipino martial art of Kali after spending time as a theatre director.

Kali, also known as arnis or escrima, is the national sport and martial art of the Philippines. With a focus on using swords, knives and sticks, its techniques are used heavily in the film industry.

Used by many big-screen names from Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon to Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity, even the Star Wars films have turned to the martial art for staging its lightsaber duels.

Philip draws on martial arts to help him tell stories through his fight scenes.

By using different shapes and ways of moving in his choreography, Philip said "you can create different characters and differentiate between characters and the way they fight."

He enjoys designing a wide range of fight scenes.

"I've done pretty much every sword style you can imagine," Philip said.

"Different knife fighting styles, unarmed, lots of scrappy unarmed fighting. Fighting with found weapons, so whatever's on stage - chairs, tables, books.

"I've done food fights, snowball fights. I've choreographed pillow fights, they all come up."

Philip's expertise has even been employed to choreograph "aggressive kissing."

"Three or four times I've been hired to wrangle a kiss where for example if two actors have to run together and finish in a kiss, if you misjudge that they break their teeth, they break their nose," he explained.

"It's about working out where the physical energy goes and how you meld the flow so you can create the story safely."

For Graeme Danby, the university's professor of practice, Philip's visit on Thursday is a signal of the University of Cumbria's commitment to working closely with big names in the industry.

"It’s a coup to get him. I will continue to bring the best in their fields on to campus – to enhance and educate," he said.

Sandie Fisher is the University of Cumbria's principal lecturer in Performing Arts. She welcomed the day as an opportunity for new students to become acquainted with the university and with each other.

She said the day was "a really useful way of the students getting to learn a skill, to meet each other and be inspired all at the same time in their first week of study."

"Philip is a highly respected expert in his field," Sandie added.

"It's fabulous for us to have him here because it kickstarts the whole of the first year."

"It sets out our stall for the way we want to teach classes - to work with professionals at the cutting edge of their discipline."

Sandie explained that plenty of exposure to professionals in the performing arts industry is a key feature of what the University of Cumbria offers their students.

"It's one of the unique features of the degree programmes here in performing arts," she said.

"Where possible, we try to expose the students so as much professional practice and engagements with artists as possible throughout their three year programme of study."