“Sword Fighting for Stage and Screen” is being taught for Mt. Airy Learning Tree by Kenneth Nicholas (seen here) Saturday, Oct. 20, 9 to 1, at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, 20 E. Mermaid Lane. More information at 215-843-6333. (Nicholas is seen here wearing his 66-pound, $3,000 suit of armor)[/caption]

by Elizabeth Coady

He’s the leading man of legend and fairy tale, a debonair romantic who defends honor and steals hearts with the thrust and parry of a blade: the swashbuckler. In movies like “The Princess Bride’’ and “The Pirates of the Caribbean,’’ he captivates admirers with steely stabs and verbal jabs, inspiring flights of fancy.

Ken Nicholas grew up watching these sword fighting movie scenes and became hooked. Family trips to Renaissance Fairs and the Medieval Times, where he encountered sword fighters of both sexes, reinforced his love of the sublimely silly steel entanglements.

“I love the old swashbucklers,’’ said Nicholas, 31, who turned his fascination with theatrical sword fighting into a hobby and then, briefly, a career performing at Renaissance Fairs and for a traveling jousting company.

His all-time movie sword fighting scene is in “The Princess Bride’’ when Inigo Montoya duels the masked Dread Pirate Roberts, an iconic movie scene that wins raves by YouTube viewers as “the most honorable’’ and “best sword fight in movie history.’’

“The fight scene when they’re on the cliff, this is the coolest fight ever,’’ said Nicholas, who lived in Chestnut Hill for a year upon arriving in Philadelphia in 2017. “It’s so much fun and silly and fast. That’s my all-time favorite.’’

But Nicholas also gives a nod to the classic sword fight between Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone in “The Mark of Zorro.’’ While more recent films depict sword fighting with darker overtones, Nicholas says it’s the earlier, kitschy films that evoke a certain joie de vivre that most capture his imagination.

“It’s just fun and lighthearted, and that’s my favorite style, so that’s why I tend to do it,’’ he said.

A graduate of Ramapo College in Mahwah, New Jersey, Nicholas majored in journalism and minored in theater. “I wasn’t sure if it was practical to get a major in theater,’’ Nicholas said. “The theater’s always where I gravitated toward.’’

Despite his prudent impulses, impracticality won out, and Nicholas now manages ScienceTellers, a traveling theater group that produces interactive science programming for schools, libraries, parties and scouts.

But during summers through college and after graduating, Nicholas worked in Renaissance Fairs and for a jousting company performing as a theatrical sword fighter choreographing fight scenes and working as a stagehand.

“I have my little boots; I have my puffy shirts,’’ he said.

He also parlayed his theater experience into a storytelling program retelling a King Arthur story on chivalry that he performed at schools and libraries primarily in New Jersey. For that, he brought along his 66-pound, $3,000 suit of armor that, when not being used, stands on display in his kitchen.

“People think it’s pretty interesting. Some people think it’s totally weird,’’ he said. “As soon as they come in, it hits them in the face.’’

Though theatrical sword fights are no longer his day job, Nicholas still teaches the occasional class. On Saturday, Oct. 20, he’ll offer “Sword Fighting for Stage & Screen’’ at Chestnut Hill Friends, 20 E. Mermaid Lane, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The class is being offered through the Mt. Airy Learning Tree.

The program combines fencing and martial sword fighting techniques with theatrical techniques. Nicholas has eight certifications from the Society of American Fight Directors to teach ‘’stage combat,’’ which the organization describes as “acts of conflict, danger and/or violence performed for entertainment.’’

“I wouldn’t go up against a real fencer and expect to win, but I might look a little better because I have more style and flair,’’ Nicholas said.

The class typically draws a variety of participants. Among the attendees at a recent program taught at Chester County Night School were a physician, a fencer, a cashier and a school department head. And prospective students can rest: the blades are dulled to avoid injuries.

“It’s totally safe, it’s totally fun … and I just want to emphasize that it’s for everybody.’’

You can register for ‘Sword Fighting for Stage & Screen at Mount Airy Learning Tree at mtairylearningtree.org or 215-843-6333.