New Poll - OUCH!

Self explanatory, really - who's ever hurt themselves, what was involved, & whose fault was it?

The Poll-tergeist

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my story,

It was opening night of my school production west side story, and i had just died (i was bernardo), and i was lying on the ground playing dead and the rumble was happening around me.

one of the people in the rumble (to this day i dont know who) trod/kicked my face. I hope it was an accident. anyway, i was in so much pain and i was contemplating wether to sneak off stage, but i kinda couldnt cause the audience would notice (i was at the front of the stage). so i lay there, tears pouring down my face and in agony. when the scene ends i rush off and it ends up that because of the pressure of the blow i had started to bleed really heavily out the top of my nose. i was so glad that in the play i was dead because it meant i didnt have to go back on.

I went to the doctor, and it ends up my nose was broken. and i had to wear a cast on it, i would take it off for performances only but apart from that i was stuffed.

the following nights i died face down. and nothing happened, but another close shave almost. a healed foot in my back, but it didnt happen

that has been my only stage injury, and lets hope its the last. too wood

I've been attacked by the Dolphin curtain rope. It's drawn blood (still have the scar) and it put my shoulder out.



Thou dissembling clapper-clawed dewberry!

I really need the option 'All of the above'!

I did a show a few years ago where I sprained my ankle during rehearsals 'Yes - my fault'. Then I was carrying props down some stairs wearing thongs, because I couldn't wear shoes, and I slipped and broke my toe "Involving prop or costume'. Because of the broken toe and the sprained ankle, during one of the fight scenes, I didn't get out of the way of a sword in time and ended up with cuts on my leg 'Involving combat/acrobatics' and 'Involving prop or costume'. Had to get a tetnus 'Needed medical attention'.

Melissa

Okay,
You also really need the option "Bad karma from bagging another show"

Went to see a show, and afterwards bagged it mercilessly to other people in car park (who also didn't like it)
On the way home I managed to tear the cruciate ligament in my right knee.
Unfortunately I was in a show that went up three weeks later, so ended up going on stage with a walking stick (luckily it added to the character).

Also
Broke arm in a car accident about four weeks before another show, so had to play role in a cast.

I've also sprained my ankle in rehearsals a couple of times.

Worst incident actually on stage?
Was playing Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella at Marloo. Had a tap number at start of second act. Had to run offstage afterwards. Slipped in wings and my leg literally went through the wall of the theatre. Had one of the Ugly Step Sisters delivering his lines from offstage while he was trying to get my leg out of the wall.
That was fun!

Dear All,
I'm following this poll with fascination and would be really curious to know how many of the votes people submit overlap on the various categories. For example, during a swordfight (Involving combat/acrobatics), you lose control of your weapon (Involving prop or costume) and it hits your fellow actor unintentionally thus injuring him/her (Yes - my fault). This happens during the Dress Run (During rehearsal), and unfortunately, the wound required immediate first-aid and, subsequently, stitches at the hospital (Needed medical attention).
Perhaps you might think that's a little over-the-top, but it actually happens all too frequently when the general conditions are unsafe.
As a Fight Director, my job goes far beyond simply choreographing a fight scene. A huge amount of my work is to do with safety, not just for those performers engaged in the fight moment, but other actors on stage/on set who are non-combatants, stage crew, musicians and of course, the audience.
Having a Fight Director involved in your production is the best way to REDUCE the level of risk and thus avoid accidents as he/she is constantly aware of potential danger and will take the approriate steps to eliminate it. A Fight Director is a highly trained specialist (it takes approximately 4-5 years to qualify) who does the choreography, sure, but who also can act as a safety officer so that the rostra which people are leaping up onto is built strongly enough (Involving set/stage conditions), ensures that weapons and other props are safely maintained and properly stored (Backstage) and has up to date First Aid training in case of an accident.
It is a constant source of wonder to me how many actors (when I meet them for the first time) are keen to tell me of their "war-stories", yet I've never heard of one incident in the thirteen years I've been doing this stuff that couldn't have been avoided.
Play safe everyone!
Happy Swashbuckling,
Andy Fraser
Fight Director.

There seems to be a disturbing lack of concern for stage safety in general. The productions I have seen lately, have had obvious hazards & potential accidents waiting to happen.
There is also an attitude of the ‘Dodgy Brothers Incorporated ‘ creeping in again! I question thier expertise or lack of - in providing safe working sets - in many instances.
Rostra that is cobbled together & obviously badly produced.
Inadequate materials being utilised beyond their safe usage classification.
Support structures visibly dangerous.
Electrical equipment in obviously poorly maintained condition.
Lights not secured or safety restraint equipment used.
Metal structures protruding into acting areas without any protective coverings.
I could go on & on!
but this is only from one production I witnessed, where I winced at every movement of the performers & thought "What if?" during the whole production. In this instance - all of the hazards could have been easily & cheaply avoided. With a little ingenuity & forethought. Obviously the artistic look was more important.
What’s happened to ‘Duty of care’?
Or is it just to be disregarded - as being someone elseÂ’s responsibility?
Joe

We usually run a fairly safe stage at our Musical Society but our recent Camelot production saw more injuries than we would have liked.

1 split open temple from two actors heads colliding in 'Fie on Goodness' bar scene.
Lesson learnt - One of those things, be more careful.

3 minor stab wounds/scrapes (victims were all different actors/in different performances) from small dagger in lancelots escape - same Understudy was combatant in each incident.
Lesson Learnt - Give under-studies more practice - we drilled combat scenes heaps (at times we were very close to audience) - but under-studies didn't get enough practice in thier understudied role.

2 Falls One on Stage and one during jump off stage.
Lesson Learnt - Don't throw so much water around stage.

For the size of the cast (near 90) that wasn't too bad I suppose, I reckon bump in and bump out are more hazardous.

Cheers
Lance

Well okay, now I'll add some of mine to the list...have you got a few hours to spare..?!!


Potentially most dangerous... I was in a show operating a small puppet dressed in the same costume as me, representing my character. The puppet was to be swooped by a giant bird, played by an actor with a hat with a pointed beak made of bamboo. In the course of the swoop, the tip of the beak hit me in the eye! Luckily I reeled in the right direction, and the brunt of the impact stabbed me just inside the eye, on the bridge of my nose. I was just about to exit anyway, and I spun off to the dressing room to check the damage in the mirror, and make certain could still actually see. I was onstage again in a few seconds, and did the rest of the show with one eye closed and weeping. Had to improvise some choreography where I was supposed to throw & catch an object, because I lost all depth perception.
During the break between shows, sought a doctor who applied medication and an eye patch (the bamboo point had scratched the surface of my eyeball). For the afternoon matinee I put an eyepatch on the puppet, so that everyone would think that's how my character was supposed to look.


Same show, a few days later....still wearing the eyepatch; backstage at the subiaco studio (very small space behind the set), bent down to pick up a prop and then standing and turning in a hurry (on my blind side) I smashed my head into a concrete pillar. Woke up a few seconds later, not enough to miss my cue but enough to not remember hitting the floor.


The show I toured the most, Dolphin Talk, involved a lot of acrobatic tumbling to represent being a dolphin. During a particularly gruelling week in Victoria, I didn't quite catch myself as I dived headfirst toward the floor and I clipped my chin hard on the ground. I could see the other actors' concern as they saw blood running from my chin, but I nodded that I was okay to continue. One of them passed me a handkerchief, which I used to staunch the blood any chance I could when I wasn't directly active in the scene. The scene at the time was about Monkey Mia, and the actor playing the Ranger casually informed the audience "not to worry about that Dolphin that's cut himself, he probably got too close to some sharp coral". During a later scene when I was slowly climbing on a frame and turning upside down, every time I faced downwards I could see the growing patch of blood where I was slowly dripping on the floor. After the show I found a doctor, who gave me four stitches in my chin..still have the scar.


Opening night of "A View From The Bridge" at the Subiaco Theatre Centre; my character is being taught to box, and the other guy pulls a swift one and decks me. Because of the nature of the space, how the audience surrounds you and can see everything, we rehearsed a contact punch, where he swung with a fist but at the last minute opened to a slap that I took and then he closed his fist in the follow-through. We'd timed this really well so it looked great and I was taking hardly any force. But in the excitement of opening night he forgot and kept a closed fist...and he was a BIG guy (remember Bob Faggeter?) I went flying, one of the actors caught me, and I was momentarily REALLY stunned. Aarne Neeme (the director) gave me a note later, reminding me that I'd messed up the lines just afterwards. I had to explain that I was actually lucky I could speak (or stand) at all!


Filming a training documentary for BP oil workers...part of the story was telling how vandals had broken into an area and stolen fuel. It wasn't originally a scene on the shotlist but I suggested I'd be able to climb over this high barbed-wire fence, and if we filmed it in silhouette I wouldn't be recognised as my other character...all fine until one take when I happened to puncture my thumb on a rusty barb. Didn't occur to me to do anything about it, I just sucked on the cut and kept doing the stunt. Wasn't until a few days later that my jaw muscles became painfully tight and I discovered I'd given myself a mild dose of tetanus.


At a festival in Korea, the performance involved use of scuba gear in an underwater display tank. I was very conscious of the safety aspects of the gear (I used to be a divemaster) and to ensure that our flight schedule was sufficiently delayed after the last performance to prevent any possibility of decompression illness (bends). But because of the humid conditions and the dirt we kept walking into the tank, I got a pretty bad ear infection, which was exacerbated by the the pressure changes during the flight home...absolute agony coming in to land, and a partial loss of hearing that took a long while to recover.


During a rehearsal...a clowning type routine where five of us would pile one on top of the other on the ground. Part way through rehearsal it was decided that we needed one of the five to be somewhere else so he was taken from that part of the routine. Unfortunately we didn't quite think through how this would alter our alignment, and one of the guys above me had his head directly above mine as I happened to throw my head back. I heard the sickening sound through my own skull, of hitting his jaw and the cracking of teeth! Turns out I actually had broken three teeth but thank God we discovered he wore dentures, so they were plastic and could be replaced. Had a good lump on my head though!


Biggest legal battle over an injury was actually due to a vehicle accident while travelling between venues. I sustained some soft tissue damage to my foot, couldn't stand on it for a while and needed physiotherapy and a podiatrist. Because the other driver was proved negligent, and because I could support a case showing that this injury was potentially damaging my established reputation, livelihood, and future earning potential, I eventually (over a year later!) received a lump sum compensation payment from the insurance company. Crazy thing was, the part I was playing at the time was a character in a wheelchair, so apart from some minor adjustments to the blocking, we didn't need to change the show and I didn't miss any days off work!


This is a weird one...during the course of a reasonably long season (about 100 performances) there was a part where I executed a backwards roll over some furniture...occasionally I'd knock my elbow and get a slight graze, which never quite broke the skin so I never paid attention to it, and though it never got worse, the constant knocking meant it never healed. But when the show toured to the Kimberleys, the humid conditions there meant I got an staphylococci infection through the abrasion, and within about six hours my lower arm swelled up painfully like a football. Needed lots of antibiotics, almost needed hospitalization...could've been prevented with a bit of Dettol.



Plenty of other not-so memorable injuries...surprisingly enough, not one has ever meant I've missed or interrupted a performance. (Apart from the time my appendix burst in production week, but that's not quite the same thing). And that's despite tempting fate with some pretty scary stunt work, usually involving heights (like sliding down a rope from the top of the rig at His Majesty's..!) or bizarre performance tasks (diving through a giant springloaded mousetrap...). Somehow you cope with (or don't even notice) the pain until you get off stage, and then the adrenalin wears off and you realise you're not superman anymore. The show must go on!



And lastly, I feel like I was really tempting fate during 'The Stones' by balancing at the top of a 4m upright ladder...because all four of the really serious & nasty theatre injuries I can remember have involved technicians falling off ladders (one almost on top of me)....if that's your job, PLEASE be careful, guys!



Cheers,
Craig

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Paul Treasure wrote:
>
> ...so had to play role in a cast.
>


Who else was in the cast?






crg

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Gee, this topic's got me remembering some fond injuries! I remember early in my career being able to make a point of the fact that I was carrying a scar from every different production I'd been in. I'm more careful these days, honest!


Just remembered one from my Curtin Uni days. A dance piece that involved a lot of acrobatics and precise stunt choreography.
During one of our tech rehearsals, we'd been in the habit of either doing a 'full run', which meant a performance-level effort, or a 'walk-through' which meant that to save energy and concentrate on the music, we'd just mark time during some of the difficult sections, vaguely going through the motions but not doing the full leaps.

One stunt involved an actor cupping his hands together so I could step up on them, and I used him as a launch pad to do a backward somersault. If it was a "walk-through", I still stepped up on him to mark the time it would take, but simply jumped back without doing the full flip.

The accident occurred because once we didn't precisely communicate which 'mode' we were rehearsing in...I wrongly assumed I could do the full sault, while my partner was not prepared to stand his ground for the full kick I gave. The backflip became a half hearted effort where all my thrust threw him across the room into someone else, and I was in mid air about to land squarely on my head. I was lucky to twist out of it and landed on my back but in doing so I gave myself the equivalent of a whiplash neck injury.


A valuable lesson I learned....COMMUNICATING !




Thanks, it's good to remind yourself sometimes of how stupid you've been in the past. If you let yourself forget you can become blase.

Cheers,
Craig

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If I've ever significantly hurt myself, I can't really recall. Overwhelmingly, it is the pride-injuries which stick in my memory. Falling arse-first through a large, yet fragile, beautiful and finely tuned Japanese instrument, while the performace was being filmed (in front of an audience, naturally) particularly springs to mind. I take pride in the fact that the artistic director dubbed it 'the biggest f-ckup' on that company's stage.

Falling spectacularly off a chair while wearing a fairly small skirt in front of the entire year nine class of one of Perth's rougher highschools is also an injury which will never heal...

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Hey Lance,
For this production, did you have a Fight Director? And I do mean someone who is properly trained as such. Or, was it a case of a few members of the company (usually the performers directly involved) cobbling something together? That happens a lot.
My point is that you can "drill combat scenes heaps" and even give your understudies more rehearsal time, but it may not necessarily help. If the weapons you use, the choreography you devise and the actual space you perform the fight in are unsafe, you are more than likely to have an accident.
All of the factors listed above are where the Fight Director can help. He/she will provide choreography that looks thoroughly convincing in the context of the piece, make the space safe for fighting in and provide weapons (if required) that are "combat-worthy". That is to say, weapons which are designed to take the strain of being used over and over again in performance.
It really all comes down to an awareness of potential danger. A Fight Director has that specialist training, most performers do not. So, if a production has a fight in it and a Fight Director is not brought in, the potential for danger is exponentially higher since the performers may be UNAWARE that they're doing anything dangerous (beyond the obvious fact that they're in a fight scene!).
I know, I know, I'm banging my drum. But it's the only one I've got and I really, really like it!
Happy Swashbuckling!
Andy Fraser
Fight Director

Here's one I'll be telling me' grandkids......

I was doing a show at Hayman theatre Curtin University (Perth for those eastern states people ;-) ) and was driving into perth to pick up some stuff on a Sat. Morning before heading into the theatre for the first show of two that day.

I won't go into details about the accident itself (I will for me' grandkids LOL ). Suffice it to say that some idiot nearly wiped me off the face of the planet. I got away Physically clean. No cuts, bruises, etc. Just a little shock. I was taken into emergency just to be sure and the first thing on my mind? ------ The show!!!!! I was asking staff to call Hayman theatre and tell them about me.

Well, they called my parents and because of some stupid clause somewhere they were not able to tell them my condition, just that I was in hospital and that I was worried about the show. My parents called the theatre and told them what they could. A Stand-in was brought in for the first show.

My parents turned up, I was given a clean bill of health and I insisted on attending the second show that afternoon. By the time I got there, the show had just started. I burst into the green room where some stage crew were seated. "Oh, hi there Jeff. How are you? Heard you had an accident." Very casual you know. Chit-Chat.

At that point, a group of girls from the cast were animatedly yaking as they came down the stairs from the change room. They immediately went dead quiet when they noticed me. Paused for a second, then literally screamed their way back up the stairs.

"What the?" says I.

"Oh, they think you're dead." Says the Stage Manager.

Great. It seemed that the Director had passed on my parents message verbatim and the cast had then assumed that as the Hospital had NOT been prepared to give out any information that it must have been pretty serious, even fatal.

Now, most of the cast were on stage and were unaware that I was there. Two cast members were happy to see me and these were to two others with whom I would make my first appearance that afternoon. I was dressed in an old, dark suit, wearing a gangster style hat. Pretty morbid already. But wait there's more.

The first time most of the cast were to see me that afternoon was propping up the rear-end of a coffin!!!!! The expresions on their faces were absolutely priceless, and to their credit (most of them) they carried on like troopers occasionally casting the occasional shocked look in my direction.

It was one experience I shall never ever forget.

Jeff "Staying Alive" Watkins

I am loveing this line of discussion, some of these war stories are hilarious!

But I want to comment on Andy's post. He's probably the one out of all of us with the most expertise in this area. He said at the end of his post that in his long career in the theatre he's never seen an injury that couldn't have been prevented. However, the worst one I've ever seen and the worst one I've ever sustained I think were just a result of plain bad luck.

Worst one I've seen; to the proud members of the cast of a certain GRADS production (Hi guys!!!) this story will be indelibly etched on the mind. At the very end of Act One, an actor had a line and a point. Just a simple line and a simple but moderately emphatic gesture. However, this simple gesture was enough to dislocate his shoulder, right there on stage, in front of God and the audience. The end of Act One blackout after his gesture was immediate (as was the ensuing chaos) so the audience never realised what had happened. But to quote another cast member upon viewing the video of that performance; "Wow...we could send that in to Worlds Funniest Dislocations....". To this day I've never seen anything braver (or more gross) than that actor relocating his shoulder, then finishing the show.

Worst one I've sustained; we were using a wooden bench, kind of like a church pew as a multipurpose piece of the set. In my scene it was a bed. I had to sit on the bed and be given a mug from another actor. I would then collapse (gracefully) sideways from my sitting position upon the bench/bed so I was lying sideways on it, with my feet still on the floor. The actor who had given me the mug (which was... gasp!... drugged!!) would then move to sit beside me on the bench. This had gone swimmingly the whole way through rehersals and for several performances. Then one night, when I had fallen in a slightly different position and not left enough room for the other actor on the bench, she pushed me very slightly out of the way so she could sit down. Just a gentle push. But in the position I was in, it tore my intercostal muscle, leading to a very painful recovery period and a set of ribs that still aint quite right.

I think some injuries on stage are just a result of a collection of bad coincidences. More or less unavoidable. The above two productions were not ones where anything that happened on stage (apart from one or two choreographed and rehearsed to death fight scenes in the second one) in the general interaction scenes could be seen as dangerous.

Sometimes these things just happen.

Leah

Excellent points, Leah. I'd like to clarify that when I was mentioning performers and their "war stories", I was speaking in the context of stage/screen combat. Inevitably, as a Fight Director meeting an actor for the first time (usually becuase I'm about to begin rehearsals with him/her), I'm regaled with anecdotes that finish with lines like, "...and then Laertes managed to get me in the chest night after night!", or, "...and the other actor demanded that I slap him for real, so I did, and one night I caught him on the ear and ruptured the ear drum."
Of course accidents will always happen. We're only human after all and, I must admit, the story of yours with the actor dislocating his shoulder on a simple arm gesture is one of the most bizarre I've ever heard!
You're quite right, it would be unavoidable and simply a case of rotten luck. Its just that the stage combat war stories I've heard have inevitably pointed to ignorance, unsafe weaponry, unsafe choreography, dangerous use of space, etc., etc. and all indicate the absence of a Fight Director's influence. It is in that sense that I meant they were avoidable.
This is not to say that we Fight Directors are gods, just that my colleagues and I are trained to recognise danger and take action to deal with it.
There will always be accidents, we just need to ensure that we can prevent as many as we can. Thanks for helping me be more clear.
Happy Swashbuckling!
Andy Fraser
Fight Director.

Leah M wrote:
>
> Worst one I've seen; to the proud members of the cast of a
> certain GRADS production (Hi guys!!!) this story will be
> indelibly etched on the mind. At the very end of Act One, an
> actor had a line and a point. Just a simple line and a simple
> but moderately emphatic gesture. However, this simple gesture
> was enough to dislocate his shoulder, right there on stage,
> in front of God and the audience. The end of Act One blackout
> after his gesture was immediate (as was the ensuing chaos) so
> the audience never realised what had happened. But to quote
> another cast member upon viewing the video of that
> performance; "Wow...we could send that in to Worlds Funniest
> Dislocations....". To this day I've never seen anything
> braver (or more gross) than that actor relocating his
> shoulder, then finishing the show.


I remember that well, Leah. I also remember seeing the video that night at the cast/crew party and hearing the "Ohhhhhh!!" of horror from everyone when they saw it on the vid.



Thou reeky hedge-born clack-dish!

Oooh, I've got that one video. I will never forget the sight of the actor slamming his shoulder against the wall in an effort to put the joint back in its socket. In fact he was half way to the hospital when it popped itself back in. He arrived back at the the Dolphin just in time to go on for the second act. The man is an ansolute legend as far as I'm concerned.

Melissa

I had a similar experience. It was my first fim shoot for Murdoch University, I had a heap of camera equipment in my car and some idiot hit me while I was stationary in the driveway of a car park. That one was fun!

I've also been standing offstage and had a light come crashing down, landing next to me.

Then there was that time someone threw a light bulb into the bin, which I was sitting next to. It smashed and I was picking bits of broken glass out of my skin for days.

Rusty nails, broken stilletoes, walking frames, wow it's all coming back to me now.

Melissa

Melissa Merchant wrote:
> Oooh, I've got that one video. I will never forget the sight
> of the actor slamming his shoulder against the wall in an
> effort to put the joint back in its socket.

It's amazing the qualities the thought of the director taking to stage with the script in his hand will instil in an actor.

:-)

Blood legend Coolz!

Cheers
Grant

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Grant Malcolm wrote:
>
> It's amazing the qualities the thought of the director taking
> to stage with the script in his hand will instil in an actor.

Script in one hand, VB in the other, girlfriend in the other....

Being stuck in the biobox I didn't see the antics back stage - the sight of him on the video was enough. The thousand yard stare, his arm dead at his side and nobody realising what had happened.

Thou mammering clapper-clawed bladder!

On stage I have:
- been stabbed in the hand.
- had hot wax thrown in my eye.
- have been thrown into the wall of a theatre stage, punching a hole through it.
- have been thrown into the opposite wall of the same theatre four years later, punching a much larger hole through it.
- smacked my head on the floor hard enough to cause a concussion.
- severely bruised myself.

I figure this sort of thing happens to the best of us, but I do feel more injury-prone than everyone else.

Grant.

I have just sustained my second injury in 2 nights...caused by the leading man! One a kick to the jaw whilst he flopped (fainted in a chair) and I was at his feet.........and in tonights performance, a smack in the mouth as he threw himself away from me on the couch! Yes it swelled, drew blood and the best part was no other bugger noticed except me! Hmmph, what is drama without drama?????

Reading this incredible list of accidents makes one realise just how dangerous stepping out on a stage can be. I would like to branch off in another direction. From our acting nappies we are aware of that old saying "The show must go on"...well at what point does following this become sheer stupidity. Let me explain:

1. At one performance, I was handed a large candle onstage, which dripped wax all over my unprotected arm. I was then immediately caught up in a "freeze" for a minute or so. I gritted my teeth and blocked out the pain of the hot wax. Later my arm came up in a huge mucus-filled boil. Well why didn't I just say "Oooow!! Sorry, ladies and gentlemen...I must just get this wax off my arm, then we'll go on with the play" ?

2. At a performance of "Charley's Aunt" I played a man who puts his hat on the table, it gets filled with tea and he unsuspectingly puts it on. Big laughs. One performance, the director had given note that the teapot did not steam properly. So stage management decided to use real boiling water (to be fair, they were thinking of the entrance looking good, forgetting that this meant I would get boiling water poured on my head). I stood and watched steam pouring out of the pot and realised it was almost boiling. BUT I STILL LET THEM GO AHEAD WITH THE BUSINESS. Luckily for me my thick grease-based make up protected me somewhat. Again though, why on earth didn't I just say "Sorry everyone. We need to stop just for a moment...."?

Just how dangerous do things have to get before an actor stops the show? If a preventible accident looms, is there anything wrong with dropping out of the play and dealing with it? Any thoughts people?

Excellent points, Stephen. Sorry about those horrendous injuries though!
With regard to where to draw the line, I can only (once again!) bang my stage combat drum and talk about a particular preventative measure which I like to use as a Fight Director.
In the final build up to opening night, once the performers are quite familiar with the whole fight moment, I encourage and aid them in creating a "bail-out" device. This can be either a word/phrase or movement which is a kind of secret code between the performers involved. If one of them becomes aware of a potential accident, the bail-out device is employed. For example, if the bail-out is a word, then its a word that the performer can say, but still sound like they are in character in order to warn of potential danger without breaking the illusion. Similarily, if a movement is required, I often use a hand squeeze or some sort of physical contact between the performers when a vocal bail-out wouldn't be appropriate.
What is ultimately done as the bail-out depends on the particular needs of the performers and the production, but the principle is the same. Safety first, and give yourselves a chance to avoid danger. Of course, the bail-out only works if the performers are aware of the potential danger, but then we're back at being human again.
I think its largely possible to prevent an accident without breaking the illusion, but at the same time, accidents will still happen. Also, people's "pain-thresholds" are different, and whilst you managed to carry on in what I would consider extreme circumstances, others might well have reacted differently. OUCH indeed!
Play safe everyone,
Andy Fraser
Fight Director.

Method Studio wrote:
> Just how dangerous do things have to get before an actor
> stops the show? If a preventible accident looms, is there
> anything wrong with dropping out of the play and dealing with
> it? Any thoughts people?

Difficult call.

Godspell many years back. There was a set of treads down centre stage running from the edge of the raised stage to the floor of the auditorium. Minutes before the closing number an actor making a dramatic exit tears down these steps and out through the centre aisle of the auditorium; not missing a beat as his foot goes through one of the treads leaving a gaping hole.

Fine for him.

Yours truly is about to be crucified. Then carried on the shoulders of cast members down these same steps and out through the same centre aisle. Stepping off the stage on to the treads was a literal and metaphorical leap of faith; we had no idea what condition the steps were in after giving way under a single actor and were about to launch down them en masse with another (at that stage much lighter than now) body perched precariously atop people's shoulders.

There's so much that can be planned for, but when the inexplicable happens, do you charge blindly ahead?

As it turned out, the steps held out. But would we have been justified in stopping the show?

Cheers
Grant

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Sounds a lot like "The Show Must Go On" vs "Self-Preservation".

Jeff "FORWARD!!!!" Watkins

Method Studio wrote:
>
> Just how dangerous do things have to get before an actor
> stops the show? If a preventible accident looms, is there
> anything wrong with dropping out of the play and dealing with
> it? Any thoughts people?



I reckon there's always a way of dealing with it.

We all hate to drop out of our rehearsed routine, but I think that's less because of consideration for the audience than it is because of a fear of putting ourselves in unknown territory for a few minutes, and then trying to get back on track.

If it's something that can be accomplished in character, then there's every chance that the event can be managed without the audience really being aware of it. And if the audience ARE aware but you can deal with it in character, they'll appreciate it more, even if you need to radically depart from the script or blocking.

If someone in Grant's crucifixion procession had simply said "let's go this way", or if they had stopped to negotiate getting off the stage without using the steps, the audience probably would have accepted it, without the need to explain the problem.

Stephen's situation with the boiling water was a tricky one, because to deal with the immediate problem of being scalded for real would create another problem...the business of the play probably relied on his character being scalded, and not being aware it was about to happen. If he avoided the water it may have been hard to justify the ensuing events of the script. The only thing I can think of is to somehow manage to avoid getting hit too much with the water but to pretend that it did, perhaps by making an even bigger moment of it than usual...?


If the audience can SEE the problem, it can become really distracting if you DON'T deal with it. We once dropped a glass bottle onstage, which broke. One of the actors started to carry on as if to ignore it, but another just said "hold on a second" ran into the wings to find a broom, actually came back with a towel that he used to sweep the glass away, said "sorry about that...you were saying?" and the show went on. He realised that if they hadn't dealt with it there and then, the audience would be wondering 'why not?' and all their focus would remain on the broken glass. Dealing with it naturally, everyone forgave the interruption and then forgot about it and we could move on.

One time I found myself having to hold a large bit of the set together to keep it from falling over. I could continue my scene for a short time, but eventually needed to move away. Between my lines I had caught the attention of the stage manager in the wings and indicated the problem. In a low voice, out of character, I called him over to hold it up for me; continuing the dialogue of the scene in character. Most of the audience probably didn't hear my aside, but some may have. I thought it was more appropriate to deal with that problem out of character than to have made a big deal of it in character, that way the flow of the scene was less interrupted, and people didn't seem too distracted by the crewman entering to stand and hold the set because when I could move away I carried the focus, in character, toward the other actors.

It's all about the focus of the audience, and what is best in the situation. If they are focussed on a problem and it takes higher status than the action of the play, then you can draw attention back to the character by dealing with it surreptitiously OR conspicuously, so long as it lowers the status of the problem. Staying in character is usually more important, but not always...if by dealing with it in character you give the problem higher status, you've probably made a mistake, unless it can be used for comic effect.
You don't want to draw attention to a problem and then let it take over, but announcing the problem to the audience might be the best way to acknowledge it, and diminish it's power.

In the end, people are going to accept a problem if it occurs...we all know we're just watching a play, and that accidents happen. If it's kept from us, fine. If we see an actor deal with it appropriately, more power to them, and that could even be entertaining. If it HAS to be dealt with in a way that takes over, that may be disappointing, but we're not going to lose sleep over it.

No one wants to watch you get hurt.




Cheers,
Craig

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Sorry; this poll's been up for just over a month...been busy.

It was quite a popular (is that the right word?) topic, and prompted some interesting discussion & anecdotes.




203 participants placed 540 votes.

56 votes said they've not been injured ...yet. (Pretty close to 10% of the response.) Keep up the good work....and break a leg.

Assuming those non-injured voters only placed the one vote, that leaves a remainder of 147 participants who placed 484 votes....an average of 3.3 votes each. (Some of us are accident prone).

As someone pointed out, the poll can't account for those incidents that fit into several categories at once, but the stats in individual categories for the remaining injuries are:

Not my fault 72 votes 15% (interesting this is the biggest response)
My fault 62 votes 13%
(I'm guessing some people - 72% - haven't yet decided who to blame...)
During rehearsal 65 votes 13%
Due to set/stage conditions 54 votes 11%
Needed medical attention 43 votes 9%
Involved prop/costume 41 votes 8%
Involved combat/acrobatics 41 votes 8%
Happened backstage 37 votes 8%
Damage to voice 29 votes 6%
Involved lighting/electrics 21 votes 4%
Could have been avoided by warmup 19 votes 4%



Not a particularly accurate poll, but it does give some small indication.
Be aware, & be careful out there. (says Constable Care)


Cheers
The Poll-tergeist

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