Author Topic: Article: Actor slits his own throat as knife switch turns fiction into reality  (Read 6475 times)

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missliz

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Yikes. Always check your props!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/11/actor-slits-throat

"Daniel Hoevels, 30, slumped over with blood pouring from his neck while the audience broke into applause at the "special effect". Police are investigating whether the knife was a mistake or a murder plot. They are questioning the rest of the cast, and backstage hands with access to props; they will also carry out DNA tests.

Things went wrong at Vienna's Burgtheater as Hoevels' character went to "kill himself" in the final scene of Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart, about Mary Queen of Scots, on Saturday night

It was only when he did not get up to take a bow that anyone realised something had gone wrong.

Though bleeding profusely, Hoevels survived because the knife missed the carotid artery as it sliced into his neck. Wolfgang Lenz, a doctor who treated him, said: "Just a little bit deeper and he would have been drowning in his own blood."

One officer told Austrian TV news: "The rumours are wild, with some claiming that he was the victim of jealous rival.

"We don't know anything for sure yet; we have to work through everyone."

The knife was reportedly bought at a local shop; one possibility is that the props staff forgot to blunt its blade. "The knife even still had the price tag on it," an investigator said.

After emergency treatment at a hospital, Hoevels declared that the show must go on, and returned to the stage on Sunday night with a bandage tied around his neck, ready to once again meet his mock demise."
I personally would like to bring a tortoise onto the stage, turn it into a racehorse, then into a hat, a song, a dragon and a fountain of water. One can dare anything in the theatre and it is the place where one dares the least. -Ionesco

nick_tochelli

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This is a major fail on so many levels. Props (for leaving the price tag on if nothing else......ok well also for not dulling the blade...), the Actor, the Stage Managers.....but at least this wasn't nearly as bad as it was made out/could have been. This was posted 4 days after the original article you quoted: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/15/austria-theatre
« Last Edit: Mar 16, 2012, 11:22 am by nick_tochelli »

EFMcMullen

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Really, a "female prop manger"... like sex makes a difference in this kind of accident!!

dallas10086

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It seems the first article was sensationalized and the actor was even able to attend a party afterwards after receiving two stitches. Still horrible that it happened, but the matter could have been much worse. Heaven forbid his staging required him to stab another performer. And I agree, why does it matter that the props manager was a woman? If it happened to be a man, would they have noted that he was male? Something else to think about.

PSMKay

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For those of you who have joined the boards since 2008, (and who hasn't, really...) the link to our original discussion of the event is here: http://smnetwork.org/forum/stage-management-plays-musicals/props-actor-cuts-throat-on-vienna-stage-bbc-news/

This reflects back to the current thread in P&M about the director who wants to use real guns backstage.

This is what happens when directors decide to rely on props and effects to make their "risky statements." Theatre should not be trying to compete with movies. IMHO the risk should come from pushing the boundaries of human relationships, not blood packs.

BayAreaSM

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I thought this all sounded familiar...

Thanks, Kay.

PSMKay

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I have to admit that I was really worried when I thought that the same mishap might have happened twice. In this case, I am VERY relieved that it's a rehash. It's always good to revisit the reasons why we get so worried about safety on a periodic basis.