The Show Must Go On!

At Accident & Emergency (Frazer and James)

Actors and crew working under pressure in almost total darkness or sometimes dazzling light, can make theaters a dangerous place, which is why health and safety is such an issue for everybody involved in a production. Nevertheless, from time to time, accidents do happen, sometimes during shows.

All actors could probably tell you about an occasion when a show has been stopped due to an injury, or, more likely, an occasion when an actor has picked up an injury one night and has needed to miss the following performance, with all of the knock-on implications that that throws up. I certainly saw my fair share of injuries when working on War Horse in the West End, since it involved puppeteers flying around on stage inside life-sized puppet horses.

Me, operating the front legs of Joey
in War Horse

In my twenty years as an actor, I can't remember two hospital-worthy injuries happening during the same show!! But that's what happened during The Flint Street Nativity last night!

James has an extremely funny moment when he falls off the back of the stage (on to a crash mat). However, last night, due to subtle changes in the audience's response and therefore the timing of the fall, and the fact that his hat drops down over his eyes, he got disorientated and fell from a slightly different position and at a slightly different angle. Consequently, he hit his head on platform close to the crash mat. We all heard it!

Sarah Gentle, our company stage manager, immediately called for an ice-pack. James carried on into his subsequent scene, which pretty much follows the fall.

I don't think many of actors realised when Frazer subsequently sustained his injury, since it occurred at the climax of the nativity when the stage is very busy with movement. Whilst swinging on a rope as the Astronaut, he landed awkwardly and jarred his knee.

Both injuries occured within the final quarter of the show. But, you know the old adage, the show must go on! Both soldiered on until the end, with the help of Dr. Theatre (adrenalin) which offsets the pain. James managed to get himself in positions so that the gash (and blood) were hidden as far could be from the audience, most of whom will have noticed nothing.

As you can imagine, we were all shaken and upset. There was a strange unsettled atmosphere on stage, as James sat unusually upstage, hiding his face during the final scene.

Immediately after the show, Sarah Fonlon (stage manager) took James and Frazer to Hull Royal Infirmary. Frazer wanted to have an x-ray in order to reassure himself about his knee. He was told to rest, take some pain killers and cold treat the joint. He'll be performing this evening, but might need to modify some of his movements on stage, in order to give his knee a chance to recover.

By 3am, James had had about eight stitches in a nasty cut just below his eyebrow. When he came out he told us that the doctor had asked him, "Haven't I just seen one of your colleagues? Is this a particular dangerous show that you're performing in?" Maybe he thought we were Cirque de Soleil!

Anyway, today James is nursing a black eye, but will perform as normal this evening. Fortuitously his injury kind of suits the child he's playing!