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Theatre Suicide Turns into Real Drama
December 11, 2008 10:03 AM
By EMILY WITHER, ABC News London
As the audience applauded the dramatic final act in the theater production of “Maria Stuart,” a real drama was taking place backstage.
Some of the audience might have noticed that the final suicide scene seemed a little too realistic. Others might have been in awe at the actor’s award-winning performance and the authenticity of the blood gushing from his neck. But when the actor failed to reappear for the curtain call the audience knew something was up.
German-speaking actor Daniel Hoevels, who plays the character Mortimer in a play about Mary Queen of Scots, had in fact slashed his throat in the suicide scene with a real knife in a near-fatal prop mix-up. Someone had failed to blunt the prop for stage use.
The Thalia theater ensemble from Hamburg had traveled to Vienna, Austria, to perform Friedrich Schiller's play “Mary Stuart.” A representative from the Burg theater confirmed to ABCNews.com that the incident had taken place. “The theater regrets the accident very much.”
Doctors treating the 30-year-old actor told the Austrian press that he could have died on stage if the knife had gone in slightly deeper and hit an artery.
Police originally began investigating this as a possible murder plot. One officer told Austrian Television, “The rumors are wild, with some claiming that he was the victim of a fellow actor with a grudge or perhaps a jealous rival in the company.”
But the theater group told the Austrian news site oe24 that the knife was bought in a hurry once the troupe arrived in Vienna. An investigator speaking to the Austrian press said that the knife still had the price tag on it.
ABCNews.com spoke to the acting group who said that the woman in charge of props had forgotten to blunt the knife. Police subsequently closed the case.
Like a true professional…the show must go on. After Hovels visited a hospital for emergency treatment on his wound, he was bandaged up and back on stage the next night.
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December 11, 2008 in Emily Wither | Permalink | User Comments (6)
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Wow... I'm glad the actor is okay! Close call!
Posted by: TT | Dec 11, 2008 10:32:39 AM
I seem to remember a less fortunate actor who
accidently was killed in the theater presentation of Jesus Christ Superstar. I think it was Judas, being hung where the prop was improperly used (obviously)
Posted by: spacerook1 | Dec 11, 2008 10:52:11 AM
Scary! Get well soon.
Posted by: Paul Wall | Dec 11, 2008 11:03:18 AM
Get well soon, my best wishes to you. Even though police might not be treating this as a murder anymore I would still be suspicious. Perhaps check everything by more than one person at every act, just in case. There is an episode in "Monk" where the same thing happens, and of course, in the episode it was a premeditated murder.
Posted by: One | Dec 11, 2008 11:28:13 AM
yeah that dudes right. They should investigate. OWW!
Posted by: akman | Dec 11, 2008 9:32:30 PM
Glad to hear he came out of it alright! What a scare! Eeesh. Poor dude. :(.
Posted by: Ebbtidecheque | Dec 11, 2008 11:42:59 PM
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