Oops!
April 10, 2012
Exit Sir Toby, with knife, downstage left having just ripped one of his hippy bracelets off on the corner of the banquette. No problem, I thought, as I made my way through the pass door to the backstage area, I'll tell Christie (Assistant Stage Manager) when, now that I've finished with it, I give her the knife for safe-keeping. She'll be able to gather up all the beads after the show, and I can re-make the bracelet tomorrow.
So I made my way up the spiral staircase to the fly floor for my nightly appointment with Maria and Feste at the top of the Twelfth Night lift shaft. The old iron spiral staircase is one of the few bits of the old Festival Theatre that remain in place. As I reached the top of it, I took the knife out of my pocket ready to hand it over . . . and looked at it in horror, realising that I hadn't actually yet used it to attack Sebastian. Aaaaaagh!
I turned back with a sickening emptiness in my belly just as I heard my cue to enter midstage left thirty feet below. I yelled my entrance line at the top of my voice as I ran/stumbled/fell down the spiral staircase - I don't think I could have descended a fireman's pole any quicker - and raced on upstage right just in time to grab Sebastian and deliver my next line.
I had friends in to see the show who reassured me afterwards that they noticed nothing amiss, but as Olivia despatched me offstage I was gasping for air, and wondered for a moment whether I'd find someone qualified to administer CPR waiting for me in the wings.
Just Heidi, with a pitying grin. 'Never a dull moment,' she said.
Pictured today is Christie, forever smiling.
by Nick Day
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