15 Props and Costumes That Physically Injured Actors cracked.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cracked.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
When attending a stage play, you can expect to be entertained by the drama that unfolds on stage. It should be scripted, and a worst-case scenario is bad
From broken legs to flaming wigs: a brief history of theatrical disasters
Five years ago a tenor was nearly killed on-stage by a falling prop. But it wasn t the first time a performer has suffered for his art
2 February 2021 • 6:00am
Before the fall: Robert Dean Smith as Tristan in rehearsals in 2012
Credit: alliance archive / Alamy Stock Photo
How much of yourself should you leave on stage? Back in 2015, the American tenor Robert Dean Smith, came perilously close to finding out. Smith was performing in Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde at Toulouse’s venerable Théâtre du Capitole when he was nearly crushed by a huge 212kg black rock that was meant to only symbolise his tombstone. As the rock descended to a mere 11cm away from his face (it was meant to stop at 60), it very nearly became it. We knew Wagner could be heavy, but this was taking things a bit too far.