Perdita
11-12-2008, 09:43
As actor Daniel Hoevels slumped to the stage, blood gushing from his neck, the audience broke into a rapturous ovation.
But little did they know that the actor's stunningly realistic suicidal scene finale had little to do with his acting talents or clever special effects.
He had actually slit his throat after the fake blade that he was meant to use to 'kill' himself had been swapped for a real one.
The audience were still clapping as he collapsed to the boards, trying to stop the blood flow with his hands.
Mr Hoevels managed to get off stage and find medical attention, but the audience only realised something had gone horribly wrong when he failed to reappear for the curtain call at the Burgtheater in Vienna last Saturday night.
Although he bled profusely, Mr Hoevels, 30, survived because the knife missed the carotid artery in his neck.
Dr Wolfgang Lenz, who examined the actor, said: 'Just a little bit deeper and he would have been through the artery and drowning in his own blood.'
Now the police are trying to determine whether the switch from the specially-blunted knife to an actual blade was a simple accident - or a murder plot.
One officer told Austrian TV news: 'The rumours 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.
'We don't know anything for sure yet - we have to work through everyone.'
Police have said they will DNA test the cast and backstage workers. They are also liaising with police in Hamburg, where the theatre company-is based, to see if there is any 'bad blood' between Mr Hoevels and other members of the troupe.
It is understood that Mr Hoevels, who is well-known as an actor in German-speaking countries, generated a certain amount of jealously because he often lands the lead roles.
Police have been told that the knife had been bought at a local store and are asking whether props staff simply forgot to blunt the blade for the performance of Friedrich Schiller's play Mary Stuart, about Mary Queen of Scots.
'The knife even still had the price tag on it,' said one shocked police investigator.
Mr Hoevels recovered after emergency treatment. And he was in no doubt that the show must go on.
A full-time member of the Hamburg-based Thalia theatre group, he was back on stage, in a bandage, to 'kill' himself all over again on Sunday - having first double checked the knife was not sharpened.
OMG :eek:
But little did they know that the actor's stunningly realistic suicidal scene finale had little to do with his acting talents or clever special effects.
He had actually slit his throat after the fake blade that he was meant to use to 'kill' himself had been swapped for a real one.
The audience were still clapping as he collapsed to the boards, trying to stop the blood flow with his hands.
Mr Hoevels managed to get off stage and find medical attention, but the audience only realised something had gone horribly wrong when he failed to reappear for the curtain call at the Burgtheater in Vienna last Saturday night.
Although he bled profusely, Mr Hoevels, 30, survived because the knife missed the carotid artery in his neck.
Dr Wolfgang Lenz, who examined the actor, said: 'Just a little bit deeper and he would have been through the artery and drowning in his own blood.'
Now the police are trying to determine whether the switch from the specially-blunted knife to an actual blade was a simple accident - or a murder plot.
One officer told Austrian TV news: 'The rumours 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.
'We don't know anything for sure yet - we have to work through everyone.'
Police have said they will DNA test the cast and backstage workers. They are also liaising with police in Hamburg, where the theatre company-is based, to see if there is any 'bad blood' between Mr Hoevels and other members of the troupe.
It is understood that Mr Hoevels, who is well-known as an actor in German-speaking countries, generated a certain amount of jealously because he often lands the lead roles.
Police have been told that the knife had been bought at a local store and are asking whether props staff simply forgot to blunt the blade for the performance of Friedrich Schiller's play Mary Stuart, about Mary Queen of Scots.
'The knife even still had the price tag on it,' said one shocked police investigator.
Mr Hoevels recovered after emergency treatment. And he was in no doubt that the show must go on.
A full-time member of the Hamburg-based Thalia theatre group, he was back on stage, in a bandage, to 'kill' himself all over again on Sunday - having first double checked the knife was not sharpened.
OMG :eek: