An actor performing in a university play at the Edinburgh Fringe was accidentally stabbed 7.8cm deep with a real knife during a fight scene, yet the performance continued while he sought emergency medical help.
During a university theatre society's production of 'Julius Caesar' at the Edinburgh Fringe, an actor playing Cassius was accidentally stabbed with a real knife during a choreographed fight. The director had insisted on real knives for authenticity, despite rehearsing the sequence 50 times. Halfway through the month-long run, the knife, meant to be slipped, instead went 7.8cm deep into the actor's back, partially severing a spinal nerve and narrowly missing his aorta. Realizing what happened, he continued acting out his character's death until the lights went down, then pulled out the knife, rushed off stage, and called an ambulance. The play remarkably continued, with the audience and cast unaware. Hospitalized, he learned he'd come close to dying, but in shock, he initially dismissed concerns about using real knives in theatre. The university theatre company inquired about legal action, which he declined. The trauma led to a period of emotional distress and a feeling of not deserving to be alive, and he didn't discuss the incident for 10-15 years, even after a doctor wrote a medical journal article about it. Eighteen years later, he still bears a scar and experiences leg numbness, but it doesn't affect his daily life. He continues to work in theatre, even performing at the same venue, and the experience ultimately confirmed his profound love for the craft, making him more safety-conscious. A surprising positive outcome was that the person who contacted him from the university theatre company is now his wife, with whom he has two children.
