YOU CAN'T have Hamletwithout the prince, and a sword-fighting accident cut short a production of the play in Cork yesterday.
The dramatic and premature end to the Second Age production at the Everyman Theatre came when actor Conor Madden collapsed during a pivotal duel scene with Aonghus Óg McAnally, playing Laertes.
According to one theatregoer, many in the audience, mostly of secondary school students, at first presumed it was part of Shakespeare’s play. However, as the prone, but audibly distressed, Madden was immediately assisted by crew members, artistic director Alan Stanford addressed the crowd to assure them that the accident was real and the show would not go on.
Madden was brought to Cork University Hospital, having sustained a minor facial injury, but was discharged and it is hoped he will take up the sword again shortly.
"Conor is fine," Stanford told The Irish Times. "It is quite a complex sword fight. And I'm always amazed it doesn't happen more. It was just one of those rare occasions. The sword caught him under the eye and he pulled back to avoid it but got a small cut. I think he went into a bit of shock."
The swords used are replicas, with a rounded tip – safer than the squared-off tips that were once in common use but which were more damaging to the skin. The actors had trained with a fight co-ordinator for several weeks before the play’s recent three-week run in Dublin’s Helix, during which the sword fight was played out without incident.
Although Madden will miss two performances due today, including an official opening tonight, Second Age has been able to call on a more than adequate replacement in Marty Rea. His performance as Hamlet last year earned him best actor at the recent Irish TimesTheatre Awards.
Madden may be consoled by how he is not the only actor to have had such a mishap.
In 1998, Michael McElhatton was stabbed during a play at Dublin’s Peacock and was rushed to hospital – but only after having carried on to the finale.
Stanford himself was once on the sharp end of a fencing mishap. During one production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, a sword pierced his clothing and, almost, his ribs.