A young woman actress broke her leg while appearing on stage at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
Aicha Kossoko starring as Queen Eagle in 'The Magic Carpet' back in 2005
Aicha Kossoko caught her heel, fell over and fractured her ankle in the middle
of a performance at the world-famous venue in Stratford-upon-Avon,
Warwickshire.
The drama occurred in a new production of The Taming Of The Shrew - the first
play to open in 2012 in the re-modelled £112 million theatre.
The entire thrust stage of the RST is converted into a giant bed for director
Lucy Bailey's controversial production.
To achieve the "duvet" effect, the whole stage is covered with soft
material over which is thrown a loose, giant, beige one-piece bedspread
which gets rucked up as actors walk and run over it, and sometimes burrow
under it. There is also a steep, raked slope at the bolstered "pillow"
end which serves as the main entrance and exit.
Aicha, who was playing the parts of Marian Hackett and The Widow, caught her
shoe in the bed covering, fell, twisted and snapped her ankle. A member of
the RSC staff in Stratford said:"She was very brave and managed to
carry on".
Director Lucy Bailey put her head in her hands during a pre-show "Director
Talks" chat with the audience following the accident last week and said
that it had been an "horrendous" experience.
The pre-show chat was switched at the last minute to the RSC's adjoining Swan Theatre so that backstage crew, who had been working flat out to make the bed surface safer for actors to perform on in the main house where Shrew is being performed, could continue their work right up to the last minute. The following night, Aicha's place was taken by understudy Laura Wells.
Director Lucy Bailey told the audience in the informal pre-show session that she had chosen to turn the entire stage into a giant bed because it was a theme of the play.
It opens with drunk Christopher Sly, played by Nick Holder, being put into a bed by a hunting party who find him unconscious and trick him into believing he is a Lord who has just awoken from a 15-year dream in which he thought he was a common man.
The comedy finishes with Petruchio, played by handsome 6' 4" Irish heart-throb David Caves, saying to his " tamed" and loving wife: "Come, Kate, we'll to bed."
Ms Bailey said in the programme:"I took the bed for a metaphor for life. We're born in a bed, we (most of us!) have our first sex in a bed and we die in our beds."
Replacement actress Janet Fullerlove has since flown in from Italy and on Monday of this week (January 30) took over Aicha's part.
The injured actress, who had been in rehearsal for weeks, is in her debut season with the RSC, has a long list of theatre credits to her name and has appeared on TV in EastEnders, Skins, Doctors and Casualty.
In Lucy Bailey's production, set in 1940's Italy, Kate, played by actress Lisa Dillon, is a violent, out-of-control drunk, chain-smoking, swigging from a hip flask, spitting mouthfuls of drink, and apparently urinating and vomiting on stage.
An RSC spokeswoman said:"Aicha Kossoko fractured her ankle as a result of slipping over whilst exiting the stage. She continued to the end of the performance, and is now having treatment.
"We will continue to monitor the situation and hope that Aicha will return to play her roles."
The Taming of the Shrew continues to play in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre until 18 February 2012, then goes on a nationwide tour.
The pre-show chat was switched at the last minute to the RSC's adjoining Swan Theatre so that backstage crew, who had been working flat out to make the bed surface safer for actors to perform on in the main house where Shrew is being performed, could continue their work right up to the last minute. The following night, Aicha's place was taken by understudy Laura Wells.
Director Lucy Bailey told the audience in the informal pre-show session that she had chosen to turn the entire stage into a giant bed because it was a theme of the play.
It opens with drunk Christopher Sly, played by Nick Holder, being put into a bed by a hunting party who find him unconscious and trick him into believing he is a Lord who has just awoken from a 15-year dream in which he thought he was a common man.
The comedy finishes with Petruchio, played by handsome 6' 4" Irish heart-throb David Caves, saying to his " tamed" and loving wife: "Come, Kate, we'll to bed."
Ms Bailey said in the programme:"I took the bed for a metaphor for life. We're born in a bed, we (most of us!) have our first sex in a bed and we die in our beds."
Replacement actress Janet Fullerlove has since flown in from Italy and on Monday of this week (January 30) took over Aicha's part.
The injured actress, who had been in rehearsal for weeks, is in her debut season with the RSC, has a long list of theatre credits to her name and has appeared on TV in EastEnders, Skins, Doctors and Casualty.
In Lucy Bailey's production, set in 1940's Italy, Kate, played by actress Lisa Dillon, is a violent, out-of-control drunk, chain-smoking, swigging from a hip flask, spitting mouthfuls of drink, and apparently urinating and vomiting on stage.
An RSC spokeswoman said:"Aicha Kossoko fractured her ankle as a result of slipping over whilst exiting the stage. She continued to the end of the performance, and is now having treatment.
"We will continue to monitor the situation and hope that Aicha will return to play her roles."
The Taming of the Shrew continues to play in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre until 18 February 2012, then goes on a nationwide tour.
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