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CNN.com: Doctors have started the procedures to assess brain death in Raphael Schumacher, the actor in a coma after being choked when a hanging scene he was performing went wrong.
15 comments:
Jasmine Lesane
said...
This is so devastating and insane. I feel so bad for this man and his family. But is it bad to say that I'm almost surprised things like this don't happen more? The general consensus now is that the noose was a last minute change by the director, which probably led to someone saying oh I know how to tie a noose and it not being run enough. And I feel like so many times we do things in theatre acting like it doesn't effect anything else, when it almost always does. Even here, at CArnegie, I'll ask my crew head about something in our way from another crew and they'll just make a call without consulting anyone. Now while I am fully ready to admit I'm sure these people are making educated decisions, but shouldn't we strive to keep everyone in the loop? It is important to remember that this is what happens the more and more you let things slip through the cracks. We always say this field isn't life or death, but sometimes it really is.
This is so tragic, but also feels so surreal. I can’t stop thinking about that scene in Birdman [spoiler alert] where Riggan Thompson (played by Michael Keaton) shoots himself with a loaded gun, instead of with a blank. In the film, this is a last-minute change which Thompson makes without telling anyone, similar to how Schumacher made this change in the play’s script without informing the director. While I am in no way trying to imply that Schumacher was attempting public suicide, I think it goes without saying that the decision he made was a very dangerous one. As Jasmine pointed out, there is a reason we rehearse things in theatre. There is a reason we do fight-calls. Last minute changes can mean disaster. I’m also not really sure how a “fake hanging” can be staged… how does one prevent actual injury? This is not the first time I have heard of actors being injured in hanging scenes.
There’s also added mysteriousness in the fact that the actor, Schumacher, was saved by an audience member. The fact that a medical graduate happened to be there at the right time and place and noticed that Schumacher was actually in danger is incredible. I’m glad this audience member acted when she did, preventing Schumacher’s immediate death, and possibly (although we don’t know yet) saving his life.
This is an extremely tragic thing that happened. Theatre tries to be as realistic as possible, but sometimes some people go too far or there is a freak accident and it becomes real. Violence and stage combat can be very scary if they are not done with a lot of care and just right. It is supposed to look like you are getting hurt without actually hurting the actor at all. When deaths are recreated on stage they take a lot of precision and attention to detail. Creating a hanging on stage is very risky because as shown here there is more of a chance that something will go wrong. The theatre company stated that the actor changed the script and added in the hanging without telling them. That is a huge red flag because they were not able to practice it or make sure it was safe. It is very sad that he was getting strangled but he was very lucky that someone noticed and hopefully he will come out of his coma.
I think the most important thing to emphasize with this situation is that the actor took his performance quality over his own safety. The company said "The original monologue included a fake gunshot but he eventually decided for the hanging -- without telling us." By changing probably the most dangerous and effect-necessary part of his performance without the prior knowledge of the company, he willingly put his own life at risk as there is no way they could have enacted the proper safety precautions in such a short amount of time. I know it probably sounds harsh that I’m blaming a dead guy for his own death, but at the same time, art isn’t more important as human life and that’s the bottom line. As many of my other comments have addressed, safety is the most important thing in a performance and should not be neglected for any level of professionalism or effect.
Last year, Birdman, winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, concluded with the main character shooting himself in the head onstage, and everyone proclaiming the show one of the best pieces of theatre ever made for that reason. The idea that we can never really understand death unless we see it firsthand is interesting, and something that is an inherent problem for theatre. However, the actor in this situation took this phenomena to ridiculous levels, leading to his untimely death. By insisting that, at the behest of the directors, the fake gunshot be shifted to hanging, he put himself in mortal danger, and for what? It's hard to know exactly what's going on in someone's mind prior to their death, but it's scary to think that his last thoughts were that he was going to die onstage based on choices he made. Everything we do in theatre is an imitation of life, but just life, rarely death. By not paying attention to safety concerns and throwing caution to the wind, especially in a devised piece like this, Raphael created his own perfect storm.
It’s always scary to hear about these kinds of things happening in modern theater performances. I know I’ve read several articles like this; one where an actor was stabbed onstage when a real knife was used and the blocking wasn’t executed as it was planned, and one where a film actor was stabbed when a prop knife was switched to have a real blade. Obviously, it’s so important, in any performance, for multiple safety procedures to be put into place to prevent tragedies like this from happening, especially for something like a hanging scene. I wonder how the theater company staged this scene to allow something like this to happen. I know that it is common for theaters to use a “noose” made out of something that will break very quickly if more than a little bit of pressure is put on it, and/or have a ledge for the actor to stand on so the prop noose is never actually putting pressure on their neck. It’s strange to me that the only person who commented said that the actor changed the script himself, and altered the scene from a fake gun shot to a hanging “without telling anyone”. Clearly this company wasn’t the most organized or well-reputed, due to it’s clear lack of communication, which is the number one factor in making sure things like this never happen. I think that the safety of performers and crew will always be infinitely more important than the artistic impact of a scene.
Wow! I would first like to applaud the bravery of audience members who helped out. I would think that in a situation like this, people would not think twice about it because they would just think it was the actor acting. I am glad that a medical student was there and that she was able to tell the true signs of his struggle. The article stated that two bystanders help him down which makes me wonder if there was anyone from the production team supervising that scene and if not WHY NOT?!?! Even when I worked at six flags as a character, we had safety signals in case of emergencies. I understand that this could have been a result of the stunt getting added at the last minute but even that was a poor decisions. No one should attempt to do stunts like that unless they have all of the proper safety methods in place. This is very sad news to hear and I know that all of it could have been prevented if someone was as brave as the two bystanders and said no to the stunt because safety wasn't supervised.
What's so tragic about this is that this is completely avoidable if the company had a stricter safety protocol (or actually enforced their safety protocol) and conducted more safety checks. The director's explanation that the actor changed the original fake gunshot to hanging last minute "without telling us" just seems ridiculous. Not only are they not taking any responsibility and blaming it on the actor, there are more fundamental questions that should be asked. How did the actor get the rope on stage and tied it up without any of the crew member noticing/the assistance of anyone else? Reading this as well as the theatre's response just breaks my heart :( The actor obviously really cared and was dedicated to his craftsmanship, but was met with such a tragic outcome. Hopefully, this warns other theaters and allows them to realize how important safety is. No performance is worth sacrificing the performer's life.
I’m sorry but what kind of theater company is set up in a way that an actor can basically hang himself onstage and nobody notices? If there hadn’t been a med school grad in the audience the actor would have died, even so he may still die. How does that happen, how was he able to set up a fake hanging with nobody know that he was doing it? I really hope this theater company doesn’t actually expect people to believe that no one had the slightest idea any of this was happening. Some of the other comments mention the similarity to the end of Birdman, and I agree that there is a remarkable about of similarity. But the difference is that in Birdman the director/lead actor is changing a fake gunshot to a real gunshot, that’s something a person could conceivably do by themselves and keep secret, unlike this situation it doesn’t require any different set up that would tip anyone else off. Changing from a gunshot to a hanging though, that’s different, even if the actor just threw a rope over a branch or piece of railing (which is possible since it actually was killing him) I find it hard to believe that no one else in the entire cast and crew noticed that a rope had suddenly appeared on the stage, or for that matter that they kept going with the show when he suddenly deviated from the script and hung himself.
Whenever this kind of tragedy happens in the entertainment industry we always seem to evaluate how things could have been different. If he had communicated with the theatre company and producers then maybe they would have taken the proper precautions to test out the death scene before it happened in front of the audience. However, I don't think all blame should be taken away from these producers. They should have known what was about to happen in their theatre and checked in with the actor. Hopefully in the future people will remember this tragic event and think twice about including scenes this dangerous. It's so sad to think that his death was entirely preventable, but I think that we should take a moment to thank the women in the audience who tried her best to save him.
This is absolutely tragic. However, like Jasmine said, I'm really surprised things like this don't happen more often. It's really incredible how few major injuries occur in theatre, considering how dangerous many shows are. With so many moving set pieces and staged deaths, it's amazing how well shows typically go. The only show that consistently injured actors was Spider-Man, which had immensely complicated machinery and automation, including flying. So many risky things are done in live shows that are performed eight times a week, and it's amazing how well they typically go.
I can’t imagine something more horrifying than actually being hung as part of a play instead of the effect, and having nobody know that you’re being killed until an audience member comes up and frees you. For god’s sake, his head was covered as part of the effect too. It seems from the article that the director changed the script in a last minute way that left the practicality of the scene less than planned out, and if that really is what happened then I’m not surprised at all that this tragedy happened. Either way, it’s pretty damn clear that this wasn’t thought out as well as it should have been. You’d think that hanging a person is the type of thing that a production team in the 21st century wouldn’t fuck around with, that they’d find a way to practically guarantee the safety of the actor, but apparently not. The consequence, this poor actor is now clinically dead (after a quick google search, I found a follow up article with the results of the test).
It's difficult to say where the blame truly lies in this particularly tragic case. The reality is that - regardless of who was involved - the lack of communication between Mr. Schumacher and the production directors and the necessary stage personnel was the core catalyst in the series of events. It is also regrettable that adequate safety measures were not in place or perhaps abided by. While the stage hanging still may have been included, the cloth over Mr. Schumacher's face inhibited those working the production (as well as others who may have been able to help sooner) from being able to identify the real distress Mr. Schumacher was in. I'm sure there will be an investigation into this, and I look forward to a more conclusive and clearer examination and depiction of the events. I think the results of such an investigation will provide key learning moments for the theatre community as a whole.
This is truly a tragic story. The death of Raphael was pretty obviously preventable but safety procedures were almost certainly broken leading to his death. It is scary to think that we care so much about something looking real that we can ignore safety procedures to get it there. It might seem like that rule isn’t really all that important but when it comes down to it rules are made for reasons and we need to be able to follow them for our own safety and the safety of those who are onstage with our scenery. I think even putting a functional noose onstage is a mistake by the technical crew in this or any production. It is easy to ignore minor safety procedures when we think it is possible that we could only risk minor injury, something most of us deal with all the time, but this is a unfortunate reminder that you can never let that comfort get you lose on safety.
This is so incredibly tragic. When I first read the title, I of course jumped straight to the stage personnel. "What is wrong with them? Why aren't they following safety regulations? Why aren't they paying closer attention to this?" Of course, when I realized that it was the actor's choice to stage the scene differently...I of course still feel terrible for him, but I felt the tiniest bit of relief that it wasn't due to an incompetent team. I am working on a show now, 4.48 Psychosis, that ends with the character attempting to hang herself. Her situation is much, much less dangerous (a set of christmas lights with so much slack she'd need to go through the floor to be hanged), but we still had extensive conversation about it to assure her safety. I keep thinking about the audience member who interfered. If this had been a proscenium stage performance, I honestly do not believe anyone would have jumped up to help him. It says in the article that the audience traveled around to different settings with the actor, which I think made the med student worlds more comfortable jumping in to save him. There is also the fact that, had the audience not been so close to him, no one would have seen him trembling.
My condolences to his family and friends...These things should never happen.
15 comments:
This is so devastating and insane. I feel so bad for this man and his family. But is it bad to say that I'm almost surprised things like this don't happen more? The general consensus now is that the noose was a last minute change by the director, which probably led to someone saying oh I know how to tie a noose and it not being run enough. And I feel like so many times we do things in theatre acting like it doesn't effect anything else, when it almost always does. Even here, at CArnegie, I'll ask my crew head about something in our way from another crew and they'll just make a call without consulting anyone. Now while I am fully ready to admit I'm sure these people are making educated decisions, but shouldn't we strive to keep everyone in the loop? It is important to remember that this is what happens the more and more you let things slip through the cracks. We always say this field isn't life or death, but sometimes it really is.
This is so tragic, but also feels so surreal. I can’t stop thinking about that scene in Birdman [spoiler alert] where Riggan Thompson (played by Michael Keaton) shoots himself with a loaded gun, instead of with a blank. In the film, this is a last-minute change which Thompson makes without telling anyone, similar to how Schumacher made this change in the play’s script without informing the director. While I am in no way trying to imply that Schumacher was attempting public suicide, I think it goes without saying that the decision he made was a very dangerous one. As Jasmine pointed out, there is a reason we rehearse things in theatre. There is a reason we do fight-calls. Last minute changes can mean disaster. I’m also not really sure how a “fake hanging” can be staged… how does one prevent actual injury? This is not the first time I have heard of actors being injured in hanging scenes.
There’s also added mysteriousness in the fact that the actor, Schumacher, was saved by an audience member. The fact that a medical graduate happened to be there at the right time and place and noticed that Schumacher was actually in danger is incredible. I’m glad this audience member acted when she did, preventing Schumacher’s immediate death, and possibly (although we don’t know yet) saving his life.
This is an extremely tragic thing that happened. Theatre tries to be as realistic as possible, but sometimes some people go too far or there is a freak accident and it becomes real. Violence and stage combat can be very scary if they are not done with a lot of care and just right. It is supposed to look like you are getting hurt without actually hurting the actor at all. When deaths are recreated on stage they take a lot of precision and attention to detail. Creating a hanging on stage is very risky because as shown here there is more of a chance that something will go wrong. The theatre company stated that the actor changed the script and added in the hanging without telling them. That is a huge red flag because they were not able to practice it or make sure it was safe. It is very sad that he was getting strangled but he was very lucky that someone noticed and hopefully he will come out of his coma.
I think the most important thing to emphasize with this situation is that the actor took his performance quality over his own safety. The company said "The original monologue included a fake gunshot but he eventually decided for the hanging -- without telling us." By changing probably the most dangerous and effect-necessary part of his performance without the prior knowledge of the company, he willingly put his own life at risk as there is no way they could have enacted the proper safety precautions in such a short amount of time. I know it probably sounds harsh that I’m blaming a dead guy for his own death, but at the same time, art isn’t more important as human life and that’s the bottom line. As many of my other comments have addressed, safety is the most important thing in a performance and should not be neglected for any level of professionalism or effect.
Last year, Birdman, winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, concluded with the main character shooting himself in the head onstage, and everyone proclaiming the show one of the best pieces of theatre ever made for that reason. The idea that we can never really understand death unless we see it firsthand is interesting, and something that is an inherent problem for theatre. However, the actor in this situation took this phenomena to ridiculous levels, leading to his untimely death. By insisting that, at the behest of the directors, the fake gunshot be shifted to hanging, he put himself in mortal danger, and for what? It's hard to know exactly what's going on in someone's mind prior to their death, but it's scary to think that his last thoughts were that he was going to die onstage based on choices he made. Everything we do in theatre is an imitation of life, but just life, rarely death. By not paying attention to safety concerns and throwing caution to the wind, especially in a devised piece like this, Raphael created his own perfect storm.
It’s always scary to hear about these kinds of things happening in modern theater performances. I know I’ve read several articles like this; one where an actor was stabbed onstage when a real knife was used and the blocking wasn’t executed as it was planned, and one where a film actor was stabbed when a prop knife was switched to have a real blade. Obviously, it’s so important, in any performance, for multiple safety procedures to be put into place to prevent tragedies like this from happening, especially for something like a hanging scene. I wonder how the theater company staged this scene to allow something like this to happen. I know that it is common for theaters to use a “noose” made out of something that will break very quickly if more than a little bit of pressure is put on it, and/or have a ledge for the actor to stand on so the prop noose is never actually putting pressure on their neck. It’s strange to me that the only person who commented said that the actor changed the script himself, and altered the scene from a fake gun shot to a hanging “without telling anyone”. Clearly this company wasn’t the most organized or well-reputed, due to it’s clear lack of communication, which is the number one factor in making sure things like this never happen. I think that the safety of performers and crew will always be infinitely more important than the artistic impact of a scene.
Wow! I would first like to applaud the bravery of audience members who helped out. I would think that in a situation like this, people would not think twice about it because they would just think it was the actor acting. I am glad that a medical student was there and that she was able to tell the true signs of his struggle. The article stated that two bystanders help him down which makes me wonder if there was anyone from the production team supervising that scene and if not WHY NOT?!?! Even when I worked at six flags as a character, we had safety signals in case of emergencies. I understand that this could have been a result of the stunt getting added at the last minute but even that was a poor decisions. No one should attempt to do stunts like that unless they have all of the proper safety methods in place. This is very sad news to hear and I know that all of it could have been prevented if someone was as brave as the two bystanders and said no to the stunt because safety wasn't supervised.
What's so tragic about this is that this is completely avoidable if the company had a stricter safety protocol (or actually enforced their safety protocol) and conducted more safety checks. The director's explanation that the actor changed the original fake gunshot to hanging last minute "without telling us" just seems ridiculous. Not only are they not taking any responsibility and blaming it on the actor, there are more fundamental questions that should be asked. How did the actor get the rope on stage and tied it up without any of the crew member noticing/the assistance of anyone else? Reading this as well as the theatre's response just breaks my heart :( The actor obviously really cared and was dedicated to his craftsmanship, but was met with such a tragic outcome. Hopefully, this warns other theaters and allows them to realize how important safety is. No performance is worth sacrificing the performer's life.
I’m sorry but what kind of theater company is set up in a way that an actor can basically hang himself onstage and nobody notices? If there hadn’t been a med school grad in the audience the actor would have died, even so he may still die. How does that happen, how was he able to set up a fake hanging with nobody know that he was doing it? I really hope this theater company doesn’t actually expect people to believe that no one had the slightest idea any of this was happening. Some of the other comments mention the similarity to the end of Birdman, and I agree that there is a remarkable about of similarity. But the difference is that in Birdman the director/lead actor is changing a fake gunshot to a real gunshot, that’s something a person could conceivably do by themselves and keep secret, unlike this situation it doesn’t require any different set up that would tip anyone else off. Changing from a gunshot to a hanging though, that’s different, even if the actor just threw a rope over a branch or piece of railing (which is possible since it actually was killing him) I find it hard to believe that no one else in the entire cast and crew noticed that a rope had suddenly appeared on the stage, or for that matter that they kept going with the show when he suddenly deviated from the script and hung himself.
Whenever this kind of tragedy happens in the entertainment industry we always seem to evaluate how things could have been different. If he had communicated with the theatre company and producers then maybe they would have taken the proper precautions to test out the death scene before it happened in front of the audience. However, I don't think all blame should be taken away from these producers. They should have known what was about to happen in their theatre and checked in with the actor. Hopefully in the future people will remember this tragic event and think twice about including scenes this dangerous. It's so sad to think that his death was entirely preventable, but I think that we should take a moment to thank the women in the audience who tried her best to save him.
This is absolutely tragic. However, like Jasmine said, I'm really surprised things like this don't happen more often. It's really incredible how few major injuries occur in theatre, considering how dangerous many shows are. With so many moving set pieces and staged deaths, it's amazing how well shows typically go. The only show that consistently injured actors was Spider-Man, which had immensely complicated machinery and automation, including flying. So many risky things are done in live shows that are performed eight times a week, and it's amazing how well they typically go.
I can’t imagine something more horrifying than actually being hung as part of a play instead of the effect, and having nobody know that you’re being killed until an audience member comes up and frees you. For god’s sake, his head was covered as part of the effect too. It seems from the article that the director changed the script in a last minute way that left the practicality of the scene less than planned out, and if that really is what happened then I’m not surprised at all that this tragedy happened. Either way, it’s pretty damn clear that this wasn’t thought out as well as it should have been. You’d think that hanging a person is the type of thing that a production team in the 21st century wouldn’t fuck around with, that they’d find a way to practically guarantee the safety of the actor, but apparently not. The consequence, this poor actor is now clinically dead (after a quick google search, I found a follow up article with the results of the test).
It's difficult to say where the blame truly lies in this particularly tragic case. The reality is that - regardless of who was involved - the lack of communication between Mr. Schumacher and the production directors and the necessary stage personnel was the core catalyst in the series of events. It is also regrettable that adequate safety measures were not in place or perhaps abided by. While the stage hanging still may have been included, the cloth over Mr. Schumacher's face inhibited those working the production (as well as others who may have been able to help sooner) from being able to identify the real distress Mr. Schumacher was in. I'm sure there will be an investigation into this, and I look forward to a more conclusive and clearer examination and depiction of the events. I think the results of such an investigation will provide key learning moments for the theatre community as a whole.
This is truly a tragic story. The death of Raphael was pretty obviously preventable but safety procedures were almost certainly broken leading to his death. It is scary to think that we care so much about something looking real that we can ignore safety procedures to get it there. It might seem like that rule isn’t really all that important but when it comes down to it rules are made for reasons and we need to be able to follow them for our own safety and the safety of those who are onstage with our scenery. I think even putting a functional noose onstage is a mistake by the technical crew in this or any production. It is easy to ignore minor safety procedures when we think it is possible that we could only risk minor injury, something most of us deal with all the time, but this is a unfortunate reminder that you can never let that comfort get you lose on safety.
This is so incredibly tragic. When I first read the title, I of course jumped straight to the stage personnel. "What is wrong with them? Why aren't they following safety regulations? Why aren't they paying closer attention to this?" Of course, when I realized that it was the actor's choice to stage the scene differently...I of course still feel terrible for him, but I felt the tiniest bit of relief that it wasn't due to an incompetent team. I am working on a show now, 4.48 Psychosis, that ends with the character attempting to hang herself. Her situation is much, much less dangerous (a set of christmas lights with so much slack she'd need to go through the floor to be hanged), but we still had extensive conversation about it to assure her safety. I keep thinking about the audience member who interfered. If this had been a proscenium stage performance, I honestly do not believe anyone would have jumped up to help him. It says in the article that the audience traveled around to different settings with the actor, which I think made the med student worlds more comfortable jumping in to save him. There is also the fact that, had the audience not been so close to him, no one would have seen him trembling.
My condolences to his family and friends...These things should never happen.
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