Today's New Thing came hurtling out of the air--literally. Since Floyd writes for Just Out, we had press seats for the opening night of Artists Repertory Theatre's production of A Streetcar Named Desire. The show was performed in the three quarter in very close quarters--just two hundred seats. So we've reached the scene in the second act where Stella tells Stanley he's a pig. "Your hands and your face are disgustingly greasy. Go wash up, then help me clear the table." Stanley responds by throwing his plate, followed by the famous line, "That's how I clear the table."
Unfortunately, Stanley's aim was off and the plate spun out into the audience, and right into Floyd's head. Talk about breaking the fourth wall. It literally stopped the show.
"I wasn't even writing a review," Floyd said as he staggered into the lobby.
"So what did you think of the play?" I asked.
He rubbed the growing bump on his head. "It's a smash."
10 comments:
budumcha!
how did the actors react?
one of my favourite stories came from a friend of mine who was in a farce. At one point the character gets angry and picks up the phone, the phone in this case was cordless, and the actor lost grip of it and it flew into the audience.
a very brief stunned silence followed, followed by the actor bellowing "who the hell left the window open!?!"
my friend had the misfortune of being on stage a that particular moment and it took every ounce of her being not to burst out laughing. apparently people backstage all had to run back into the green room they were laughing so hard.
one of many reasons why i love live theatre so much...
Mortified, the actor broke character, apologized, then asked if Floyd was okay.
A dazed Floyd told him the show must go on.
How funny! And I thought it was cool when John Mayer's drummer's drumstick hit my ex-boyfriend in the head!
OMG is he alright?
That sounds like something that would happen to me. Lol.
He walked away with a headache and a goose-egg.
And THAT is why I love live theatre! I'm glad Floyd is okay, though!
That poor actor! That poor Floyd! Ahhhh, but they will both have stories to tell. And I am sure that you'll be able to use this for fodder for a future book.
Of course I had to share this post with my theatre geek son (he laughed, then gasped, asked about how the actors responded, laughed some more, got a concerned look and asked about Floyd, and then laughed some more).
Groooooaaan.
Funny, I used this exact same photo to accompany a mention of this incident on MY blog. Little did I realize, at the time, that it was Floyd's noggin that caught the now-legendary plate! I'm glad to hear he's doing all right.
PS:
here's the link to my brief account of the weekend's bruisings, which Splatterson has now added to:
http://meadhunter.blogspot.com/2008/04/age-of-nefarious.html
We can now say of Floyd:
"Takes a scotching
and keeps on watching!"
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