How to Recover After an Injury on Stage

A minor injury such as a stubbed toe, a small cut or a bloody nose may not be enough to stop the show if you're an actor on stage--but how do you recover? Here are a few tips to keep the show going strong.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Let the injury happen. If you cut your finger or stub your toe, play it real. Pretending it hasn't happened, especially if it was obvious enough for the audience to see, will be untruthful and distracting. You don't want the audience worrying about the cut on your hand instead of the scene.
2. Have a truthful reaction. If the injury is more extreme than a cut or bruise, such as a stage slap gone wrong (a bloody nose), but is not life threatening, continue as if this is part of the scene. Incorporate these new feelings into the emotions of the scene.
3. Use improvisation. Resist rushing through your rehearsed lines just to get off stage. Sometimes you'll be able to keep the lines as rehearsed, but to truthfully incorporate an injury, improvisation should be used to keep the scene moving along and at the very least get the gist of the scene so the entire play is not thrown into confusion.
4. Get off stage as quickly as possible. Even though the injury is not serious, you should wrap your hand or ice your nose as soon as you can.
5. Incorporate the injury into the truthfulness of the rest of the play. If the injury was big enough to warrant a wrap or band-aid, or if it left some sort of bruise, feel free to react to it, play with the bandage or rub where it hurts in the following scenes. The wound does not have to be addressed specifically, but it can be incorporated into the physical presence of the character.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't be embarrassed. It is easy to feel humiliated on stage, but remember that your fellow actors are only concerned for you and the audience doesn't know the difference. For all they know, it's part of the show and this happens every night.
• If the injury is possibly life threatening or will cause long-term damage, then it is time to stop the show. Don't risk your health for a play.

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