An Italian actor has been taken to hospital where he remains in a coma after a live suicide scene went drastically wrong.
Twenty-seven-year-old Raphael Schumacher was appearing in an experimental theatre production named Mirages, when an audience member noticed he was strangling.
According to Mail Online, police are now investigating the incident which occurred at the Teatro Lux, Pisa, and interviews of cast, crew members and the actor’s family members are currently taking place.
Mirages is a six-part immersive theatre experience in which audience members can walk between scenes and among actors.
Schumacher was performing a suicide scene with a rope hanging from a fig tree in the courtyard of the theatre when an audience member raised the alarm that something had gone wrong.
According to other actors, a box that Schumacher was supposed to stand in while in the noose had been removed and he wasn’t wearing his body harness, which was meant to catch him if he did fall from the box to avoid strangling.
One of Schumacher’s fellow actors explained: “The noose should have been fake and a harness should have caught him if he fell.
“I cannot explain how an incident like this happened.”
Gabriele De Luca, the art director at the theatre, told Italian newspaper Il Giorno:
“We are shocked. No one, not even us, understands how this happened and it will be up to the police to shed light on it.”
De Luca revealed that Raphael opted for a last minute change of script, choosing hanging instead of gunshots for his character’s demise.
The actor’s mother added:
“My son recently lost his father and had ended a relationship but had found his serenity again.
“He didn’t leave a suicide note and had no reason to kill himself.”
