Bravo! Actor takes on new role in medical emergency
A Victoria actor did double-duty by providing a theatregoer with emergency medical aid.
The call for a doctor went out during a Wednesday performance of Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre’s The Caretaker at the Roxy Theatre.
An audience member had lost consciousness in the first intermission. Actor Lindsay Robinson — who has Level 1 first-aid training and plans to become medical doctor — attended to the middleaged woman.
“She was exhibiting symptoms that clearly needed medical attention. She was incoherent, she was vomiting, she had a lot of perspiration, her pulse was racing,” Robinson said Thursday.
The 30-year-old performer heard someone shout for help while he was backstage waiting to go on. Robinson, who plays the role of Mick in The Caretaker, asked the stage manager if it would be OK for him to help.
Flinging off his character’s black leather jacket, he took the woman’s pulse and asked questions about her condition. Robinson provided this information to paramedics, who arrived within five to 10 minutes. The woman was transported by ambulance to Royal Jubilee Hospital.
“We all heard she is fully recovered,” Robinson said. “As it turned out, it was a combination of medication and dehydration.”
Rebekah Johnson, general manager of Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre, said she has spoken to the woman’s husband, who confirmed she is fine.
The emergency delayed the start of Act II by about 20 minutes.
As well as having completed a first-aid course, Robinson has spent four years as a volunteer at Victoria General Hospital’s emergency room.
He’s completing a theatre history degree at the University of Victoria, has passed the Medical College Admission Test and has taken elective courses in chemistry and biology. He plans to apply to medical schools after graduating from UVic next year.
This isn’t the first time Robinson has offered medical help during a theatre performance. In 2012, he assisted a lighting board operator who suffered a minor stroke during The Drowsy Chaperone at Langham Court Theatre.
Robinson said the interruption to Wednesday’s show didn’t adversely affect his acting. “The three of us [in the cast] locked eyes before we went on … it didn’t throw me in the least,” he said.
The Caretaker continues at the Roxy Theatre through Sunday.