Liam swaps stage for operating theatre

“Break a leg”, is the good luck message given to actors before they take the stage.

However, Plains actor and writer Liam Lambie took it a bit too literally at the weekend when an onstage fall resulted in him sustaining a broken wrist.

In a twist that even the talented playwright would struggle to script, Liam went straight from the stage of a theatre to an operating one – but not before going through a performance in excruciating pain.

The 31-year-old actor was starring on the second night of his WWI show, O’er The Top, at the East Kilbride Arts Theatre last Friday, when he jumped on stage and landed awkwardly, breaking his wrist in two places which a doctor later described as “one of the worst” he’d ever seen.

“You couldn’t have scripted it, since we are also called Geez A Break productions, ”Liam said.

“But in all seriousness the pain was so bad I thought I was going to pass out.

“I knew right away it was broken, but carried on and managed to get off stage and get a glass of water.”

He explained: “I told the cast I’d broken my wrist, but they didn’t believe me. I rolled up my wrist and it was in a figure of eight.

“But the show had to go on and I had it put in a sling and the audience just thought it was part of the act.”

After the show Liam’s co-producer and fellow actor Ross McAree drove him to nearby Hairmyres Hospital, where he was kept in and underwent an emergency operation on Saturday.

The third show of the tour, in Irvine on Saturday, was postponed and will be rescheduled for a later date.

Liam, a former pupil of St Margaret’s High, told the Advertiser: “I actually said to the doctor I need to be out, I’ve got a theatre show on Saturday night, and he told me the only theatre you are going to be in is an operating theatre.”

It was revealed the Plains man had suffered a double fracture to his wrist and had to have it wired and put in plaster.

He was released on Sunday, with a check up scheduled for this Friday.

Liam added: “We have one more show, this Sunday at Webster’s Theatre in Glasgow.

“I will be back on stage, although some of the jumping scenes might have to be changed a bit.”

Liam, and Geez A Break Productions, have received rave reviews for the show and he added: “I have to be on stage on Sunday. I’ve put so much into this show.

“It has taken a long while to write and script and I won’t let anyone down.

“I still can’t believe this has happened and would like to thank everyone for their kind messages of support.”

Tickets for Websters, curtain up at 7.30pm, are priced £13.50 and £11.50.

Show must go on Liam Lambie spent the night in hospital following his tumble on stage