An inspector calls ... for help on stage as Rebus takes ill
IT was the Scottish premiere of the first stage play featuring one of crime fiction’s most famous detectives.
But as Inspector Rebus creator Ian Rankin looked on from the audience, the production came to a sudden halt – when the lead actor became ill.
Coronation Street star Charles Lawson seemed to forget his lines near the start of the second half of the play, Long Shadows, at the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh, before announcing from the stage that he was feeling faint.
The audience were asked to remain in their seats while discussions were held backstage, before Mr Lawson’s understudy for the role of Rebus, Neil McKinven, stepped in to help finish the show, script in hand.
Last night, Mr McKinven appeared again as Rebus while Mr Lawson, 59 – best known as Coronation Street’s Jim McDonald – continued his recovery.
Tweeting about the premiere yesterday, Mr Rankin said it had been a ‘rollercoaster’. Commenting on Mr Lawson, he said: ‘He took ill. Understudy stepped in and was heroic.’
Mr Lawson was on stage for a pivotal scene at the time with John Stahl, who plays Rebus’s arch-nemesis, the gangster ‘Big Ger’ Cafferty, and Cathy Tyson, who plays the retired detective’s long-time sidekick, Siobhan Clarke.
Mr Lawson’s co-stars helped him from the stage before the house lights were turned on.
The King’s Theatre was sold out on Monday for the opening night of the play, by Mr Rankin and playwright Rona Munro.
Glasgow-born Mr McKinven, 54, who had already appeared in a number of other roles earlier in the play, was given a rousing reception as he took a bow with the other cast members at the end of the show.
Long Shadows, which premiered at Birmingham Rep last month, is due to continue at the King’s until Saturday as part of an extensive UK tour.
A spokesman for the production said: ‘Charles Lawson was unfortunately taken ill towards the end of Monday’s performance of Rebus: Long Shadows at the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh. However, in true theatrical fashion, his understudy Neil McKinven went on and completed the performance. Doctors have advised that Mr Lawson should not perform this evening and so Neil McKinven will perform the part of Rebus. Mr Lawson will be back on stage as soon as possible.’
Mr Lawson’s agent declined to comment.
In an interview earlier this month, Enniskillen-born Mr Lawson said he plays troubled detective Rebus at a difficult time in his life, when the character is haunted by past murders and unsolved cases.
He said: ‘He’s [Rebus] been retired for a few years but he can’t really leave the job alone. He can’t stand not knowing what’s going on.
‘He meets a girl at the beginning of the play on his stair in Edinburgh and it becomes clear there’s a memory that’s going to come back to haunt him about her mother, who was murdered many years before, and how he let them down.’ Rebus then becomes embroiled in an uncomfortable collaboration with gangland boss Cafferty, who tries to undermine the trust between him and Miss Clarke.
Mr Lawson said the role was demanding because the detective appeared in most scenes.
But he added: ‘As an actor, you need to scare the s*** out of yourself every now and then, because otherwise you end up phoning in performances to TV shows you can do standing on your head.’
Meanwhile, it emerged last week that Scots stage and screen star Andy Gray, 58, has pulled out of the King’s Theatre’s panto Beauty and the Beast after being diagnosed with blood cancer. He had been due to appear with Grant Stott and Allan Stewart.