The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Ghosts of the past come back to haunt theatre
Actor laughs off latest mishap to befall Rep after wrong piece of scenery is lowered on to set of A Christmas Carol
Dundee Rep has said no actors were in danger when a piece of scenery was mistakenly lowered to the stage during a performance of A Christmas Carol.
One witness claimed a piece of the set had fallen to the stage during a preview performance of the Charles Dickens classic, but this has been denied by the award-winning theatre.
The Rep said the section of scenery had been lowered to the stage “unexpectedly” during the climactic scene.
But a spokeswoman stressed Anne Louise Ross, who stars as Scrooge and was on stage at the time, was not in any danger at any time.
The performance was halted until the piece of set had been removed.
The incident came just a few weeks after a performance of The Steamie had to be cancelled because of technical issues caused by the acclaimed production of August: Osage County.
It is understood the large set used for that production had damaged the stage floor.
The Rep’s artistic director, Andrew Panton, said the latest incident occurred during one of the Christmas show’s preview performances used to iron out any kinks in the production.
He said: “Previews are our final chance to put the finishing touches to a production before we invite press in to review it. Preview audiences come knowing that they might see something not going totally to plan.
“On this occasion, they certainly did, as Scrooge’s bedroom didn’t make it back in time for the final scene and instead another piece of scenery arrived on to the stage.
“At the Rep, we place the safety of our cast and crew above all else, and we can be sure that no one was in danger at any point.”
Anne Louise Ross, who plays the title role in this reimagined version of the classic Dickens story, said the incident illustrates the potential pitfalls of theatre.
She said: “It was hilarious; I was about to start the last scene of the show where Scrooge realises the error of her ways when I noticed the bedroom wasn’t where it should be.
“I left the stage for a minute or so while our brilliant production team rectified the problem.
“Scrooge’s first line in the scene is ‘my bed, my room; it’s all here’ which of course got a massive round of applause when I did say it, and the show carried on as normal ... the magic of live theatre.”