Life imitates art: Crew of Gander play spooked after accident delays production
Cast and crew members of a Gander play are feeling a little weird this week, after their production was delayed when a cast member suffered an injury that directly mirrors a plot point in their play.
The Avion Players were due to perform Lend Me a Tenor at the Arts and Culture Centre in Gander on Thursday and Friday, but were forced to postpone the show after a male lead was injured.
"We were so ready, we have a brilliant cast, so funny, fantastic crew, a set that everybody would have loved, but you know what [we had] a little accident," said Michelle Dove, the play's director.
"He tore the tendon taking something out of a vehicle that we had borrowed for the play, so you know — no luck."
The accident has disturbing similarities to the plot of Lend Me a Tenor, an irony that hasn't been lost on the Avion Players.
"The premise is that there's a great opera star coming to Cleveland in 1934," said Dove.
"Through the jigs and the reels he becomes unable to perform, and somebody has to fill in because they don't want to lose all their audience, so they get someone to fill in for him and it's all a case of mistaken identities."
"It was very ironic that one of our actors did get to the point where he couldn't perform."
History repeats itself
Around 23 years ago, during another production of Lend Me a Tenor, the cast suffered a setback before taking the stage.
"This was ready to go up, and at the last minute we had an issue that couldn't be dealt with in any other way, a little costume issue, and just couldn't go on," said Dove.
"We had to go out and tell a good audience that, circumstances beyond our control, we were going to have to put it off the next night instead."
Show must go on
After all this, it's probably safe to say that Lend Me a Tenor is not the type of play where cast members feel comfortable being told to break a leg.
But as ever, the show must go on.
The Avion Players will take another stab at putting off the play on Jan. 15 and 16 of next year.
Anyone who had purchased tickets for the shows this week is encouraged to call the Arts and Culture Centre box office for more information.