Experience: I was stabbed in the back with a real knife while performing Julius Caesar

"As someone committed to my craft, I've always believed that the show must go on. An accident in my second year of university took it to new extremes. It was the Exeter University theatre society's annual play at the Edinburgh fringe and I'd landed the part of Cassius in Julius Caesar. The director decided that instead of killing himself, Cassius would die during a choreographed fight with his rival, Mark Antony."

"We also chose to use real knives, which sounds absurd, but we wanted to be authentic. The plan was for the actor playing Antony to grab my arm as I held the knife, and pretend to push it behind my back. We must have rehearsed the sequence 50 times. We were about halfway through our month-long run, performing to a decently sized audience. Dressed in our togas, with the stage dark and moody, we began the fight as usual."

"I realised what had happened while acting out my character's death, and thinking: I have to lie here until the lights go down. There was a sharp piercing feeling. My heart started to race As everything went black before another scene came on, I pulled out the knife. That was when my heart started to race. Feeling strangely clear-headed, I rushed off stage into the foyer, my left leg going numb. I told the venue workers to call an ambulance."

A university actor playing Cassius at the Edinburgh fringe was accidentally stabbed during a choreographed fight that used real knives. The planned stage sequence malfunctioned and the blade penetrated the actor's back. The actor realised the injury while performing and waited until the scene ended before removing the knife and going to the foyer. The actor reported numbness in a leg and asked venue staff to call an ambulance. Paramedics and police attended, and the actor was taken to hospital, underwent imaging, and exhibited signs consistent with being in shock.

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