As part of the experimental interactive play Mirages at the Teatro Lux in Pisa, Italy, Raphael Schumacher, 27, was reciting a monologue from Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening when, instead of using a gun, as was called for in the script, Schumacher put a mask over his face and placed his head in a noose.
An audience member, reportedly a medical student, noticed that the prop noose was tightening around Schumacher's neck and he was trembling. Schumacher was taken down and rushed to a local hospital where he never regained consciousness. It was not clear why he was not wearing a body harness in the scene. Police are investigating.
One of his fellow actors was quoted saying, "The noose should have been fake and a harness should have caught him if he fell. I cannot explain how an incident like this happened."
