We thought we’d vary things a little from our usual green and design finds and bring you this story which has made our morning.
Frankfurt’s Schauspielhaus Theatre has recently been hosting a dramatisation of the 1970s Russian novel “Moscow To the End of the Line”, in which a group of workers leave Moscow to see their loved ones, and get so drunk they never get off the train. Although the novel and play are highly satirical, the story is essentially the world’s biggest drinking binge. Or, in the words of the programme notes, a “crazy depiction of one of the most famous alcoholic benders in world literature”.
This all sounds quite amusing, and probably not a bad play. Well, the four lead actors thought it would be even more fun if they actually went on the drinking binge. On stage. Live. The play usually takes place with the four drinking copious amounts of water to simulate vodka, and they simply replaced this with true 80% proof Russian Vodka.
Apparently the audience were initially amused… until one of them fell off the stage into the audience and another collapsed off a table. At this point, the backstage crew intervened and called for medical help. You’d think this would be the end of it, but one actor apparently assaulted the ambulance crew, and police back up was called. He later had to have his stomach pumped.
And were the four actors sacked? No, of course not. They were given a stern ticking off by the director, who called their actions “kindergarten behaviour”, and told to get back to it that night.
Brilliant. We encourage all of you to try substituting water for vodka in your jobs on Monday…
(source: The Guardian via Current)
