Milwaukee - A top opera's final death scene turned into a real-life bloody drama when a stage knife used by a British tenor, David Rendall, failed to operate properly and accidentally stabbed his co-star.
The unexpected shock ending happened so fast that neither Rendall (50) nor American baritone Kimm Julian (44) realised what had happened until they saw the blood. The fluke accident came as they rehearsed for a performance of I Pagliacci in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The knife blade, which was supposed to retract into the handle to make it look as though the victim had been stabbed, didn't work.
But Mr Julian, who was rushed to hospital for treatment to a knife wound in the abdomen and kept in overnight, said there was no animosity between the co-stars over the incident.