A pox on the Sydney theatres

Eloise Mignon in Every Breath (photo by Heidrun Lohr)

By Elissa Blake

A second bout of illness has hit Sydney theatres with Belvoir cancelling performances of the critically-savaged play Every Breath. This comes as the cast of Bell Shakespeare’s Macbeth recover from salmonella poisoning, which caused three previews to be cancelled at the Sydney Opera House.

Actress Eloise Mignon developed a high fever on Friday and lost her voice causing the theatre to cancel Friday night’s performance of Every Breath and Saturday’s matinee. 

A spokeswoman for Belvoir said the company hadn’t cancelled a performance in two years. “Our actors are incredibly robust and the seasons are relatively short so we don’t have understudies,” she said. “This is very rare.”

A doctor is monitoring Mignon’s health and the theatre is phoning all ticket holders to arrange new tickets. Belvoir is alerting audiences to any further cancellations via Twitter and Facebook.

Audiences for Every Breath have been steady despite the negative reviews, the spokeswoman said. One particularly unkind review said the play had “the stench of death about it”. Others said the first play written by acclaimed theatre director Benedict Andrews simply wasn’t ready. Some audience members have reported the actors are holding back on the play’s many masturbation scenes. But Belvoir maintains that nothing in the play has been cut or toned down.

Belvoir confirmed yesterday the cancellations are nothing to do with poor ticket sales. “The subscribers had tickets before the reviews came in and other people are buying tickets because they are interested and want to make up their own minds,” the spokeswoman said.

Macbeth’s opening night on Thursday saw all cast members well and performing. But John Bell, artistic director of Bell Shakespeare, was not present. He was sick with the flu.

Macbeth’s opening night was delayed by a week after the food poisoning. It is understood the NSW Food Authority inspected all the food outlets at The Sydney Opera House and along the lower concourse after three cast members and one assistant director fell ill. Two were hospitalised. The source has not been found.

A spokesman for the Sydney Opera House says thousands of meals are served each day in and around the building and that no other staff member, performer or contractor has reported falling ill.

Actor Dan Spielman, playing Macbeth, says he lost five kilograms during his illness. He has an understudy but Bell Shakespeare felt the illness was so widespread among the cast it was better to delay the opening.

This isn’t the first time Sydney theatres have been hit by illness. Hugo Weaving was accidentally strangled during a scene in The White Devil at the Theatre Royal in 2000. Director Gale Edwards shouted “stop the show!” when she noticed Weaving didn’t get up. Another actor covered the remaining scenes that night.

The White Devil was plagued with illness and accidents. Heather Mitchell was so unwell she was replaced by Jeanette Cronin and assistant director Christopher Johnson went on script-in-hand to cover for Matthew Newton three or four times – once after the actor had dental work and was still groggy from the anaesthetic.

Hugo Weaving in The White Devil, 2000

When Christie Whelan called in sick during Kookaburra’s run of the Sondheim musical Company in 2007, Peter Cousens decided to cut that character’s scenes from the show, demanding the company “just wing it”. Sondheim was reportedly displeased and demanded a public apology. Kookaburra never fully recovered from the scandal and the company folded in 2009.

Last year, the Ensemble Theatre cancelled the entire season of one-man show The Spear Carrier when actor Jamie Oxenbould needed an urgent knee operation. The show will go on in August.

A shorter version of this story was published in the Sun-Herald on April 15, 2012.