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Annette Badland |
Break a leg: Theatre jinxed again as garden fall removes actress from play
THEATRICAL types are well known for their superstitious beliefs, hence thespians always advise actors to “break a leg” rather than wishing them “good luck”.
Whether the spell was broken for Annette Badland, who broke her foot after falling off a ladder in her garden on Friday, remains unclear.
The actress, who has had TV roles in Bergerac and more recently Dr Who, has been forced to pull out of the Hampstead Theatre’s revival of Michael Frayn’s Alphabetical Order which opens tomorrow (Friday).
She has been replaced by Penelope Beaumont, who recently played Lady MacDuff in the “Scottish Play” (Macbeth) at Shakespeare’s Globe.
Hampstead Theatre director Christopher Luscombe said: “It’s obviously very sad to lose Annette from the cast, especially at this stage in rehearsals, and we wish her a speedy and full recovery. But Penny has fitted right in and stunned us all with her skill and professionalism. We’re a strong team and this can only pull us closer together.”
Ms Badland was set to play Nora – a features editor – in Frayn’s philosophical play about the lives of journalists and librarians in a cuttings archive. First produced at Hampstead Theatre in March 1975, it returns as part of a programme of revivals marking the theatre’s first year.
A spokeswoman said the programme had already been upset in mysterious circumstances in January after a rogue fire alarm caused the evacuation of Noel Coward’s Private Lives.
Directors like to blame production problems like these on the ghost of “Thespis”, the first actor to speak alone on stage. |
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