Is this a prop knife I see before me?

The Guardian theatre blogs have been all over this story today...

By the way, I know I expressed my wonder at the amount of theatre-related content they generate yesterday (so much that I don't even have time to tackle any of the other arts talked about in that particular publication) but I decided today that what I really love is that they don't have an "Entertainment" section and they don't divide the arts up so you have to hunt them down in different sections. Rather, they have a Culture section. Ponder that, Stephen Harper, while you enjoy your time off...

Anyway, back to the story (I am linking to this blog post because I liked it the best and it's my blog so I can do that. Also, the Phyllida Lloyd production of Mary Stuart referenced in the above link is one of the most exquisite things I have ever seen on stage. But I digress). Apparently an actor accidentally slit his own throat in an Austrian production of Schiller's Mary Stuart after someone left a real knife in place of the fake one he was supposed to use. Fortunately, he missed his carotid artery and, like a trooper, was back on stage the following night. The lesson here? Check your props. And not necessarily because someone might be harboring a grudge, but because people misplace things and accidents happen. And you don't want to wind up dead as a result. Therefore, you should especially check any prop that is a weapon.

More even than that, respect your props. I can't tell you how many stories I've heard from stage combat experts about actors who have accidentally died by messing around with prop weapons. The classic example being prop guns: actors have accidentally killed themselves or others even using blanks if they are shooting at point blank because firing the gun still results in an explosion and a forceful column of hot air and gas. This can kill you just as dead as a bullet. You should treat any fake weapon as if it were real. In turn, this will also help you as an actor...one of the biggest problems actors have in stage combat, and in general, is believability, if you will. You want people to believe it's real. So how can anyone believe your prop gun is real if you don't treat it like a real gun?

These are just my thoughts after reading the post. And this comes from someone who didn't really get all this until she fired a real gun (with The Photographer and his family in Utah, by the way, quite the family outing). I used to walk around the RADA in a skirt with my prop knife sheathed in my Ugg boot. Killer.