HOW SICK IS TOO SICK - 2 Questions

EMAILNOTICES>no> How sick should an actor be to not turn up for a performance??Let me take the Performers point of view....What is Sick? Being ill alone is not enough if they have passion for what they do. I've had ills before going on stage but found that While on stage, I was fine. The rushing adrenaline and desire to be there over-ran the uneasyness of the stomache. Mind you, I didn't hang around too long after these shows.Injured, that's as maybe. Let me tell you a tale of personal experience. Cinderella, Marloo theatre, 1997. I was walking off stage after a short scene when I didn't place my foot properly and twisted it horribly sidways before collapsing on it to boot. It hurt a lot, but I had to go on stage to do a dance number and I refused to let some pain stop me. I went out danced and hoped I smiled throughout the scene, came off-stage and suddenly collapsed again as I was unable to put any weight on my right foot at all. Luckily, my next on-stage call was not until act 2, so I sat up with cold-packs on my foot untill I was needed.On another incident, I was involved in a potential deadly accident and was saved by a whisker. I was on my way to a show in at Hayman. I was dazed and shocked when the cop and ambulance driver asked me if I wanted anyone notified. First thing I said was "call the theatre." That was all that was on my mind. We had Two shows that day, and after I was cleared to go, I was straight on my way for the second performance. My timing couldn't have been better. Somehow the story had got around that I had been KILLED! How appropriate then that my first appearance that afternoon was at the back end of a coffin that I helped bring on-stage. Except for those I entered with, no-one else on-stage new of my presence. You should have seen their faces as they gawped at this pale faced figure at the rear end of a coffin, someone they had just been told had DIED.Even death did not stop me!> What would you do if you saw that said actor perform the following> night at a different venue in a different show, showing no signs of> illness??I think I might have answered that one too.Jeff "Ghost Who Walks" WatkinsBrandon Lee - Crow -"I say I'm dead and I move."