The fact that people are buying tickets to Spider-Man just to see the wreckage is starting to get really unpleasant. Actors dangling mid-air: potentially hilarious. Four actors sustaining serious injury: really upsetting. Apparently, the most recent injury was caused by human error. The following is a statement from AEA:
Actors' Equity Association worked today with the Department of Labor, OSHA and the production to determine that the cause of the accident at last night's performance. Further protocols are now being implemented, including redundancies recommended by Equity, the DOL and OSHA, to address this situation as well as other elements of the production. Equity continues to vigilantly monitor the production for the safety of its members.Which, of course, begs the question: why isn't there a redundancy system already in place? Doing stunts that complicated, in real time, eight performances a week (as opposed to in movies, when they just have to be done once - and if something doesn't look right, a safety or stunt person or rigger can go, "oh, wait. Stop.", something that can't happen in live theater), without a rigorous safety and redundancy system in place is going to get someone - either a performer or an audience member - killed. The hubris is mind boggling, and if one takes even a cursory look at the numbers, the odds of them getting their $65 million dollar investment back are puny.
Does Julie Taymor really want this to be her legacy?
(video courtesy of Peter Michael Marino)
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2 comments:
I like your last line... kind of says it all...
I think Julie Taymor represents a great step for women directors. It's the first time (I think) that we've had a woman who's as much of a coked-up meglomaniacal sociopath as any male director (see Landis, John). Progress!
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