Actor playing dying Freud collapses on NYC stage

[May 10, 2011]  NEW YORK (AP) -- An actor playing a dying Sigmund Freud has been sent to the hospital after collapsing on stage in New York City.

The New York Times reports that the life-imitates-art incident happened during Saturday's matinee performance of "Freud's Last Session" on the Upper West Side.

The play imagines a meeting between Freud and "Chronicles of Narnia" author C.S. Lewis shortly before Freud's death.

Actor Martin Rayner, playing Freud, rose from an armchair and fell to his knees. Mark Dold, who plays Lewis, asked if a doctor was in the house.

Stage manager Kate J. Cudworth says a doctor went on stage and sat with Rayner.

Rayner was taken to St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center. Cudworth says he was conscious and alert.

An understudy played Freud on Saturday evening, but Rayner says he hoped to be back Sunday.

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Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/

[Associated Press]

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