"Cut a Leg!"

After this incident, the official way to wish a performer well must be changed to "Cut a leg!"

ASPEN, Colo. — Julius Caesar lay dead and Brutus was talking to his co-conspirators about swords and blood when he paused and excused himself, saying "I seem to have stabbed myself."

SR: Okay, that's not a line from the First Folio. And it doesn't even scan. How lame.

Aspen actor/director Kent Hudson Reed accidentally cut his leg open with the knife he was using in an outdoor performance of "Scenes From Shakespeare's Julius Caesar" on Wednesday.

SR: "Scenes From Shakespeare's Julius Caesar?!?" So, Kent cut his leg open and he didn't even get to do the whole damn play?!?!?!

And by the way, "actor/director?" Kent directed this AND played Brutus? What is Kent Hudson Reed - - The Woody Allen of Aspen, Colorado!?!!?

He tried to carry on, "but my boot was filling up with blood and I was flubbing my lines, wondering if I was going to pass out, wondering if the audience could see the blood."

SR: His boot? He's wearing boots and a toga? Is this some concept production where all of the action takes place in a leather bar / bathhouse? Did Mary Zimmerman co-direct this crap?!?!

Portia (Susan Mauntel) took Brutus to a hospital for stitches and play narrator Tyson Young announced the performance was canceled. "That's what you get for trying to kill Caesar," he said.

SR: Tyson Young: The Henny Youngman of Aspen, Colorado.

Susan Mauntel: The Florence Nightingale of Aspen, Colorado.

The list goes on and on...

Reed said actors normally don't use real knives, but the scene was set up so none of the performers were close enough to hurt each other. "But I hadn't thought an actor might stab himself," he said.

SR: "An actor" didn't stab himself Kent Hudson Reed, darling. You did.

Reed said the show would go on, although Brutus might be limping for a while.

SR: "Et tu, limping Brute?"