It’s every actor’s worst nightmare: You’re on stage, the audience loves you, and the cast is doing great! And then suddenly, someone forgets a line! Something happened to a prop!
What happens now? The difference between film and TV and the theater, is that there is nobody there to yell ‘cut!’, and there’s no way to edit out what just happened. Relax! Here’s a few ways to work with something going wrong onstage.
The first thing to remember is that you are being watched! You now have about two seconds to figure out what direction you’re going to move in. When it comes to a prop malfunction, whether something breaks, or is missing or just won’t do what it’s supposed to do, leave it alone! Blackouts are your friend in this case. Move the broken object out of peoples’ way and tell the stage manager when you get backstage what happened, so that it can be addressed or replaced after the show. If something falls, quickly pick it back up and hand it to whoever dropped it or put it back where it belongs. There’s no shame in doing that, as long as you don’t panic.
Dropped lines are a bit trickier, but if you’re quick you can pick yourself and the other actors up without the audience ever knowing. The worst thing you can do is freeze! This is where all of those listening exercises from your classes (or past experience) come into play. Listen to what your fellow actor actually said, and try to guide them back to where you need to be with your next line. And if you’re the one that froze, take a deep breath and try to say something your character would say in the situation they’re in onstage. Under no circumstance should you break character while in the middle of a performance. The audience will see right through you if you do that!
The bottom line is, in live theater things like this happen. They happen in community, they happen in regional, and yes, they even happen on Broadway! But, if you keep a cool head, take a deep breath, and rely on your fellow cast mates in the safe environment of the stage, you can pull yourself out of anything!