Horne collapses on stage

Mathew pays the price for a punishing schedule

Mathew Horne has collapsed on stage during a West End show.

The Gavin & Stacey star has been forced to pull out of the revival of Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane after falling to the floor in the middle of a scene,

He lay there for ten minutes until paramedics arrived to take him to hospital. The audience was then asked to leave, and their money refunded.

Horne was later released, although the reason for his collapse has not been revealed.

One audience member said the audience thought that Horne's collapse 15 minutes into the second half was part of the script, until fellow actor Paisley Day called out: ‘I think something has gone wrong, is there a doctor in the house?’

By strange coincidence, his co-star Imelda Staunton has also pulled out of the show at London's Trafalgar Theatre. While apologising to the audience tonight, she said that she, too, had been feeling unwell. Understudies will replace them both.

Horne’s spokesman said the 30-year-old collapsed after working flat out for three months.

As well as the West End show he has just completed work on his BBC Three sketch show with James Corden and the duo have been busy promoting their debut film, Lesbian Vampire Killers. They both hosted the Teenage Cancer Trust benefit at the Royal Albert Hall last weekend, and was performing eight shows a week of Entertaining Mr Sloane.

Published: 2 Apr 2009

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