Schoolboys' throats cut during Sweeney Todd production blunder

The pair were appearing in a production of Sweeney Todd
Isobelle Gidley7 April 2016

Two boys playing victims of serial killer barber Sweeney Todd were recovering in hospital today after their throats were accidentally cut by a razor during a school play.

The schoolboys from Auckland private school St Kentigern College were injured when a ‘prop’ razor that had its blade wrapped in silver paper and duct tape was still sharp enough to cut the boys’ necks, causing bleeding.

College head Steve Cole told TVNZ the prop razor used in the play about the murderous Sweeney Todd who cut his victims throats when they were sitting in his barber’s chair had been covered in protective coating.

“It was covered in all sorts of duct tape and silver paper,” he said. “This had been done numerable times during rehearsals, numerable times even during the show.

“It was a razor that you would expect to see in a production of Sweeney Todd. But it didn’t have a sharp edge. I’m very confident that the health and safety situation was strong.”

He insisted that the edge of the blade had been filed down and had then been bound in tape.

Mr Cole said the drama students had been adamant that the play look as authentic as possible.

The two 16-year-old boys were taken to hospital when they suffered cuts to their necks while on the stage in front of an audience. One had serious injuries but both were expected to be released from hospital today.

A police spokesman said officers were called to the school, but there was nothing to indicate anything untoward took place on the stage. “It’s not a criminal inquiry,” he said.

The New Zealand Herald said the show was in keeping with the Broadway version of the Sweeney Todd musical and featured cut-throat razors.

The show tells the story of the English barber and serial killer who used a razor to kill his customers, helped by Mrs Lovett, a struggling pie shop owner who turns the corpses into meat pies.

It has not been revealed whether the audience were aware that the boys necks had been cut, because both were “dispatched” through a trap door from their chairs and sent down a chute to the “bakehouse”.

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