Actor playing dying Freud collapses on NYC stage

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 there was a doctor in the house.

Stage manager Kate J. Cudworth said a doctor went up to the stage and sat with Rayner.

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

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