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A Throat-Slitting Scene in a 'Sweeney Todd' High School Play Went Very Wrong

Two teenagers suffered real cuts from a real razor as a result of a serious prop mishap, but both are out of the hospital.
Image by Frances Smith

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Two students in Auckland, New Zealand, were hospitalized on Wednesday after being seriously injured during their high school's performance of Sweeney Todd, the BBC reports—while they were pretending to have their throats cut by a straight razor, their throats were actually cut by a straight razor.

Though the razor had supposedly been duct-taped and plastic-wrapped for safety, it apparently wasn't enough.

"It had been bound in Cellophane, bound in all sorts of things," the school's head, Steve Cole, said according to CBS, quoting an interview given to a local radio station. "It was very non-sharp, blunted, and had been through all sorts of health and safety checks."

[The real razor] was chosen because of the very nature of the talented young men and women we have in year 12 and 13 who wanted something that would push their skills and the boundaries," Cole went on. "It was deemed important to make it as realistic as possible."

The throat-slitting scene turned out to be a little too realistic, and the two injured boys were taken to the hospital overnight. They have since been released, and the play is scheduled to resume on Friday night, this time with some less authentic props.