Italian investigators unraveling mystery of strangled actor
Raphael Schumacher, 27, pronounced dead after suffering distress while enacting hanging on stage; 4 taken in for questioning
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
Italian authorities were attempting to unravel the mystery of an actor who was strangled on a theater stage in Pisa during a hanging scene.
Pisa University Hospital said doctors declared 27-year-old Raphael Schumacher dead late Thursday, five days after the incident. Italian news reports said a recent medical school graduate in the audience sounded the alarm after noticing the actor was under distress while enacting a hanging.
The daily il Giornale quoted the directors as saying the piece, about an adolescent’s existential crisis, was supposed to end with a fake pistol shot, but that Schumacher changed it without informing them.
The news agency ANSA reported Friday that prosecutors are investigating whether a lapse in safety procedure was to blame, with the focus on a possible stage accident rather than suicide.
On Friday, two directors and two stage technicians were placed under investigation in connection with the strangling, the Italian news site ANSA reported.
According to the Guardian, Schumacher’s mother rejected claims her son had attempted to commit suicide. “My son recently lost his father and had ended a relationship but had found his serenity again,” she said. “He didn’t leave a suicide note and had no reason to kill himself.”
The Times of Israel Community.