FIRST night theatregoers were turned away from Tuesday's performance of My Cousin Rachel at Darlington Civic Theatre after star of the show Beatie Edney was involved in a road accident.
Ms Edney, who appeared in ITV1's A Touch Of Frost, was involved in a crash on Monday night as she travelled to the North-East and was taken to hospital in Harrogate. She was discharged 24 hours later but show director Ian Dickens opted to cancel the opening show while a decision was made over Ms Edney's fitness.
Her co-stars in the adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's novel are ex-EastEnder Andrew Lynford and TV comedy actor Bruce Montague.
She is the third leading lady involved in the Civic's four-week repertory season to meet with ill-fortune. Ruth Madoc was forced to withdraw from Sailor Beware! two weeks ago after feeling unwell and co-star Katharine Monaghan went ahead with the production after escaping unhurt from an M1 crash which wrote her car off when a tyre punctured.
Theatre press officer Katherine Goodfellow apologised to people who had bought tickets and promised that they would be allocated seats for other nights.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article