Andrew Scott has recalled accidentally shooting a prop gun at Juliet Stevenson’s face, saying he was left “shaken” and “upset” by the incident.
The prop gun went off – although it did not fire projectiles and Stevenson was unhurt – during a 2017 performance of Hamlet.
“For some reason one night the gun just went off in Juliet’s face,” Scott told the audience at the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards. “I couldn’t believe it happened.”
He said when he apologised later, Stevenson said she had “loved” the error.
“Didn’t it add something?” Scott recalled her saying.
He added that “this is a woman who was shot in the face” and called her response “an example of real[ly] brave acting”.
Scott played Hamlet at London’s Almeida Theatre opposite Stevenson as his mother Gertrude.
He told the anecdote on being named best actor for his role in the 2019 production of Noel Coward’s Present Laughter at the Old Vic.
It’s not the first time the actor has experienced difficulties with a prop, with 1917 director Sam Mendes recently revealing that Scott “made more mistakes than anyone else” during filming, despite only having one scene, due to a faulty lighter.
