Actor dies after on-stage hanging scene goes wrong

A stage actor has died after he was choked in a hanging scene that went wrong.

27-year-old Raphael Schumacher was declared clinically dead on Friday after performing in  "Mirages", an experimental theatre production, in the courtyard of Teatro Lux in Pisa, Italy last weekend.

A member of the audience noticed that the rope around his neck was too tight. The actor's head was covered at the time, but a medical graduate, seeing him trembling and realising something was wrong, ran to him, loosened the noose and, with the help of another audience member, lowered him to the ground. He was taken to hospital shortly after but did not recover from his coma.

Police have launched an investigation into the incident and say they are trying to establish whether proper safety procedures were in place, after it emerged that the actor had not been wearing a body harness.

According to Italian news agency ANSA, four people are under investigation for manslaughter in the actor's death. 

His family authorized the donation of his organs, and the doctors have started the procedure, a spokesperson at Cisanello Hospital in Pisa told international media on Friday.

Schumacher changed the play's script at the last minute, the directors of the theatre company told on Italian newspaper: "The original monologue included a fake gunshot but he eventually decided for the hanging without telling us."

The play's scenes take place in different parts of the theatre, with spectators walking through them. Schumacher was performing in the courtyard at the time of the incident.