A performance of Jean Racine's 1677 play "Phaedra" at
Vienna's prestigious Burgtheater was upstaged by real-life drama
late Friday, when a theatre-goer gave birth in the foyer, a
newspaper reported.
The daily Kurier said in its Saturday edition that a 40-year-old
pregnant woman identified only as Miryam S. went into labour
shortly after the end of the performance.
But before the ambulance could arrive, she gave birth to a baby
boy with the assistance of the theatre's doctor.
Mother and child were then taken to a hospital and both were
doing well, the newspaper said.
Vienna's Burgtheater is one of the most prestigious theatres in
the German-speaking world. The current run of Racine's "Phaedra" --
in a new staging by German director and Burgtheater chief Matthias
Hartmann and starring German actress Sunnyi Melles in the title
role -- is completely sold out.
Hartmann described the dramatic turn of events on Friday evening
as "an historic occasion".
"Maybe he should be called Hippolytus or Theseus after the two
leading male characters," Hartmann told the newspaper, adding that
the boy would be honoured with lifelong free entrance to the
theatre.