A member of amateur dramatic group the Magdalen Players took the old showbiz saying break a leg' almost too literally when he fell off a ladder just weeks before their latest production.

With rehearsals reaching a climax for the hospital farce It Runs in the Family, players' stalwart Pat Wilson who plays an 89-year-old patient confined to a wheelchair fell while painting scenery and found himself confined to a wheelchair.

He told the News: "I was painting the ceiling when I lost my balance and went flying.

The funny thing is I was playing someone baffled and confused and ended up baffled and confused myself."

Pat's accident wasn't the only hitch in rehearsals. A few days earlier production director Chris Robertson and prompt Alison Squires were delayed by Moslem rioters at Bali Airport on their way back from Australia and had to endure a detour flying over war-torn Afghanistan.

It Runs in the Family can be seen as part of the Wandsworth Arts Festival on November 8, 9 and 10 at St Mary Magdalene Church Hall, Trinity Road.

For tickets ring 020 8874 8348.

November 6, 2001 16:30