Victim of feeling unwell in the middle of a theatrical performance this Wednesday, September 27, Pierre Arditi was first transported to hospital with a suspected stroke. He gave his news this Thursday.
More fear than harm. In the middle of a performance of the play “Rabbit” at the Edouard VII theater in Paris, Pierre Arditi felt unwell on stage this Wednesday, September 27, 2023. The 78-year-old actor was immediately admitted in absolute emergency to the Lariboisière hospital, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris.
The news is now reassuring. Pierre Arditi left the hospital and returned home this Thursday morning, according to information from BFM TV. First mentioned, the possibility of stroke is definitively ruled out. “His days are not in danger,” his relatives told AFP late in the evening.
This Thursday, September 28, Pierre Arditi himself spoke on BFM TV to give his news after his discomfort: “I had vagal discomfort and hypoglycemia, so obviously I lost the thread. “There’s no stroke. It’s still scary but hey. I’m going to rest for five days,” he said. “It’s also fatigue because we didn’t stop working very quickly… And then I’m no longer a partridge of the year, so unfortunately, age comes into play even if I’m not too bad.” However, he refuses to rest for too long: “I’m going to die doing this [playing, editor’s note]. Retirement among actors is death. I’m not dead, I’m going to continue a little longer.”
At the microphone of BFM TV this Thursday morning, Muriel Robin, who plays opposite him in Samuel Benchetrit’s play, explained that she “was very scared”, she told the media. “With discomfort, you never know what could happen. The doctor asked him to rest for a week.” The actress also confirmed that Pierre Arditi will be back on stage next Wednesday.
Pierre Arditi had been on stage for around twenty minutes when he felt unwell this Wednesday. Very quickly, the curtain was drawn and the theater management chose to evacuate the spectators from the premises, indicating that the performance was officially canceled.
The firefighters as well as the Samu quickly arrived on site Wednesday evening, reports Le Point, quickly clarifying that, according to its information, Muriel Robin would have been the first to react to the unusual behavior of Pierre Arditi. She was the one who asked for the curtain to be lowered.
“After two or three minutes when we saw Muriel Robin a little panicked, we understood that something serious was happening,” confirms a spectator to BFM TV. And added: “People didn’t believe it because there was a gag at the start of the evening and after a few minutes we went from collective amusement to sadness.”
Speaking to franceinfo, members of the public said that “it’s part of the show” when the actor begins to “stutter permanently”. “We could see that something was wrong,” one of the spectators confided to the media. When the theater asks spectators to evacuate the room, they think it “is a stunt”. It will take three requests for the audience to finally get up and leave the theater.
Muriel Robin and Pierre Arditi have been playing “Lapin” by Samuel Benchetrit since September 21, at the Édouard VII theater in Paris. “Every Monday, spring break evening, Muriel Robin goes to Pierre Arditi to spend the evening with him. Like every Monday, they share a dinner and enjoy their friendship. But this evening, for the first time, they go realize that they are not alone… but much more…”, indicates the synopsis of the play on the Internet.
