‘The show must go on!’

Astrid during the performance.

Spellbound’s recent performance of the hit musical version of Peter Pan was a roaring success with a special spotlight on Astrid Bishop, a member of the company who soldiered on despite a  painful injury.

As the youth section of Frome Musical Company entertained audiences at the Memorial Theatre, there wasn’t a lot of flying around the stage for Tinkerbell, as actress Astrid Bishop dislocated her knee just days before the first show.

She said, “We were doing a dress rehearsal and all of a sudden I felt my kneecap pop out and I collapsed on the floor. I think the cast thought I was just being over dramatic in my performance, but they soon realised when I started shouting, ‘My kneecap is out! My kneecap is out!’

“The paramedics came and put my kneecap back in and took me to the hospital. They gave me a hip to toe leg brace to wear to keep my kneecap in place, so I couldn’t get around very easily. I had to sit in the audience and watch the rest of the rehearsals.

“I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to do the performance but I really wanted to do it. I was determined to get on with it.

“I wanted to show that just because I was injured, I could still do my best performance. No matter what anyone said, I was always going to do it.

“I wore a smaller knee brace for the four performances and it was quite painful, but my director was so helpful and said to only do what I could manage.

“My sisters Ellen and Dora were great, they helped me put my costume on, specifically my lovely green tights which I wore a few pairs of to cover my brace up.

“I really enjoyed it, despite my injury and I’m quite proud of myself for getting through the performances. My family told me to take it easy but understood how much I wanted to do it, so they supported me.

“My absolute dream is to perform in the West End. I’m really interested in puppetry and I love a challenging role. I have the lead role in Disco Inferno which we are performing in October so fingers crossed, my knee will be better for that.

“It is a reoccurring problem so I’m hoping corrective surgery will stop it from happening. But I’ll have to wait until I’m 16 which is in a few months.”