We got some towels to dry the wings, and the finale went as smoothly as the rest of the show. When the house lights came up, the crowd was slow to leave. Most of the audience was not in much of a hurry to exit the shelter of the tent and enter a driving rain. At this point, from some combination of wind and rain we lost the generators. The lights went out and even though it would have been dusk outside, because of the heavy clouds it was very dark in the tent. It might as well have been midnight.
Now, whenever I'm traveling I like to carry two things with me: my LED headlamp and an LED flashlight which I use to find critters at night (with great success, see e.g. last week's toad). I made my way out onto stage with my flashlight to help direct the audience. Mia was coming the other way from the sound booth at the rear of the house, heading for the dressing area after calling the show from the booth (more on Mia's job in another post). "Looks like you finally get to put that thing to work!" she said as we crossed paths.
At this point we still had over 1,000 people still inside the tent. I was standing at the front of the stage using my flashlight to help people find the exit safely. Jeremie (the Diabolo act, very good) came out to check out the situation. I shook hands with the local promoter and said hello to one of the media people.
It's eerie how Hollywood gets disaster movie cliches so totally right. They must have good consultants, because what happened next was EXACTLY like being in a movie. From overhead came the sound of metal failing . . . snapping and popping sounds, followed immediately by the sound of eight or nine hundred people screaming. I turned my light up and saw movement as the tent began to collapse. I tried to dodge a piece of truss that swung down from the ceiling but was knocked to the floor.
Sidi (pronounced C-D, one of our lighting techs, and more on him later) pulled me out from under the metal and I got to my feet. My flashlight was gone. My jaw was numb and I wasn't sure it was in the right place, but the only thing I could think about was Mia. I ran backstage and hoped nothing else would fall on me. Mia was in the dressing area and so was the cast. A couple of people had grabbed Mia and wouldn't let her run into the main tent after me (and god bless 'em, because it wasn't safe). I was very relieved to see she was OK - unfortunately I was a bit of a bloody mess, so it took a few minutes to assure everyone that I was all right.
The dressing area you saw in other previous post is actually a separate, smaller structure attached to the main tent. This one had not collapsed and if I recall correctly still had lights, or we got the lights back on in there. Someone gave me ice for my face. My lower lip was torn at the right corner, and the left side of my jaw was swelling up.
More sounds of collapse, plus some deafening thunderclaps made it clear we had to get the hell out of there. Mia led the group back to the hotel on foot. There was a rumor that the tent had been hit by lightning, and it was still raining like Noah's flood. Speaking of which, we had to cross through a calf deep torrent of rain water mixed with overflow from the sewer to escape. There were also hundreds of other people around and the scene was utter chaos.
It's a long slog back to the hotel in the rain, and there are tons of people making the trek by foot, car, scooter. Everyone is trying to get away from the scene. From the hotel, me, Mia, Weego and Freny (our local liaison/translator are headed for the hospital. When Mia went upstairs to get our passports and wallets, I demanded that Weego snap a quick photo for posterity.
I have to say, this was the best emergency room experience I have ever had. We were attended to quickly, the people were nice, and the guy that stitched me up was terrific. I hardly felt a thing, even the needle for the anesthetic and the tetanus shot were done gently. It was 6 stitches altogether, 4 outside and 2 inside. From everybody's reactions I had been expecting much worse. The first thing I had done after finding Mia was a quick tooth inventory - all there. Now the x-ray came back clear: jaw intact.
There was another guy there from the audience with a gash to his lower back. I heard there were two more people, a cleaner and an audience member, with more serious head injuries, but they must have gone to another hospital. We were very relieved to see that the hospital was not full of injuries.
I was sent home with some pain killers, an anti-inflammatory, a topical anti-inflammatory and some anti-biotics. The local organizers made sure that the hospital bill was paid for, so it turns out we didn't need to bring our wallets, etc. after all. The doctor was good enough to take a picture with me:
I have to say I feel unbelievably lucky. Six inches the other way and I would have been done for. I think I came within a whisker of breaking my jaw and my right forearm - I'm actually shocked they held the way I was hit. I managed to get out of there with all my bones and joints intact - nothing but cuts and bruises. Lucky Ducky! Good thing I have an adamantium skeleton.
Needless to say, the second show was cancelled - tomorrow, we survey the physical damage to our venue. And just in case you've been skimming, the final takeaway is Mia and I are both totally fine!
(NOTE: I have a couple of pictures to go with this post that I'll have to add later - the connection here in Nusa Lembogan is too slow - yeah - we're on vacation now and loving it - it's July 15)
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