A Change of Context

Lights shone brightly at the front of the room. The surgeon was in the theatre. He had gone to watch his favourite play. An emergency had brought him back to work for surgery, but that was earlier in the evening and he had not missed the first act of the play. It turned out that there was nothing wrong with his heart so he didn’t need to have an emergency operation. The curtains parted and an actor stepped forward. There had been an accident back stage with one of the female characters and they needed a doctor. The surgeon went to help. When the ambulance arrived the surgeon rode with the injured person to the hospital. The female character was being played by a man but he had phoned in sick so tonight it was a woman. That was what the pamphlet said at the theatre but it was clearly a man in the ambulance. The surgeon called the theatre to confirm who the patient was. The people at the theatre were very confused because the actress playing the female character was still in the dressing room. A male model that had been helping the costume designer was missing so they tried to track him down. They tried to call the model but he did not answer. A mobile phone rang in the ambulance and the surgeon picked it up. It was the theatre manager on the other end. He had left his phone in the pocket of one of the costumes and was calling to locate it. The surgeon asked him about the missing male model. ‘The last time I saw him was when I sent him to look for my phone’ said the manager.