PARIS (Reuters) — A William Tell-type circus act went horribly wrong when a performer trying to shoot an apple off his wife's head with a crossbow hit her under the eye instead.
The woman, whose skull was pierced by the arrow, was in serious condition in hospital after the incident involving the Grey Arrow husband-and-wife team in front of 5,000 spectators at the World Circus Festival Sunday.
"It's incomprehensible. They've got that routine down to the nearest thousandth of a millimeter," Gilbert Edelstein, director of the Pinder-Jean Richard circus, said.
"There's a serious risk because the arrow pierced her skull. She can't be operated on for another week, so it's especially important that she does not develop an infection," said Edelstein.
"The audience didn't really understand what had happened until an emergency medical squad arrived," he said.
Edelstein said the circus would continue its tour of France despite the accident. "That's circus life. Sometimes there is a catastrophe, but the show must go on."
The couple had been performing together for 14 years. The William Tell act, always done before a hushed audience, was the highpoint of their show.