A method actor was rushed to hospital after he collapsed on stage while drinking real vodka to give a convincing portrayal of a Russian drunk.

Marc Schulze, 36 - appearing in 'Moscow - Petushki' by Russian satirist Venedict Yerofeyev in Frankfurt, Germany - had downed one shot after another during the course of the show.  But the audience realised something was wrong when he started missing his lines and staring blankly at other actors.

One theatre-goer said: "He was turning in a very realistic performance and it looked really impressive. I was amazed at how good his drunken staggering was and how he was slurring his words.  But as the performance went on he started to miss lines and looked really confused and the audience could tell there was something wrong. Then he just collapsed."

Now he has been ordered by producers to stick to water in future shows.

Oliver Reed, Peter O'Toole, Richard Harris, Richard Burton... they all managed somehow!

With some of the old school it was hard to tell the difference between performance and real life!

The original was here