Actor Daniel Hoevels accidentally slit his neck onstage after he mistook a real knife for a prop at the Burgtheater in Austria.

Hoevels, 30, unwittingly grabbed a real blade instead of a harmless prop during his performance as a character who commits suicide. The audience was unaware that the blood spurting from his neck was real and that the actor wasn't acting anymore.

It was when the actor failed to get up and bow that it was realized something was wrong.

He recovered after a trip to a local hospital's emergency room and appeared the next night on stage with a bandage around his neck.

A doctor told The Telegraph, "If Hoevels had hit an artery or cut only slightly deeper, he would have died on stage."

According to the paper, police are investigating the incident, refusing to rule out that the stunt may have been planned by a jealous rival.