Actress Karen Clegg should have appeared in a puff of smoke as Fairy Bowbells during a dress rehearsal of Dick Whittington at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing.
But the wrong one went off at the other side of the stage - and as she was exiting the other one exploded at her feet.
It was enough to frighten her back to fairyland but as a true trooper she carried on.
That she did so is vital. Otherwise, the villains will win the day, and that will never do in a Christmas pantomime.
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