West End stage star performs with nasty black eye after crash with fellow cyclist

 
Bike crash: Actress Patience Tomlinson (Picture: Nigel Howard)

Actress Patience Tomlinson decided the show must go on — even after a bike crash meant she spent a night in A&E.

The star of stage play The Heart Of Things rode home to Stockwell after the collision with another cyclist in The Mall. But fears over the swelling around her resultant black eye prompted her to cycle to St Thomas’ Hospital for a check-up on Tuesday night.

The actress was released at 5am yesterday after doctors found no structural damage. And last night, with no understudy available, she bravely returned to her role at Jermyn Street Theatre — with an eye patch and a brief explanation to the audience.

Tomlinson, 55, said: “I didn’t think for a moment about not going on. I’m exhausted and a bit shaky. But all I kept thinking was how to make it believable that my character Ros has a black eye.”

The theatre’s artistic director Anthony Biggs said: “Patience is an inspiration to us all.”

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