Tom Hanks saves Shakespeare through the magic of improv

Leave it to Tom Hanks to save the day by combining Shakespeare and improv.

As reported by The Orange County Register, Hanks was performing in a production of Henry IV at the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles on Wednesday when an audience member fell ill and passed out.

The play was paused for 15 minutes while crew members (who consisted of veterans with medical training) and then paramedics attended to the sick theatergoer.

Meanwhile, the audience was beginning to grow restless. So Hanks burst back onto the stage and began riffing in character as Sir John Falstaff, joking with the audience and imploring them to remain seated and be patient.

"God has decided this play needed a second intermission," he can be heard booming in footage from the event.

He decried the "scurvy rogues that stood up from their seats and tore apart their tickets" as "an insult to all actors and Shakespeare himself," and declared "no intermission brew for you!" as some audience members got up to get refreshments.

At one point, he even brought an audience member onstage after jestingly accusing her of stealing his costume.

Unlike so many of Shakespeare's plays, this story has a happy ending. The sick patron was soon "cleared and released," according to the venue, and the show was able to go on without any further complications.

And the production even managed to scoop up some free publicity in the process, thanks to articles like this one. If you'd like to catch Hanks in Henry IV – hopefully with fewer medical emergencies next time – he'll be around through July 1. Hit up the Shakespeare Center website for more info.