STAGE

To Act or Not to Act: The co-star of a Broadway play walked off stage in the middle of a show after another actor lectured him about his performance in front of the audience and then hit him with a sword during a dueling scene. Evan Handler left the stage near the end of the first act of “I Hate Hamlet” on Thursday night. The comedy, by Paul Rudnick, is about a sitcom actor, played by Handler, who is visited by the ghost of John Barrymore, played by Nicol Williamson. The New York Times reported Saturday that Handler had quit the role. “I removed myself from the production because from the first day of rehearsals I have endured the show’s producers condoning Nicol Williamson’s persistent abusiveness to other cast members,” he said. During the play, Williamson told Handler: “Put some life into it! Use your head! Give it more life!”