Italian actor Raphael Schumacher has been declared clinically dead after a stage performance gone horribly wrong.

The 27-year-old was performing a hanging scene at Pisa’s Teatro Lux when a female audience member noticed the rope around his neck was strangling him.

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The onlooker, a medical graduate, rushed to Schumacher when she noticed him trembling and loosened the noose and lowered him to the ground.

He was taken to a nearby hospital in a coma and pronounced brain dead on Thursday.

“The family and the prosecutor’s office have both authorised that his organs be donated, but their removal will be subject to a medical assessment to be performed in the course of the night,” the hospital said in a statement.

According to Italian news reports, four people are under investigation for manslaughter in relation to the incident.

The actor’s mother has ruled out suicide in his death.

“My son recently lost his father and had ended a relationship but had found his serenity again,” she said.

“He didn’t leave a suicide note and had no reason to kill himself.”

According to reports, Schumacher’s monologue scene was originally meant to end with a suicide by fake gunshot, but he changed it to a hanging.

The directors of the theatre allege they weren’t told of this change.