An Italian actor has been declared brain dead after a theatre scene performed on-stage went horribly wrong. 

According to CNN, Raphael Schumacher was performing in an experimental theatre show when the shocking incident occured. 

The scene in question reportedly involved re-enacting a hanging on-stage as part of the interactive performance in Pisa last Saturday. 

The play, which was taking place in the well-known Teatro Lux, was in full swing when a spectator realised something had gone wrong in the 27-year-old's hanging scene. 

According to witnesses, the rope had been tied too tight and a female audience member had run to the young actor's aid when she realised something was not right. Raphael's face was reportedly covered for the scene. 

The actor was rushed to hospital and remained in a coma until today when he was declared clinically dead. 

"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," read a statement issued by the hospital. 

Raphael was reading a monologue from the play Spring Awakening at the time of his death. The scene reportedly ended with the actor placing his head in a noose. 

Tragically, it has been revealed that the actor had decided to change the ending of scene from placing a gun to his head to a hanging. 

"We are shocked," Gabriele De Luca, the art director at the theatre said to the Daily Mail. 

"No one, not even us, understands how this happened and it will be up to the police to shed light on it."