Apollo theatre: why did the ceiling collapse?
Theatre-goers in the west end were quickly brought back to reality on Thursday night, when the ceiling above them caved in. But what made London’s first Edwardian theatre collapse?
Over 700 people were inside the auditorium for a pre-Christmas performance of the sell-out show, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time.
But after 8pm – around 40 minutes after the show had started – masonry and ornate plaster from the Grade II-listed theatre fell on to the stalls below. At first they thought it was just part of the show. But then eyewitnesses described “chaos and panic” as a section of the balcony also fell on top of some members of the audience, filling the theatre with clouds of thick dust.
Westminster Council are working with police to investigate the collapse, in which 79 people were injured – nine seriously. The cabinet member for community protection, Nicola Aiken, said that the theatre’s health and safety checks were up to date and that the council’s health and safety authority expect to take over from police.
The society of London theatres is carrying out emergency checks on other theatress in an attempt to assure theatre-goers. But when it comes to the Apollo, emergency workers and officials say a number of factors will be considered.
‘That is a lot of lightning’
One is the weather: there was heavy rain and a thunderstorm in the area earlier in the day, which could have weakened the 100-year-old building.
Forecasters said there was an abnormally high concentration of rain, hail and lightning strikes in London between 7pm and 9pm on the evening of the incident, with nearly 15 per cent of the average monthly rainfall for one area in December falling in just one hour.
There was also 15 lightning strikes yesterday evening, scattered around London and at least one in the city centre. “That is a lot of lightning, especially for quite a concentrated area”, said a MeteoGroup forecaster. “When you look at the rest of the UK there is not very much, and it’s quite unusual for them all to cluster in one location.”
The council has so far refused to comment on the impact of the weather, but said that investigators would leave “no stone unturned”.
From 1901, to 2013
The building was initially completed in February 1901 – the fourth “legitimate” theatre built on Shaftesbury Avenue, in London’s west end – and it was the city’s first theatre built in the Edwardian era. It was then renovated by in 1932, when a private foyer was added along with an anteroom to the Royal Box.
The balcony on the third tier is considered the steepest in London, but it is not known whether it was this one which collapsed.
All historic theatres are obliged to have health and safety checks every three years, and comply with certain health and safety checks for their licence.
Westminster council said that an initial assessment of the building overnight, carried out by a district surveyor, concluded that it was secure. Westminster Council’s Ms Aiken said: “Each historic theatre is unique and we have no reason to believe this is other than an isolated incident.”
But she added that the council may review its policy of surveying old buildings’ roofs every three years following last night’s incident.
She added: “I can’t speculate on how long it is going to take, it will take as long as it takes. It seems to be a very one-off incident but we have to get to the bottom of it and we will do.”