London's Apollo Theatre's ceiling collapses

[markjay]

BBC News - London's Apollo Theatre's ceiling collapses

 

[Scott_F]

Shall I do the joke about bringing the house down or does someone else want to ?

 

[developer]

That wasn't the one I was thinking of, but then I heard there were no fatalities...

 

[Deleted member 37751]

"Eyewitnesses heard "a crackling" noise before the collapse at about 20:15 GMT. Theatre-goers left covered in debris."

Wouldn't it have been an earwitness?

 

[George Douglas]

Shall I do the joke about bringing the house down or does someone else want to ?

As son as it was mentioned on the news my wife looked at me and said "don't say a word" . She knows me too well. :fail

 

[Harrythedog]

Sounds like old plaster coming away from the lathes. H & S will be rubbing their hands, prepare for a raft of old buildings being closed while they are the-plastered. Same thing happened to a property I own and you can't get insured against it as it's classed as wear & tear unless it's caused by a leak

 

[Gollom]

Sounds like old plaster coming away from the lathes. H & S will be rubbing their hands, prepare for a raft of old buildings being closed while they are the-plastered. Same thing happened to a property I own and you can't get insured against it as it's classed as wear & tear unless it's caused by a leak

Love the irony of someone called Harrythedog writing that given the play running at the time.....

 

[markjay]

Sounds like old plaster coming away from the lathes. H & S will be rubbing their hands, prepare for a raft of old buildings being closed while they are the-plastered. Same thing happened to a property I own and you can't get insured against it as it's classed as wear & tear unless it's caused by a leak

I would imagine the theatre would have a Public Liability Policy though covering the spectators' injuries.

 

[Harrythedog]

I would imagine the theatre would have a Public Liability Policy though covering the spectators' injuries.

Agreed however having to foot the cost of repair plus loss of revenue especially at this time of year could be disastrous for the theatre ( providing wear & tear is the cause)

Gollom, what was on the theatre?

 

[Charles Morgan]

The economics of London theatres are lousy, most are well past their prime, grim, uncomfortable and minimally maintained. This doesn't surprise me.

 

[W4E300]

I've worked in theatres for the past 30 years and am now running a business that amongst other things - runs 'backstage' safety inspections on many of them, I am amazed that the industry has 'got away' without something like this or more serious for so long. Bearing in mind the public are only in the building for 3 hours a day (maybe 6 if there's a matinee...) similar occurrences have taken place behind closed doors...and very little happens as a result. The HSE will produce a detailed report, Nimax will get a kicking and you can bet that this morning theatre technicians across the country will be sent running around checking and securing everything in & out of sight - including those 'stable doors' - that haven't been checked in years.

West End houses are mostly ancient 1890s-1930s grade 1 listed, so any repairs are really expensive with English Heritage watching every step. The ceilings in auditoria are really difficult to get to and need a 'dark' period to maintain, but pressure is on the owners & managers to keep the venue open and generating income. Modern shows use more power and hang more weight (lights, PA etc) on the creaking old timbers. Upkeep budgets and maintenance staff get cut to save budget.

We are seriously lucky that the incident was not far far worse.

Sent from my iPad using MBClub UK

 

[grober]

Reported that there drops of water from the roof just before the collapse. This had just been preceded by a torrential rain shower. Pretty simple- basically sound plasterwork gets saturated over a period of time by a leaking outer roof --- gets very heavy and eventually gives way. Can happen any time- it was just unlucky there was a full house at the time- fortunately no-one was killed. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was playing.

 

[grober]

A little background the Apollo was sold to the Nimax theatres group by Andrew Lloyd Webber [ remind me never to buy a used car from that guy. ] BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Arts | Lloyd Webber sells four theatres
Nica Burns bio:-
Nica Burns: queen of Edinburgh comedy | Stage | The Guardian

Lots of sympathetic hand wringing from assorted theatrical luvies on the media today. On the other hand maybe employing a good felt roofer might have been a better idea ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25461011

 

[johnkyte]

Dont worry,,,,today surveyors state that the building is sound

 

[Dieselman]

Firefighters worked really hard in very difficult conditions... they rescued people from the theatre, made the area safe and then helped ambulance crews with the injured.

Another WTF comment...

 

[Gollom]

Agreed however having to foot the cost of repair plus loss of revenue especially at this time of year could be disastrous for the theatre ( providing wear & tear is the cause)

Gollom, what was on the theatre?

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

Incidentally, the book (IMHO) is genius!

 

[trapperjohn]

Too old and too slow. Gollom got in before me whilst I was in "edit" mode. See post below.

 

[trapperjohn]

Another WTF comment...

^ Cant agree more. Its what they do and are trained to do. It even says it on the side of their trucks. Fire and Rescue.

 

[ringway]

I would imagine the theatre would have a Public Liability Policy though covering the spectators' injuries.

Maybe so, but after this incident, the premium will go through the roof.

 

[Dieselman]

Maybe so, but after this incident, the premium will go through the roof.

Unless it has a ceiling price.