Well, that performance certainly brought the house down.
I recently watched We Will Rock You at the Dominion and I wondered how strong the ceilings were what with all the lighting and sound equipment strung up.
I guess its pretty old. Built 1901 I read.
I wonder if other theatres will now be checked for structural safety?
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Guess they'll have to. It was originally reported as a roof collapse....glad it was no worse than it was.
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>>It was originally reported as a roof collapse
Also reports of a heavy shower.
I've read reports of a balcony collapse, or is that down to 'the first rule of journalism'?
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DT website says roof collapsed, speculation that a lightning strike may have precipitated it.
Sounds like many had a lucky escape.
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Those little old West End theatres are small and more or less cylindrical in shape, taller than they are long. They seem flimsily built and in ropey condition too, with the audience the heaviest component...
Even so you wouldn't really want big chunks of jagged old gilded stucco coming own on your unsuspecting head. I bet the Apollo's insurers have gone a bit pale.
A large area of thick Victorian plaster ceiling came down on our bed in London once, fortunately when we weren't in it. Cause I think was a water leak above it. There were some big bits of plaster, a good couple of kilos.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 20 Dec 13 at 01:30
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There was certainly heavy, thundery rain around Heathrow as I was leaving work yesterday, about 18.40, and the M4 was awash in places - nasty driving conditions. I expect it was moving eastward too, which would be consistent with reaching Shaftesbury Avenue mid-evening.
What puzzled me this morning was the R4 news report, which began, 'Less than an hour into...'. Presumably, one wouldn't usually expect the ceiling to fall in until much later in the performance.
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Being an old building, I wonder if there's any asbestos present?
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Central London at 7pm and for 15 minutes or so there was a reasonably severe thunderstorm, right overhead.
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"The Theatres Trust said occurrences of theatre ceiling and plasterwork collapse were 'extremely rare'"
Oh, well that's alright then.
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>> Central London at 7pm and for 15 minutes or so there was a reasonably severe
>> thunderstorm, right overhead.
I wouldn't be surprised if a pressure wave caused by lightning very close by was responsible. It doesn't take much to bring ceilings down.
No doubt we will be having an enquiry, and quite possibly a whole new government department to ensure nothing like this can ever happen again. I think theatres should be banned.
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>> Central London at 7pm and for 15 minutes or so there was a reasonably severe thunderstorm, right overhead.
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In the Kingston area we suddenly got a thunderstorm etc but no excessive rain.
One effect, or coincidence, my car alarm started at the same time.
It has, to my knowledge, never sounded before when parked outside .
No trucks or anything passing by to trigger so I can only think the weather was to blame..
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>> Central London at 7pm and for 15 minutes or so there was a reasonably severe thunderstorm, right overhead. <<
That was Him Upstairs making his disapproval known in anticipation of you being nasty to me today in another thread.
Pat
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Probably a long standing ceiling leak leading to rotting wood is my guess - based on old houses I have lived in /do live in :-)
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Caption under one of the pics on the Beeb website.
"The Theatres Trust said ceiling and plasterwork collapse were "extremely rare""
Did that really need saying?
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Why yes, Mr Gullible will now think it happens every other week!
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>>Cause I think was a water leak above it. There were some big bits of plaster, a good couple of kilos.
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El bee ess (lbs) if you don't mind old timer. Kilos.................Pah! :-)
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Lathe and Plaster ceilings can probably take much more Aboose than conventional plasterboard,but there clearly comes a time when..............
Without going overboard on the H&S aspect it would be extremely difficult to determine when the failure will occur.
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Lathe and Plaster ceilings...
Now there's a thing you really wouldn't want to fall on you.
And if you must do groats and furlongs (and no-one ever pines for predecimal currency, do they?) then the symbol is 'lb', not 'lbs'.
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>> there's a thing you really wouldn't want to fall on you.
You wouldn't, but in my experience a ceiling weakened by say water doesn't bring the laths down, the plaster detaches from them over a bigger and bigger area (it's visible, but happens very slowly) until something makes it let go. 5lb slabs of abrasive-edged 1840s plaster in our old gaff, a good couple of inches thick... and the ceiling paper, two or three thicknesses, tore unevenly and swung some of those slabs this way and that as they fell. Could hurt or injure anyone below if they were unlucky.
Some of the major internal walls in that house were lath and plaster too. Three layers of plaster with the finest stuff a skim coat on the outside. Sure would like to have seen those Victorian teams of plasterers grafting.
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Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, eh?
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Apollo theatre collapse - R.P.
