School children evacuated from theatre in blaze scare

It was a case of exit stage left — and quickly — yesterday as more than 400 schoolchildren had to be evacuated from a Cork theatre after it was thought the building had gone on fire.

It took just over two minutes to evacuate the children from the Everyman Palace on MacCurtain St as five fire brigade units rushed to the scene.

The children, from five schools in Cork and Kerry, had come to watch a staging of Shakespeare’s Macbeth when the alarm was raised shortly after 11am.

According to a spokeswoman for the theatre there was no hint of panic from any of the schoolchildren who were ushered out of the building along with teaching staff and the crew and cast of the play.

The alarm was raised after a member of the public who was on St Patrick’s Quay phoned emergency services and said they had noticed smoke coming from the building.

However, fire brigade crews thoroughly checked the theatre and found no trace of a fire. They then discovered the smoke was coming from a chimney at an adjoining building.

The all-clear was given and the children returned to the building to watch the play, which is part of the theatre’s Shakespeare Sessions, which will continue until tomorrow. Well, the show must go on.