Apollo ceiling ‘sound’ despite collapse

Surveyors have said the ceiling of the Apollo Theatre in London is “sound” after 80 people were injured, seven of them seriously, when sections of it collapsed on the audience during a packed show.

Eyewitnesses described “chaos and panic” as parts of the theatre “began to crumble down” around them just after 8pm on Thursday.

Around 10 square metres of plaster from the Grade II-listed West End theatre plummeted onto the stalls below, dragging a section of the balcony with it, striking members of the audience and filling the theatre with thick dust.

More than 700 people were inside the Apollo — which was 45 minutes into the National Theatre’s performance of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time — when members of the audience started screaming as it appeared parts of the ceiling caved in.