London’s Piccadilly Theatre evacuated after 'huge chunk of ceiling' crashes down

A theatre in London’s West End has been evacuated after part of its ceiling collapsed during a show.

Emergency services were called to Piccadilly Theatre on Denman Street shortly before 8pm tonight after part of the ceiling crashed down into the auditorium.

Witnesses described hearing screams from audience members, who had been watching a performance of Death of a Salesman.

The Metropolitan Police said a “few” people had suffered minor injuries and that emergency services remained on scene.

Journalist Martin George, 41, who was sitting in the Grand Circle, said there were screams coming from the audience as part of the ceiling came crashing down.

Picture taken from twitter feed of @TJ_SC

Mr George said: “About 10 minutes into the performance you could hear this slight dripping sound in the [Grand] circle and people were looking around, wondering what was happening, but the play carried on.

“As the minutes passed, the dripping became more frequent and it sounded like more water was coming through the ceiling, causing a few people to get up and move.

“The sound eventually got so loud that we stood up and started to leave, as we were wondering what was going to happen.

“Then, as we stood up, this huge chunk of ceiling, about three to four metres across, crashed down.

Picture taken from twitter feed of @amerikanskaya

“There were people screaming at that point and everyone got up and streamed down the stairs.”

The London Ambulance Service, London Fire Brigade and Metropolitan Police were called to the scene and road closures are in place around the theatre, Scotland Yard said.

The Met Police tweeted: “Everyone is out of the theatre. A few people have suffered minor injuries. Road closures in place. Motorists advised to use alternative routes.”

It is not the first time a ceiling has collapsed in one of London’s theatres.

In 2013, 80 people were injured – seven seriously – after part of the Apollo Theatre’s ceiling collapsed on top of them.

More than 700 people were inside the Shaftesbury Avenue venue – which was 45 minutes into the National Theatre’s performance of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time – when the incident took place.