Leeds Playhouse pauses show after on-stage fire

Leeds Playhouse was forced to quickly pause a show during the first performance of Wendy and Peter Pan after a "small fire".

Taking place on Wednesday night at the much-loved west Yorkshire venue, audiences alerted cast and crew during the show when a piece of on-stage scenery was set alight.

After a small show-stop, audiences were able to re-enter the auditorium for thee remainder of the performance.

The venue said in a statement: "We can confirm that a small fire caused by a pyrotechnic effect briefly occurred on stage last night during our first public performance of our large-scale festive production Wendy and Peter Pan.

"We are pleased to report it was quickly extinguished by a member of our stage crew, who are there to deal with these kinds of eventualities. No one was injured and our evacuation procedures were implemented smoothly."

The venue has confirmed it has taken out all necessary safety checks and reviewed protocols to make sure repeat fires are unlikely.