Theatre News

Soho power cut plunges West End theatres into darkness

Businesses and theatres were affected for hours forcing many to close

| London | London's West End |

22 October 2015

A scene from Miss Saigon at the Prince Edward — "We've lost power!"
© Matthew Murphy

Theatres, businesses and homes were plunged into darkness last night as parts of central London suffered a large power cut.

More than 1,300 properties were affected in Soho, Covent Garden and Leicester Square after outage struck just before 8pm.

A spokesperson for UK Power Networks said the power was restored for most buildings within half an hour of the outage.

"Our engineers are currently onsite in the Soho area confirming restoration of electricity to 1,359 customers who lost supply at approximately 19.31 this evening," she said. "The majority of supplies were restored by 20.00."

Witnesses reported shop alarms going off, restaurants closing early and eerie dark streets.

Miss Saigon and American Idiot were among the shows affected.

Please remain calm. Power cut at Prince Edward Theatre and along Old Compton Street. Many attempts to turn on the power.

— Miss Saigon (@MissSaigonUK) October 21, 2015

Really sorry for everyone who came to our cancelled show tonight @MissSaigonUK due to power failure. I hope you all get sorted out.

— Jon Jon Briones (@JonJonBriones) October 22, 2015

Anyone trying to get a deplore an back to 1985 on frith street? Theres about 1.21 Gigwatts of power failure. Seriously. We’re in a blackout.

— Simon (@theforceguy) October 21, 2015

Huge shout out to EPIC @UKAmericanIdiot @ArtsTheatreLDN team who dealt with West End/Soho power failure like utter legends. #showmustgoon

— Paul Virides (@pv91) October 21, 2015

@UKAmericanIdiot we got some spare candles and batteries…holla if ya need!! #wegotchaback

— In The Heights (@InTheHeightsLDN) October 21, 2015

After initial attempts to turn the power back on, Miss Saigon had to cancel their Wednesday night performance and issue ticket holders with a refund. American Idiot went ahead with their show.

A similar power cut affected the capital in April this year when a major underground fire in Holborn caused chaos and plunged huge swathes of London into darkness. Several West End theatres were forced to cancel performances including Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Disney's The Lion King, Gypsy, Mamma Mia! The Play That Goes Wrong and The Woman In Black.