Theatre News

Teenager injured after fall from theatre balcony

An incident at the Blackpool Grand Theatre caused a performance of ”Grease” to be cancelled

| London |

3 June 2016

Blackpool Grand
(© Flickr/SteHLiverpool)

A teenager has been injured after falling from the upper circle balcony of Blackpool's Grand Theatre.

A production of Grease was halted last night and the theatre evacuated after an 18-year-old male fell into the stalls. The Blackpool Gazette reported that the incident happened at 9.30pm and the man fell from an area not open to the public.

According to an eyewitness, it happened ten minutes into the second half of Grease. Grand Theatre released an initial statement on Twitter last night.

#STATEMENT: We can confirm an incident @Grand_Theatre this evening. Police/Ambulance service attended, performance was abandoned.

— Grand Theatre (@Grand_Theatre) June 2, 2016

The theatre said today: "Thursday evening’s production was halted due to a serious incident when a young man fell from height into the aisle of the theatre stalls. The police and ambulance attended and the young man is being treated in hospital."

According to police, the man was taken to Royal Preston Hospital without life threatening injuries.

Phil Chapman, Chairman of producing company BFLOC, said "this has obviously been a shocking and upsetting incident. Thankfully, we understand his injuries are not life-threatening and our thoughts are with the young man and his family. After consulting both members of the production company and the theatre staff, together we have decided that the show will go on."

Robert Simmill tweeted:

Terrible scenes at Blackpool Grand theatre tonight! Seeing a body fall from the top tier is probably the worst thing I've ever seen!

— Robert Simmill (@RSimcard98) June 2, 2016

The musical production of Grease will continue this evening (Friday 3 June) and will perform both a matinee and an evening performance on Saturday 4 June.