<B>Re-run of the Marie Celeste in the ROH</B><P>At the start of the second interval it was the usual procedure of chasing up the stairs into the Floral Hall to get to the bar before the hordes. But this time not only did I beat the hordes, but also the Bar staff. It all seemed like the famous mystery of the 'Marie Celeste' there were all the drinks set out, but no staff. I mused whether we were supposed to just help ourselves and whether the programme had been 10 minutes shorter than expected.<P>People were still coming into the Hall, but not in their usual numbers. So we wandered about a bit and the realisation dawned that something was amiss. Then a member of staff appeared looking nervous and said very quietly that we should leave the buliding straight away and then disappeared. Quite a lot of people were still standing about and others still coming in, some drinking their pre-ordered drinks. So, yours truly went around for a few minutes telling people they had to leave the building and no it wasn't just so that I could grab their drinks.<P>Eventually there was a tannoy announcement that we should leave. We spent about 10 minutes outside having been directed to the far side of the street. There was a fire engine drawn up outside, but the main concern was that we would miss 'Sandpaper Ballet'.<P>To sighs of relief we were told we could go back in - it was a false alarm. Not a particularly impressive evacuation I have to say and we were never told what had been the cause of losing the interval [<B>later</B> -see the exploding potato newspaper story below]. I managed to grab a drink from the Press table (I was on business) where a charming lady, not from SFB looked after me and I gave her a criticaldance card. 'Oh yes,' she said 'The press people showed me your coverage - it's very impressive.' Afterwards I realised that it was Lillian Hochhauser, part of the entrepreneur couple who have organised the whole of the ROH Summer Season of 4 leading companies. <P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited August 17, 2001).]
|