On Saturday afternoon, May 27, police evacuated London’s Old Vic Theatre due to a security alert.
The police evacuated the audience during a performance of the play Woyzeck after receiving word of an “unspecified security threat,” according to The Independent.
The theatre is located in central London near the Waterloo station.
“Police were called at 14:38pm on Saturday, May 27, to The Cut, Waterloo, to a report of a security alert at a theatre,” said a Met Police spokeswoman. “The theatre took the decision to evacuate the building. Road closures have been put in place. Specialist officers are on scene.”
The cast of Woyzek includes Star Wars actor John Boyega, Ben Batt, Nancy Carroll, Darrell D’Silva, Sarah Greene, Isabella Marshall, Steffan Rhodri, David Rubin, and Theo Solomon. They were reportedly moved to a the nearby Imperial War Museum gardens while the building was searched.
Patrons tweeted during the event:
Just been evacuated from @oldvictheatre - unbelievable focus and professionalism from Front of House, so scary #OldVic
— Liam Joseph (@liamjosephmc) May 27, 2017
10mins into performance, we've been evacuated. police now cordoned theatre off #London #OldVic #JohnBoyega #Waterloo pic.twitter.com/BfLxLdlmGb
— Janet Awe (@AwesomeComms) May 27, 2017
@oldvictheatre The whole audience been safely moved out of the Theatre #OldVic pic.twitter.com/2AyDcDw7mG
— Liam Joseph (@liamjosephmc) May 27, 2017
According to the Old Vic website, the evacuation was done as a precaution and the “incident was found not to be suspicious.” The evening performance proceeded as scheduled.
The theatre communicated via Twitter that patrons for the afternoon performance should contact their “point of sale to rebook.”
Patrons for this afternoon's performance should contact their point of sale to arrange to re-book.
— The Old Vic (@oldvictheatre) May 27, 2017
Set in 1980s Berlin, the play—from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child scribe Jack Thorne—tells the story of a soldier and his wife living in poverty during the Cold War in a world torn between capitalism and communism.
Following the explosion at Manchester Arena on May 22 following an Ariana Grande concert, the U.K. raised its threat level to critical. Early today, the threat level had been lowered to severe. There have been no reports of any change since the morning.