INCIDENT IN THEATRE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 4259, 2 November 1933, Page 4

INCIDENT IN THEATRE.

ALARM AMONG CHILDREN

An incident, which might have caused a panic involving a number of small children had it not been for the presence of mind of a bystander, occurred in the New Plymouth Opera House the other night at Miss Elwyn Riley’s dance recital.

At the interval in the performance some heavy staging was being shifted from the stage when a shaiir edge of a piece of scenery severed an electric wire used in the lighting of the stage. The wire immediately began to splutter and burn and the burning rubber insulation gave off clouds of smoke. The smaller child performers became frightened and began to scatter, but Miss Gwen Riley took in the situation immediately and successfully quietened the girls until the sivitch operator had cut off the current.

The recital continued to schedule, the only evidence the audiejice had of the untoward incident being a smell of burning rubber noticeable in the theatre for some time.