Tonight:
5°c
West End power cut blacks out first night
Rashid Razaq and Louise Jury26 Mar 2008
The heart of the West End was plunged into darkness for more than two hours after a major power cut.
The lights went out at the opening night of God Of Carnage at the Gielgud Theatre and at Les Misérables at the Queen's Theatre as businesses in Shaftesbury Avenue suffered from a blackout.
The Gielgud's owner Sir Cameron Mackintosh went on stage to appeal to the audience after they were left in the dark two-thirds of the way through the first night of a new play.
EDF Energy said 16 customers, mainly commercial businesses, were affected by an underground electricity cable cut, which left parts of Shaftesbury-Avenue, Archer Street and Brewer Street without power between 8.15pm and 10.45pm.
The French-owned electricity firm is due to meet theatre managers and other businesses today to apologise and discuss concerns about the service - it was the third major West End power cut in the past four years.
The timing of the blackout could not have been worse for the Gielgud, as it came during the critical unveiling of French playwright Yasmina Reza's new play. However, the show did go on after a 10-minute disruption. Using only an emergency stage light and front-ofhouse-spotlight the cast, headed by Ralph Fiennes, carried on in shadows to eventual cheers and applause.
Sir Cameron joked: "I haven't shortchanged the meter."
He and David Pugh, the show's co-producer, explained the problems to an audience that included Charles Dance, Trevor Eve, Frank Skinner, Alistair McGowan and Neil and Glenys Kinnock.
Christopher Hampton, the playwright who had translated Reza's French text to English, said he felt "homicidal" when the performance was halted - albeit temporarily.
But he admitted: "The English quite like all that and the audience got right behind it. I think we'll get the sympathy vote." Sir Cameron said he believed their enjoyment had not been affected by the power cut. "Everyone said it's absolutely such a fantastic play with such wonderful performers, they went on to enjoy it just the same. But it's a disappointment for the production team."
Co-producer Dafydd Rogers admitted it would have been more difficult had the show depended on technical equipment such as a revolving stage. "Ultimately God Of Carnage is about the play and the acting and the characters, but it was heart-stopping until we knew it could carry on."
A spokesman for EDF Energy Networks said: "We are still investigating the cause of the fault. We are happy to meet the theatre managers to discuss their concerns about the power supply."
EDF was criticised when more than 3,000 homes and businesses were left without electricity in central London in
2006. Three blackouts, one lasting four hours, hit an area bounded by Oxford Street, Regent Street and Tottenham Court Road.
Shops and restaurants lost hundreds of thousands of pounds after kitchens, tills, credit card machines, cash dispensers and traffic lights all stopped working.
In 2004 around 2,000 shops in Soho and Covent Garden were affected by a blackout during a weekday afternoon.
Reader views (1)
Good for the carbon footprint, though...
- Nobby Clark, Perth, UK, 26/03/2008 13:33
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