2022 Edinburgh Fringe
Fire alarm forces show onto street
In space, nobody can hear you scream... but they can hear the fire alarm that drove performer and punter alike onto the street.
But instead of abandoning the show, the cast - including Charlotte Gittins, Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, Ruth Bratt and Dave Hearn - boldly soldiered on and finished the performance out in the open, to a rapturous reception from both the audience and a few bemused passers-by.
Starship Improvise, a supergroup of performers from Tony and Olivier Award winning companies Mischief, Showstopper! and Austentatious were forced outdoors when a fire alarm caused a venue-wide evacuation at the Edinburgh Fringe's Pleasance Dome yesterday.
The show's co-creator, and co-artistic director of Showstopper! The Improvised Musical and director of Mischief hits Peter Pan Goes Wrong and Magic Goes Wrong, Adam Meggido recounts: "The fire alarm went off in the last twenty minutes of our show so we went out on to the street and finished it there - most of audience stayed on to watch and then other people gathered around - and what had been a very annoying intrusion into our performance became something with an incredible atmosphere and spirit to it.
"People were shooting on their phones, selfies were taken with us with the crowd, it was one of those moments you can't plan for, but that encapsulates the real joy and spirit of the Fringe."