Alarming start to musical
There was an alarming start to Dundalk Musical Society’s performance of The Addams Family on the opening night when the theatre had to be evacuated after a smoke alarm was activated due to the haze machine being used to herald the arrival of ‘ the ancestors’ on stage.
‘We were just three minutes into the show in the middle of the opening number when ‘ the ancestors’ appear in a puff of smoke,’ says Paudie Breen who played the part of Gomez. ‘ The smoke alarm went off. For about 30 seconds we all stood around and then we realised it wasn’t going to stop.’
The cast, crew and audience were evacuated as the staff of An Tain Arts Centre made sure that everything was okay and that it was just an issue with the haze machine triggering the alarm.
‘It took about twenty minutes to get people out of the building and back in again,’ says Paudie.
In the true spirit of ‘ the show must go on’, the unfazed cast returned to the stage and continued where they had left off.
‘ The show went without a glitch afterwards and in fact it broke the ice, as the cast had kept in character as they mingled with the audience in the designated area outside,’ revealed Paudie.
He paid tribute to the theatre staff, who he said were ‘excellent’
All five nights of the show were all sold out and it’s now back to rehearsals for ‘ Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’.