Rain stops play as roof works leave city theatre Out of Order
IT APPEARED to be a case of “rain stopped play” at Cardiff’s New Theatre when a popular farce was called off during a downpour.
The Tuesday night performance of the play – aptly called Out of Order – was cancelled due to issues with the city venue’s roof.
Disappointed theatre goers who braved the wet weather to see Ray Cooney’s hit production were offered tickets for a different performance or a refund because planned building work had not been completed.
Dave McAteer, box office manager at the New Theatre, said: “We have had some extension work done to the theatre over the last two months.
“It has run over due to the weather at the start of the project, so we were working tirelessly to finish it.
“The contractors just ran out of time.
“It went right up to the last minute and it looked unlikely it would be finished.
“We did not want to disturb the performance as people had bought tickets, so offered everyone a full refund or tickets to another performance of their choice.”
He added: “For years and years we have always had small problems with the roof. We had secured funding to the roof properly which is why it took two months to complete the project.”
One theatre-goer told of how he turned up on the night, only to be turned away.
“I just arrived at the New Theatre to be told tonight’s performance has been cancelled because of rain,” they said.
“Hundreds of theatre-goers queued to have either refunds or to rebook.”
A theatre spokesman said that “rain came into the roof and we took a last-minute decision to cancel”.
However, the theatre appeared to be back to normal yesterday. The team behind Out of Order tweeted yesterday: “Looking forward to 7.30pm show after a raucous matinee!”
Meanwhile, forecasters are warning that Wales could be in for a mixed week of sunshine and showers.
After the recent rainy spell, the Met Office says the rain hitting the nation won’t be going anywhere for a while.
Yesterday, the rain clouds were stubbornly hanging over most of the south and eastern parts of Wales, while people living in the north and west of the nation saw drier conditions and even some sunshine.
There was a brief respite from the rain in the afternoon but it was set to return in the early hours of this morning to start five days of intermittent showers.
A Met Office spokesman said: “In the early hours of Thursday, Wales will be back into a regime of 10-15mm rainfall with sunshine and showers.
“This will continue throughout the end of the week and weekend.”
According to the Met Office the nights are expected to be drier than the days.
“The nature of the showers in terms of forecasting location makes it hard to do it to the hour especially when it is across the whole of the UK,” the spokesman added.
“Someone may have showers and then down the road, just 10 miles away, the sun could be shining.
“You may have noticed the mild temperatures during the middle of the week, that was due to air mass moving eastward.
“Behind this airfront the air will be fresher so it will be a little cooler than we have had in recent days.”
In terms of temperature, there will be a rise on the weekend across Wales with temperatures possibly reaching 18°C on Monday after staying around the 13-15°C mark during this week.
The Met Office said these temperatures are slightly above average but the rainfall and conditions are what they would expect for this time of year.
Looking beyond the five-day forecast, the spokesman added: “Some uncertainty from low pressure system coming across the Atlantic makes it hard to predict.
“People call it April showers but it is typical for this time of year. We are slightly above the average but nothing above what you would expect to see in May.
“Predictions start to get less detailed as we look further ahead.
“Potentially get to be a little bit more settled and dry toward the end of next week and then over a long period could be more unsettled but it is very hard to get details that far ahead.”