THE show will go on tonight at a North-East theatre, despite a fire on Thursday night.

About 650 people were either evacuated or turned away from Billingham Forum theatre as a result of a fire just an hour before curtain up.

The fire, which gutted the theatre office, caused only slight smoke damage to the bar and the main theatre was not damaged.

A spokesman for the theatre said disappointed customers due to see songs performed from the Rocky Horror Show would be reimbursed. Tonight's show, Sing-a-long-a-Abba, will go ahead.

The fire is thought to have been caused by an electrical fault in the office, which did not have a smoke alarm. It was discovered by someone going into the office just before 7pm.

Theatre manager Derek Cooper said: "We took a quick decision to evacuate but, in fact, the show could have gone ahead as planned as it was dealt with quickly and the main theatre was not affected."

The main swimming pool, underneath the theatre in the Forum building, was open yesterday, but the neighbouring small teaching pool was closed for part of the day while structural checks were made.

Published: 25/09/2004