The Voice of Canada News |

Police in Stratford, Ont., cleared the Avon Theater and Festival Theatre ‘as a precaution’ on receiving bomb threats. This threat lead to evacuation of approximately 2000 people from the Festival Theatre on Monday evening. The police received a call around 6:45 p.m. about explosives being placed in the venue.

As of Monday, the public was advised to stay away from Upper Queen’s area near Avon theatre as well as from the festival while the police searched the grounds. Festival spokesperson Ann Swerdfager said ‘it’s the first time in the festival’s history that opening night has been cancelled’, and further added that along with the 1,830 theatregoers, this threat also affected actors and staff. The duration of police search is still unknown, organizers say.

The festival was supposed to launch with a performance of Shakespeare’s The Tempest by director Antoni Cimolino.

Many festival goers who were looking forward to the show were saddened and disappointed by this news.

Theater reviewer Keith Tomasek had just arrived in Stratford when he saw local police cars blocking to access the road. According to him “there were just hundreds of people all dressed up for a gala opening night with literally nowhere to go”.

On hearing the announcement, the crowd calmly handled the situation without a single person panicking. Cars and limousines approaching the theatre had to return back. Organizers promised that the ticket buyers will be reimbursed and the performances will proceed on Tuesday with extra security.