‘People started shouting across the theatre’
14:46, 01 Mar 2026Updated 20:54, 01 Mar 2026
The venue was evacuated
The Edinburgh International Conference Centre was reportedly evacuated mid-show with crowds leaving the venue in droves due to an ‘incident’.
The scene unfolded yesterday, February 28, around midday during a performance of “Murder Trial Tonight IV – Death of a Landlord”.
Photos from the scene, shared with Edinburgh Live, show audience members evacuating down a staircase and gathering outside the venue on Morrison Street.
Multiple audience members reported seeing smoke. Edinburgh Live understands this occurred around 30 minutes into the show.
More than one individual also claims they heard shouts of “fire” mid-performance before evacuation began. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service confirmed they were not called to attend the incident.
Audience members were reportedly evacuated from the EICC (Image: Supplied)
A concerned patron told Edinburgh Live: “About 30 minutes into the show, people started shouting across the theatre.
“Initially people didn’t notice what was being shouted but very quickly ‘fire’ was heard clearly.
“Shortly afterwards, smoke began to appear at ceiling level by the air vents and the smell became noticeable. The actors on the stage appeared equally puzzled and eventually advised everyone to leave.
“The full, max-capacity, conference hall then began to evacuate intermittently as many didn’t realise it was genuine.”
A spokesperson for EICC said: “We can confirm that our Pentland Suite was evacuated during yesterday’s (28 February) 14:30hrs performance of Murder Trial Tonight.
“This was caused by a mobile phone falling inside the seat hinge mechanism of one of our auditorium chairs, which subsequently overheated creating some very low-level smouldering as its lithium battery had ruptured.
“It was quickly extinguished by our team using sand and a LFX Fire Extinguisher, before any smoke was able to reach our Fire Detection System, which is tested weekly.
“Nobody was injured during the incident. While the seat was not damaged, the wet chair was swiftly replaced by our team, and the performance was able to resume within 60 minutes.
“Last night’s 19:30hrs performance went ahead as scheduled.”
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