London
(ANI):
West
End
theatre
is
not
only
playing
host
to
Hollywood
stalwarts
like
Keira
Knightley,
Jude
Law
and
Ewan
McGregor,
but
it
is
also
home
to
many
rodents,
it
has
been
revealed.
Actors
involved
in
some
of
the
best-known
plays
and
musicals
in
London
have
disclosed
that
the
majority
of
theatres
are
infested
with
rats,
mice
and
fleas.
Three
quarters
of
the
250
actors
surveyed
in
a
report
said
that
their
theatre
had
a
“problem
with
vermin
and
infestations".
On
the
other
hand
two
thirds
agreed
there
was
'evidence
of
vermin
infestation
inside
your
dressing
room'.
“I
had
tiny
bite
marks
on
my
lipstick
recently
when
I
left
the
lid
off," the
Times
Online
quoted
a
respondent
as
saying.
The
survey—
commissioned
by
Equity,
the
actors"
union—
received
responses
from
cast
members
of
productions
including
'Billy
Elliott",
'Dirty
Dancing",
'The
Lion
King",
'Love
Never
Dies",
'Mamma
Mia!",
'Oliver"
and
'Phantom
of
the
Opera".
Ironically,
one
theatre
that
was
excluded
from
the
survey
was
the
St
Martin"s
Theatre,
home
of
the
longest-running
play
in
the
world,
'The
Mousetrap".
“These
findings
mean
that
tonight,
over
600
actors
and
stage
managers
will
go
to
work
knowing
that
they
will
probably
see
and
smell
vermin.
These
appalling
conditions
must
come
to
an
end,"
said
Christine
Payne,
the
general
secretary
of
Equity.
The
survey
also
suggested
that
a
third
of
theatres
in
the
West
End
have
temperamental
heating,
half
have
problems
with
ventilation,
a
third
are
unclean
or
poorly
decorated
and
a
third
have
grotty
lavatories.
Theatre
owners
said
that
they
were
doing
their
best
to
control
the
problem.