Never before seen: a live theater show on TV with the blaring sirens of the Waalwijk fire brigade right through it. On Friday evening, the audience could enjoy the Scrooge Live performance at home. The show was broadcast from the Hooisteeg, and shows the Maras ice cream factory burning down. For a moment, the actors and production team also felt fear. “For a moment I thought the set was in danger.”
In the last ten minutes of the live show, the alarm was raised at the control room that the ice cream factory was in flames. Fire brigade fire engines then responded en masse. From the barracks they drove across the Winterdijk to the fire with blue flashing lights and blaring sirens. They passed the TV set at a short distance. “The sirens could be heard right through the play,” says production manager Roy Kiefer.
He soon noticed that the fire was ‘very close’ and that many fire trucks were coming to it. “I was initially afraid that it would be near the set. So I started looking into what was going on and whether the recordings were still safe,” he says. Fortunately, Kiefer quickly discovered that the flames in the distance posed no danger.
Nice addition
Once that was clear, the show went on as usual. “In the end, it didn’t bother us that much. Unfortunately, it was also audible to viewers at home, but it was no problem for the broadcast.” The production manager was not disappointed that the game was disrupted by the sirens. “Well, you can’t do anything about it,” he says matter-of-factly. “It just indicates that we are live, so it is actually a nice addition.”
Fortunately, the actors were not interrupted in their performance, according to Kiefer. “As long as they don’t get a signal from us, they will continue playing. ‘The show must go on’ and they know that best.”
The Scrooge is the live interpretation of the famous Christmas story A Christmas Carol. Since 2020, Omroep Max has broadcast the play annually from a different location in the Netherlands, and this year the honor went to Waalwijk. Despite the sudden fire, producer Fleur van Helden remains satisfied with the choice of location. “The Hooisteeg as a setting fitted very well with the atmosphere of Dickens.”