A frightened man left the Liverpool Empire after a "security incident" occurred during a performance.
Brian Davies, from Moreton, Wirral, went to see Jersey Boys at the theatre on Lime Street with his wife on Saturday (February 5).
However, the show was interrupted shortly into the show's second half by what Brian said was a "security incident".
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Though the audience were asked to remain seated during the interruption, Brian and his wife decided to leave the theatre along with "two or three hundred" others.
The Liverpool Empire confirmed that an "incident" took place during the performance on Saturday night but said that there was not a security risk to anyone at any point.
Brian told the ECHO about the panic that he felt during Saturday's show and his decision to leave the theatre.
He said: "About five or ten minutes into the second half, all of sudden all the music went off, the lights went up, the safety curtain went down, there were security guards running everywhere.
"The voice on the tannoy was saying 'due to a security incident, please remain seated’.
"Obviously, I got scared, my wife got scared. I thought I’m not staying round here, I’m getting out of here.
"We got up - along with a good two or three hundred people going out the doors. All the front doors were wide open. We all piled out and made our way home.
"They said that there was a security incident and all the bouncers and security staff were running around, the radios were chattering away. It all seemed to be a flat spin."
The scale of the operation led Brian to believe that the incident was very serious and drove his decision to leave the Empire.
He added: "I thought that if it was just a fight or something similar, they would have just been moved to the side and taken out quietly, but this was full-on. The lights came on, the safety curtains came down and they made an announcement.
"We left the venue in fear of our lives."
As he missed almost half of the performance, Brian tried to claim a refund from ATG Tickets, who manage the Empire.
However, he has not been successful.
He said: "On Sunday, I sent an email to ATG and explained what happened and all the rest of it.
"The email I got back said that I wasn’t entitled to a refund. It said that if there was a security scare, they have procedures in place for full evacuation.
"But I don’t know their procedures. All I could see was people starting to move, security staff running round and heard on the tannoy that it was a security incident.
"As far as I’m concerned, that means that someone in there is trying to hurt someone or hurt us, so I’m out of there."
When approached for comment by the ECHO, a spokesperson for the theatre said: "The Liverpool Empire is aware of an incident that took place during the show on Saturday night.
"The disruption was dealt with by staff as per our usual procedures in these circumstances. We would like to reassure customers that at no point was there any security risk to anyone.
"Any customer wishing to contact the Liverpool Empire should do so by using the contact form on our website here: https://bit.ly/3sm7dhd."
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