Italians ejected from theatre

Sixty Italian students were thrown out of a West End musical for noisily celebrating their country's World Cup triumph.

The students, along with their five teachers, were ejected from Footloose at the Novello Theatre after they repeatedly ignored pleas by other audience members to stop singing victory songs following Italy's triumph over France in Berlin.

Asked by theatre bosses to leave, one student responded: "We don't have to, we've just won the World Cup."

Police were called to the theatre and the rowdy group were ejected from the Novello during the interval on Monday.

One audience member said: "What was really shocking was that the teachers, instead of condemning their students, merrily joined in."

Producer Mark Goucher said their behaviour did not affect the cast and crew.

"The show is very lively and the cast didn't realise what was going on," he said.