THEATRE Royal bosses have called out some audience members for leaving the venue strewn with litter following its February panto shows.

The Corporation Street venue's performance of the Wizard of Oz opened at the weekend.

But last night the theatre used its social media account to remind panto-goers not to leave their litter lying around afterwards.

The post was accompanied by a picture showing cans, bottles and packets which the cleaning teams were gathering together. 

The message received an avalanche of support from their followers.

The post read: "Polite notice: Please make a conscious effort to take your rubbish with you when leaving the venue.

"Our front of house team and volunteers are facing challenges in maintaining the cleanliness of the premises due to the excessive amount of litter left behind.

"Thank you for your understanding and support."

The post generated lots of comments, including one which read: "This is disgraceful but not surprising as theatre and cinema etiquette has gone out the window!

"Shame on the people who have done this."

Another added: "This is beyond disgusting, for goodness sake what is wrong with people."

And another branded it a complete lack of manners, writing; "Disrespectful, embarrassing, and just all around rude! No manners.

"Imagine being one of the theatregoers today and seeing this and thinking “oh the staff will clean it” no, they have others shows to prep for.

"Yes children get messy, but tidy up after them and yourself. Or teach them to tidy up after themselves.

"It’s a small run, locally run theatre not a huge company like 'Cineworld' that can afford fast turn with mass staff, as they said they have volunteers to help clean up."