For staff at a small theatre in Battersea, it seemed like a stroke of luck be swamped with bookings for their production by a young, unknown playwright.

However all became clear when staff realised that a music blog has suggested the global supergroup The Strokes would be playing a secret gig at the tiny venue.

Confusion began when staff at Battersea's Theatre503, in Battersea Park Road, received “an unprecedented number of bookings” for Venison, a short play about deer hunting by Tom Morton Smith.

Baffled staff took 100 bookings over the phone, a spokeswoman said: “Somebody called and said ‘is this The Strokes gig’ and we said no, but after five minutes the phone was ringing off the hook.

“We only had 65 seats for the show and we thought ‘what have we done right with our marketing?’.”

The tale unravelled when it was revealed music lovers had heard via a blog that the New York-based band - who played their first UK gig for four years at a secret venue in Camden under the name Venison - were appearing on June 9.

Theatre staff at 503 spent the morning re-confirming every theatre ticket, and informing disappointed music fans of the mistake, the spokeswoman said.

But six people even turned up on the night expecting to see The Strokes.

Venison has now finished its short run and the next show, Wild Horses by Nimer Rashed, opened on Tuesday and runs through to July 10.