The Yard Theatre is a theatre and music venue in a converted warehouse in Hackney Wick in the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...

. It programmes theatre and performance, late-night music events, and manages two community centres where it runs work with young people and its local community.

History

The Yard was founded by Artistic Director Jay Miller in 2011, with support from Tarek Iskander, Sasha Milavic Davies and Alex Rennie. They worked with architectural firm Practice Architecture to convert a disused warehouse into a theatre and bar. Originally intended to have a 3-month life-span, The Yard became an

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

National Portfolio Organisation in 2017. In 2016 it took over management of Hackney Wick community centre Hub67, and in 2019 took on The Hall in East Village,

London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the s ...

Awards

The Yard was awarded the final Peter Brook Empty Space Award in 2017, as well as the Dan Crawford Innovation Award in 2012.

Programme

Shows that originated at The Yard include

Michaela Coel Michaela Ewuraba Boakye-Collinson (born 1 October 1987), known professionally as Michaela Coel, is a British screenwriter and actress. She is best known for creating and starring in the E4 sitcom ''Chewing Gum'' (2015–2017), for which she won ...

’s ''Chewing Gum Dreams'', which later transferred to the National Theatre and became the hit BBC show

Chewing Gum (TV series) ''Chewing Gum'' is a British television sitcom created and written by Michaela Coel, based on her 2012 play ''Chewing Gum Dreams''. It stars Coel and Robert Lonsdale. Set in London, the show follows 24-year-old shop assistant Tracey Gordon, a re ...

. Its successful late-night music programme has been featured in national press, and in the New York Times. Recent theatre productions include a gender-swapped production of Arthur Miller's '' The Crucible'', the premiere of Pulitzer Award-winning writer

Clare Barron Clare Barron is a playwright and actor from Wenatchee, Washington. She won the 2015 Obie Award for Playwriting for ''You Got Older''. She was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for ''Dance Nation.'' Early life In an interview, ...

’s ''Dirty Crusty'', and an entirely digital day of online performance, Yard Online. From March 2020 The Yard took all of its community and young people's work online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yard Theatre, The Music venues in London Music venues completed in 2011 Theatres in the London Borough of Hackney Hackney Wick