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Sadler's Wells Theatre is a London performing arts venue, located in Rosebery Avenue,
Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...
. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site. Sadler's Wells grew out of a late 17th-century pleasure garden and was opened as a theatre building in the 1680s. Lacking the requisite licence to perform straight drama, the house became known for dancing, performing animals,
pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...
, and spectacular entertainments such as sea battles in a huge water tank on the stage. In the mid-19th century, when the law was changed to remove restrictions on staging drama, Sadler's Wells became celebrated for the seasons of plays by
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
and others presented by Samuel Phelps between 1844 and 1862. From then until the early 20th century the theatre had mixed fortunes, eventually becoming abandoned and derelict. The philanthropist and theatre owner Lilian Baylis bought and rebuilt the theatre in 1926. Together with Baylis's
Old Vic Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...
, Sadler's Wells became home to dance, drama and opera companies that developed into the Royal Ballet, the National Theatre and
English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...
. From the 1930s to the 1980s the theatre was home to 21 London seasons by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company; from the 1950s to the 1970s the English Opera Group, founded by
Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...
, had its London base at Sadler's Wells; and between the 1950s and 1980s the Handel Opera Society staged productions there. Visiting dance troupes included the Alvin Ailey and
Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...
companies, the
Dance Theatre of Harlem Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served ...
, London Contemporary Dance Theatre and the
Ballet Rambert Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...
. The current theatre dates from 1998. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive rehearsal rooms and technical facilities also housed within the site. Sadler's Wells is now chiefly known as a dance venue. As well as hosting visiting companies, the theatre is also a producing house, with associated artists and companies who create original works for the theatre. Sadler's Wells maintains an additional base at the
Peacock Theatre The Peacock Theatre (previously the Royalty Theatre) is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Portugal Street, near Aldwych. The 999-seat house is owned by, and comprises part of the London School of Economics and Political ...
in the West End as well as opening a new theatre, Sadler's Wells East Theatre, in Stratford, London in 2025.


History


First theatre: 1683–1765

Details of the origins of Sadler's Wells are disputed. According to
Dennis Arundell Dennis Drew Arundell OBE (22 July 1898 – 10 December 1988)"Arundell, Denni ...
in his history of the theatre, its founder was called Dick Sadler.Arundell, p. 2 Many other sources, from the 18th century onwards, say the same,Carey, p. 105; Craine and Mackrell, p. 380; Jarman, p. 3; Rice, p. 67; Thomson, p. 128; and Urban, p. 798 but others give Sadler the forename Thomas,Hartnoll, Phyllis and Peter Found
"Sadler's Wells Theatre"
''The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre'', Oxford University Press, 2003 and according to the Survey of London he was Edward. It is also uncertain when Sadler established his auditorium: many sources give the year as 1683; others give it as 1684 or 1685. According to Arundell, Sadler had already opened his "Musick-House" at an unspecified date before 1683; a history of the house published in 1847 confines itself to saying that the house was built at some time after the creation of the adjoining New River in 1614."Sadler's Wells", ''The Theatrical Times'', 5 June 1847, pp. 172–174 A well with water from a mineral spring was discovered on Sadler's land in
Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...
, near the boundary with
Clerkenwell Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...
. After an eminent physician tested the water and praised its supposed health-giving properties, Sadler found two more wells nearby. Taking the waters was fashionable at the time – there were popular spas at
Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...
, Tunbridge and
Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...
– and Sadler started marketing the water from his wells. Visitors to the Musick-House began to drink it, and many London physicians recommended their patients to do so. By the end of the summer of 1685 five or six hundred people frequented the Musick-House every morning for the water. Sadler laid out ornamental gardens and engaged entertainers to amuse his patrons: there were tumblers, rope-dancers and musicians. Sadler took as his business partner a violinist, Francis Forcer, who was both dancing-master and composer. The initial popularity of Sadler's spa did not last long, and by 1691 it had ceased to be a fashionable resort. He sold two of his wells, and the original one dried up for a time; his entertainments became the main draw for those of the public still interested.Arundell, p. 6 There is no documentary proof, but Arundell conjectures that by 1697 Sadler had either died or retired; Forcer went into partnership with a glover, James Miles, and the wooden auditorium was renamed "Miles's Musick-House". Under their management the public could hear ballad singers and see jugglers, wrestlers, fighters, dancing dogs and, according to the theatre's 21st-century historian, "even a singing duck".Crompton, Sarah
"History"
, Sadler's Wells Theatre. Retrieved 9 June 2023
In the early years of the 18th century the reputation of the spa declined. By the time Hogarth produced his Four Times of the Day series in 1736, the theatre had lost any vestiges of fashionability and was satirised as having an audience consisting of tradesmen and their pretentious wives. Ned Ward described the clientele in 1699 as: The proprietors advertised for a new manager in 1700, but the decline continued. In 1711, after its fashionable clients had taken their trade elsewhere, Sadler's Wells was described in ''The Inquisitor'' as "a nursery of debauchery", and the place was frequented by many "unaccountable and disorderly" people. In 1712 a man called French was sentenced to death at the Old Bailey for killing a Mr Thwaits at Sadler's Wells. Miles died in 1724, and under Forcer's son the auditorium was "entirely new modelled and made every way more commodious than heretofore for the better reception of company". Forcer junior sought to improve standards – according to one historian he "succeeded, to a great degree," in driving away "the mass of incomprehensible vagabonds" – but after his death in 1743 John Warren took over, and standards fell again, to the extent that the authorities closed the place. The lease was acquired by Thomas Rosoman and Peter Hough, who reopened Sadler's Wells in April 1746. According to Arundell they "thereby started twenty years' prosperity for the old wooden theatre". Rosoman substantially reconstructed the wooden building in 1748–49. Rosoman engaged a regular resident company of actors, and the old Musick-House became a theatre. Rosoman introduced burlettas, at that time a genre new to England."Sadler's Wells", ''The Theatrical Times'', 12 June 1847, pp. 182–183 According to the current laws, only the two patent companies were permitted to present non-musical dramas. Sadler's Wells and other theatres were obliged by the Minor Theatres Act (1751) to avoid spoken dialogue. To circumvent this rule, theatre managers had their actors speaking against a continuous background of instrumental music, so that it was passed off as a musical entertainment. In general the authorities did not enforce the letter of the law with particular rigour. ''
The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...
'' was performed there in 1764, but Arundell suggests it was not Shakespeare's original, but " Garrick's version of the Dryden-Shakespeare- Purcell work castrated into an opera".Arundell, p. 23 In 1763 Rosoman engaged the dancers from the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and listed building, Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) an ...
. This suited both theatres, as at that time Sadler's Wells customarily opened from late spring to early autumn and the patent theatres were open for the other half of the year. Arundell comments that this engagement added to the prestige of Sadler's Wells "and ultimately benefited the place enormously, for the new Ballet Master was Giuseppe Grimaldi". (Grimaldi's son,
Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...
, later became one of Sadler's Wells's star attractions.) Rosoman prospered and in the summer of 1764 he announced that Sadler's Wells would be pulled down at the end of the season and rebuilt "in a most elegant manner".


Second theatre: 1765–1802

Rosoman was a builder by trade, and he had the wooden theatre replaced with a brick structure. The new building was completed in seven weeks, and cost £4,225; it opened in April 1765. The new house was well received: a London newspaper reported, "Sadler's Wells is now rebuilt and considerably enlarged; each of the entrances is decorated with an elegant iron gate and pallisades itha degree of splendor and magnificence ... that do equal honour to the taste and liberality of the Proprietor". In 1771 Rosoman retired. He sold his three-quarter share in the theatre to Thomas King, a friend and Drury Lane colleague of Garrick. King took over the management from December 1771, and continued to offer entertainments of the traditional variety – tumblers, singers, acrobats and "Several surprising and pleasing Performances by Messrs Sigels, lately arrived from Paris". Although his own tastes favoured the dramatic, King catered for the tastes of his audiences, and in particular featured
pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...
s, establishing the theatre as a rival to the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in that genre. His shows, with music by Charles Dibdin, included such pieces as ''Vineyard Revels, or, The Harlequin Bacchanal'', and ''The Whim-Wham, or, Harlequin Captive''. In 1781 Joseph Grimaldi made his debut, aged two, dancing with his sister. In the 1790s Dibdin was stage manager as well as composer, with Grimaldi as comic star. The theatre was by now in need of renovation, not least because of concerns about safety. The proprietors, led by William Siddons, husband of
Sarah Siddons Sarah Siddons (''née'' Kemble; 5 July 1755 – 8 June 1831) was a Welsh actress, the best-known Tragedy, tragedienne of the 18th century. Contemporaneous critic William Hazlitt dubbed Siddons as "tragedy personified". She was the elder siste ...
, proposed "an Entire new inside" so that "the Building will be a stable one for fifty years to come".


Third theatre: 1802–1879

Sadler's Wells reopened in 1802 with an interior "entirely re-built at an immense Expence". In 1804 it acquired a new attraction, dubbed the Aqua-show. A huge water tank was installed under the stage for the production of aquatic spectacles. This tank and a second, above the stage to provide waterfall effects, were supplied with water from the New River alongside the theatre. The historian Shirley S. Allen writes that such was the remarkable realism in the performance of sea stories that Sadler's Wells became for thirty years the home of the "nautical drama". Grimaldi, by the early 19th century established as "the unchallenged king of clowns",Moody, Jane
"Grimaldi, Joseph (Joe) (1778–1837), actor and pantomimist"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', 2014
continued as the theatre's principal clown until 1820, while pursuing a parallel career at Drury Lane. The law restricting non-musical drama to the two patent theatres was repealed by the Theatres Act 1843, and the following year serious drama came to Sadler's Wells. From 1844 to 1862 the actor Samuel Phelps managed and starred at the theatre. He intended to bring Shakespeare to the masses. Sadler's Wells at this stage had a largely local Islington audience, working class and relatively uneducated; economically the theatre had its advantages: a large capacity (2,500) and a low rent. Phelps believed that the theatre should be a "place for justly representing the works of our great dramatic poets", particularly since the leading London theatres were not presenting "the real drama of England". His biographer J. P. Wearing writes: Among the leading players in Phelps's company were Laura Addison, George Bennett, Fanny Cooper and Isabella Glyn; Phelps starred in roles from
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
to Falstaff. His productions purged Shakespeare's texts of 18th-century alterations and additions, and he presented the plays with attention to period detail and dramatic veracity. The theatre began to attract audiences from beyond Islington, including literary figures such as
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
and John Forster. After Phelps's withdrawal in 1862 the theatre presented a variety of shows, but despite appearances by stars such as J. L. Toole, Hermann Vezin and the young Nellie Farren, they made little impact. A succession of managements tried unsuccessfully to make the theatre pay; in 1874 it closed, and there were plans to turn it into baths and washhouses. The building, by that time in a perilous state of repair, was used as a roller-skating rink and for lectures, boxing and wrestling, until in August 1878 Sidney Bateman, who had been running the Lyceum Theatre in the West End, bought the unexpired thirty-three year term of the lease of Sadler's Wells.


Fourth theatre: 1879–1915

Bateman commissioned C. J. Phipps to design a new interior for the theatre, which reopened in October 1879. Phipps remodelled the auditorium, with a stronger horseshoe profile for the front of the dress circle and the gallery above. These extended further toward the stage than the previous circle and gallery, increasing the theatre's capacity. The theatrical newspaper '' The Era'' reported, "The changes made are so remarkable that Sadler's Wells may now claim to be one of the largest and most conveniently-constructed London Theatres". By this time Islington was no longer an isolated village but an inner suburb of the capital, and ''The Era'' remarked, "no part of London can be reached with greater facility, as omnibuses, trams, &c, from various directions pass the Angel, not two hundred yards from Sadler's Wells.""New Sadler's Wells", ''The Era'', 21 September 1879, p. 6 Bateman hoped to restore the theatre's reputation as a classical playhouse, as in Phelps's time, but she died in 1881. The historian Philip Temple quotes an earlier writer's comment that despite Bateman's improvements, "in the 1880s the Saturday night gallery contained the most villainous, desperate, hatchet-faced assembly of ruffians to be found in all London". There were several attempts to convert the theatre into a
music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...
, but the authorities refused to license it. The only major changes to Phipps's building was the addition by the architect Bertie Crewe of a new
portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...
in 1894, aligned to the newly completed Rosebery Avenue. In the early years of the 20th century the theatre doubled as a cinema, showing films on Sundays, with live shows – described as "cowboy melodramas" – during the week, but it did not prosper. The drama critic of '' The Daily Chronicle'' wrote in February 1914, "Poor wounded old playhouse! Here it stands even now, shabby and disconsolate, its once familiar frontage half hidden with glaring posters". With the support of leading theatre figures including Bernard Shaw, Arthur Wing Pinero and Seymour Hicks, a plan was put forward in 1914 for saving the building and turning it into "a people's theatre". The outbreak of the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
led to the abandonment of the plan, and Sadler's Wells declined into dereliction. It closed in 1915 and did not reopen after the war.


Fifth theatre: 1931–1998

Since 1914 the theatre proprietor and philanthropist Lilian Baylis had run drama and opera companies at her south London theatre, the
Old Vic Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...
, with cheap prices aimed at attracting a local, working-class audience. In 1925 she began a campaign to reopen the derelict Sadler's Wells on a similar basis. She raised the necessary funds and the new theatre was designed by F.G.M. Chancellor, who had succeeded Frank Matcham as senior partner of Matcham and Co.. The new theatre opened with a gala performance on 6 January 1931 of Shakespeare's ''
Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...
'' starring
John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...
as Malvolio and Ralph Richardson as Toby Belch. Acquiring Sadler's Wells enabled Baylis to set up a dance company, something she had wished to do since 1926 when she engaged Ninette de Valois to improve the standard of dancing in operas and plays at the Old Vic. The three companies Baylis founded developed over the next three decades to become the Royal Ballet, the National Theatre and
English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...
. For the first few years the opera, drama and ballet companies, known as the "Vic-Wells" companies, moved between the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells but by 1935 the established pattern was drama at the former and opera and ballet at the latter. In 1935 both the opera and ballet companies went on summer tours for the first time.Arundell, p. 209 In their absence the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company took the theatre for a season of
Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...
, the first of 21 such London seasons at Sadler's Wells, returning in every decade until the 1980s.Rollins and Witts, p. 2, and Supplements pp. 16–18, 25–29 and 37–39 After Baylis died in 1937 the Vic-Wells Ballet was led by de Valois and the opera company was under the direction of
Tyrone Guthrie Sir William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 – 15 May 1971) was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at ...
. In the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
the government requisitioned Sadler's Wells as a refuge for those made homeless by air-raids. The two companies toured for the duration of the war. When the theatre reopened in 1945 the companies were briefly reunited there, but de Valois objected to Guthrie's treatment of her company as the junior partner, more valued for financial than for artistic reasons. She accepted an invitation from David Webster to base her main ballet company at the reopened Covent Garden, opening there in 1946, leaving Sadler's Wells with a small company known as the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet. The previous year the theatre had hosted the world premiere of Benjamin Britten's '' Peter Grimes'' and over the next twenty years the opera company gave British premieres of works by Verdi, Janáček, Stravinsky, Weill and others. Britten's ensemble the English Opera Group had London seasons at Sadler's Wells between 1954 and 1975. From 1959 to 1985 the theatre was the main venue for the annual seasons of the Handel Opera Society. In the 1960s there were plans for a new opera house on the
South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial area on the south bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Lambeth, central London, England. The South Bank is not formally defined, but is generally understood to be situated betwe ...
; Norman Tucker and his successor, Stephen Arlen, the directors of Sadler's Wells Opera, hoped to relocate the company there. The plans fell through when the government declined to contribute to the capital cost of the proposed building, but Arlen remained convinced that Sadler's Wells was too small for productions of large-scale works such as
Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
's ''Ring'' cycle, and in 1968 the company left Sadler's Wells and moved to the
London Coliseum The London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre) is a theatre in St Martin's Lane, City of Westminster, Westminster, built as one of London's largest and most luxurious "family" variety theatres. Opened on 24 December 1904 as the Lond ...
. Sadler's Wells turned to dance as its main focus. By the 1970s, the historian Sarah Crompton records, the dance programme of Sadler's Wells had diversified considerably. Among the companies appearing there were the
Ballet Rambert Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...
and London Contemporary Dance Theatre, who both held residencies there, and visiting ensembles including those of Alvin Ailey and
Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...
,
Nederlands Dans Theater Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT; literal translation Netherlands Dance Theatre) is a Dutch contemporary dance dance company, company. NDT is headquartered at the ''Amare'' building in The Hague. NDT also performs at other venues in the Netherlands ...
and the
Dance Theatre of Harlem Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served ...
. After the opera company moved out, Sadler's Wells hosted operatic productions by, among others,
Cologne Opera The Cologne Opera (German language, German: Oper der Stadt Köln or Oper Köln) refers to both the main opera house in Cologne, Germany and its resident opera company. History of the company From the mid 18th century, opera was performed in the ...
(1969) and the Camden Festival (1972). In 1983 a new opera company was established, with its base at Sadler's Wells. With a four-year sponsorship from the
National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, trading as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it becam ...
, the New Sadler's Wells Opera company focused on
operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...
, sung in English, in London and on tour. The first season opened with Lehar's '' The Count of Luxembourg'', followed by Gilbert and Sullivan's ''
The Mikado ''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, whe ...
'' and Kálmán's '' Countess Maritza''. Later productions included Gilbert and Sullivan's '' H.M.S. Pinafore'', '' Ruddigore'' and '' The Gondoliers'', Offenbach's '' La belle Hélène'', Lehár's ''
The Merry Widow ''The Merry Widow'' ( ) is an operetta by the Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The Libretto, librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein (writer), Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's ...
'' and
Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...
's '' Bitter Sweet''. Most of these productions were commercially recorded and released on LP and CD. After the sponsorship ended, costs outstripped income, and the opera company – though not the theatre – went into
liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...
with heavy debts in 1989. In 1994 a new chief executive, Ian Albery, led a campaign to transform Sadler's Wells into a purpose-built dance theatre. During the two-year rebuilding, Sadler's Wells moved temporarily to the
Peacock Theatre The Peacock Theatre (previously the Royalty Theatre) is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Portugal Street, near Aldwych. The 999-seat house is owned by, and comprises part of the London School of Economics and Political ...
in the West End, where it has maintained a presence ever since.


Sixth theatre: 1998–

The new theatre was designed by the Arts Team division of the architects
RHWL RHWL Architects (originally Renton Howard Wood Associates) was a British architecture practice based in London, Berlin and Qatar. It was created by Andrew Renton, Peter Howard and Humphrey Wood following the establishment of Andrew Renton & Associ ...
. It opened in October 1998 with a design that incorporates the skeleton of the 1931 Chancellor theatre (which itself contained bricks from the Victorian structure). It has an expanded 15 m2 sprung stage, a 1,500-seat auditorium, three rehearsal studios and the smaller 200-seat Lilian Baylis studio theatre for the development and presentation of small-scale work. The current building retains the Grade II listing applied to the Matcham theatre in 1950. The opening season included performances by Pina Bausch's Tanztheater Wuppertal, William Forsythe's Ballett Frankfurt, and Rambert Dance. Operatic productions at the new house have included seasons by the Royal Opera (1999), Welsh National Opera (1999 and 2001), Polish National Opera (2004), Glyndebourne Touring Opera (2007) and English Touring Opera (2010). In 2004 a new director, Alistair Spalding, concluded that Sadler's Wells "had been at its best when it had had resident companies and new works being created within its walls". He announced: In accordance with this policy Sadler's Wells has appointed an increasing number of choreographers and other associate artists and has commissioned and produced new work. In 2004 Breakin' Convention joined Sadler's Wells, "representing the origins and evolution of
hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...
culture through performance and education." The theatre now claims to create and share more new work than any other dance organisation in the world."Our Story"
, Sadler's Wells Theatre. Retrieved 11 June 2023
In the 2020s the theatre has been criticised for its sponsorship by Barclays Bank, which some campaigners associate with investment damaging to the environment.


Sadler's Wells East

In June 2018
Sadiq Khan Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...
, the Mayor of London, announced an additional venue Sadler's Wells East Theatre as part of the East Bank project in the
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a sporting complex and public park in Stratford, Hackney Wick, Leyton and Bow, in east London. It was purpose-built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, situated adjacent to the Stratford City devel ...
Stratford, London and to open in February 2025. The architects were from O'Donnell & Tuomey. Located in
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a sporting complex and public park in Stratford, Hackney Wick, Leyton and Bow, in east London. It was purpose-built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, situated adjacent to the Stratford City devel ...
, its focus is on dance. The venue opened on 16th January 2025 and first production was ‘Our Mighty Groove’ by choreographer Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu on the 6th February 2025. The formal opening was on 6th February 2025.


In popular culture

* Lorna Hill wrote a series of children's fiction in the 1950s and '60s, starting with 'A Dream of Sadlers Wells' (1950), which featured teenage girls learning ballet at Sadler's Wells. * The play '' Trelawny of the "Wells"'' (1898) is set at a theatre named Barridge Wells, based on Sadler's Wells. Two of the characters in the play are modelled on the actress Alice Marriott, co-manager of Sadler's Wells in the 1860s."Heydays, a little bit of a drag"
''The Stage'', 6 May 1999, p. 9


Notes, references and sources


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * With four supplements, published 1966–1983. * * * * *


External links

* {{Authority control 1683 establishments in England Ballet venues in the United Kingdom Birmingham Royal Ballet Contemporary dance Dance in London Dance venues in England Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Islington Grade II listed theatres Music venues completed in 1998 Opera houses in England Pleasure gardens in England The Royal Ballet Theatres completed in 1998 Theatres in the London Borough of Islington