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One side of the massive rehearsal studio that sits on top of London’s newest theatre is simply a huge window. Out of it, the view is dominated by the hulking mass of the London Stadium and, if you look a little to the left, the eccentric red spire of the ArcelorMittal Orbit pierces a cloud. Although most of us are familiar with the rapid changes that Stratford has undergone in the last decade-and-a-half, there’s still something dizzying about standing in a building that didn’t exist five years ago, looking at a view that didn’t exist 15 years ago.
Top Brit choreographer Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu recalls that she was out in Stratford when she heard London had won the bid for the 2012 Olympics, the catalyst for the regeneration of this corner of the capital. Now she’s part of its legacy.
When venerable Angel-based dance theatre Sadler’s Wells tapped her to create a work to open its brand new theatre Sadler’s Wells East, it turns out she had already just come up with the perfect thing. Our Mighty Groove is a playful, pulsing homage to club culture, ‘inspired by a time where I was baptised metaphorically in a New York underground house club – I walked in feeling really shy and basically left feeling like Janet Jackson.’
I saw a 20-minute excerpt of the show when visiting Sadler’s Wells East for a pre-opening tour, two days before the new venue opened its doors to the public. It was terrific, a rare dance piece that literally made me want to dance. That’s good, because the high-tech auditorium at Sadler’s East has a secret: almost all of its seating is fully retractable. A bit of a spoiler, but in the first half of Our Mighty Groove, the audience sits in banked seating as normal. While they’re out for the interval, the seating and bleachers are retracted and you step back into an immersive show where the audience is actively encouraged to join in the clubbing. ‘If it feels good and comfortable for you, then absolutely, yeah, go for it,’ says Igbokwe-Ozoagu. ‘Live your life. And two steps are allowed too!’
A lot of London theatres have opened in recent years. The boom kicked off in 2017 with Nicholas Hytner’s Bridge, which acquired a sister venue the Lightroom, near Coal Drops Yard, in 2022. Central London recently acquired its first West End theatre in decades, the alarmingly named @sohoplace. It’s barely a year since Islington institution the King’s Head moved out of the pub it takes its name from into a swanky purpose built building. Punchdrunk now has its permanent Carriageworks. The perennially hip Yard Theatre will move into a swish new building next year. Southwark Playhouse and Soho Theatre have also opened second venues. As buildings, though, I’m not sure any of them will top Sadler’s Wells East.
After the extract of Our Mighty Groove, I was taken on a tour of the wider building, from the rehearsal studios up top to the restaurant down below. All soft wooden contours and vaulted ceilings, it’s a truly impressive looking place. Part of the £1.1 billion East Bank project – which also includes new buildings for the V&A and BBC – the theatre is as sleek, modern and sexy as the works it will stage. Technically the third building to be operated by Sadler’s – it also has its West End outlet, the Peacock – it aims to be a local hub in a way the Islington locale isn’t. Aside from a community dance space, its restaurant – the Park Kitchen – is open all day, with the hope that it becomes a destination for locals, tourists and football fans who might swing by for a steak, burger or various upmarket light bites, regardless of their interest in dance.
The most impressive thing about it, however, is the line-up. It’s as busy as the original Sadler’s, with an average of a show a week, each usually running for about four nights. It’s diverse, interesting and international, but for me the real story is simply that it has almost doubled London’s monthly modern dance quotient. It has a smaller auditorium than Islington, but it’s still 550 seats. If there’s enough demand to sustain it, it suggests that on some level London has been long underserved for dance. I ask Sadler’s artistic director Alistair Spalding how the addition of a new dedicated dance theatre helps London stack up to, say, New York. And he looks just a little smug.
‘Well, I have to say there isn’t a space like Sadler’s Wells in New York. We’re pretty unique all around the world to be a 1500 seat theatre dedicated to dance, and now we have this new facility. Dare I say, we’re stepping ahead of New York.’
Sadler’s Wells East opens today. Our Mighty Groove runs Feb 6-9.
Speaking of new openings, a new 400-capacity music venue is coming to west London.
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