Sadler's Wells history

The theatre that stands today is, in actual fact, the sixth theatre on the site; the first being built in 1683 and the last in 1998. The Sadler’s Well’s Theatre is named after the original founder Richard Sadler, after he found a well under the ground of the site. The well is rumoured to have magical healing properties.

The first theatre, built in 1683, was known for housing popular music concerts and Opera. The 1700s saw legendary clown actor, Joseph Grimaldi perform on the stage of the Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Grimaldi went against the trend of comedy and melodrama that took up most of the seasons.

In 1765, Thomas Rosoman had the theatre rebuilt for the first time so that it could mount high-calibre opera productions. However, it wasn’t long before the beer brewed from the spring waters became the primary attraction. By 1801, although a young actor called Edmund Kean appeared on its stage, Sadler’s Wells had become more famous for incidents, both devised (spectacular sea battles) and accidental (a terrible stampede in which 18 people died) than for work of merit. In the 1830s, Dickens wrote that: ‘The theatre was in the condition of being entirely delivered over to as ruffianly an audience as London could shake together…Fights took place anywhere, at every period of the performance.’

The 19th century produced shows that included early productions of A Christmas Carol in 1841, a season of Shakespeare plays such as Macbeth in 1844 and Anthony and Cleopatra in 1849.

It took another decade for the most significant figure in the modern history of Sadler’s Wells to enter the picture. Since 1898, Lilian Baylis had been presenting drama and opera at the Old Vic at popular prices. Motivated by a profound belief that great art should belong to everybody, in 1925 she began fundraising to rebuild Sadler’s Wells so that the people of north London could enjoy the same opportunities as those in the south.

Then Baylis met Ninette de Valois, a striking young Irish woman who deeply impressed her. After their interview, Baylis’s secretary recorded her saying: ‘Miss de Valois is going to run her school with the Vic and when we have Sadler’s Wells, she’ll run a ballet company for us.’

De Valois was formally hired in 1928 and the fifth Sadler’s Wells, designed by the prolific theatre architect Frank Matcham, opened on 6th January 1931 with John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson in Twelfth Night. For four years, drama productions, opera and ballet shuttled between the Old Vic and Sadler’s Wells until Baylis decided to dedicate Sadler’s Wells to opera and ballet for eight months of the year and give the Vic-Wells Ballet a permanent base. The new season opened on 27 September 1935 to great acclaim with one critic noting ‘the splendid dancing of the young newcomer Miss Margot Fonteyn, who has a compelling personality and exceptional gifts, through only just 16’.

At the end of the war, De Valois took her fledging ballet company to Covent Garden to become the Royal Ballet. However, her touring ballet company, known first as the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet, then the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, remained until 1955 and returned from 1970 to 1990 before moving permanently to Birmingham to become the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

By the 1970s, Sadler’s Wells’ dance programme had diversified considerably. Alongside Rambert Dance and London Contemporary Dance, who briefly held residencies here, a great variety of touring and commercial work was also presented.

When Ian Albery took over as chief executive in 1994, it was clear that audience numbers were dwindling and a new direction had to be taken. He led the campaign to transform Sadler’s Wells into a purpose-built dance theatre. During the two-year rebuild, Sadler’s Wells decamped to the Peacock Theatre, which it has continued to programme ever since.

1995 saw Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake premier at Sadler’s Wells before touring, which again drew attention to the theatre as a dance house.

The theatre was rebuilt in 1998 and opened with the Rambert Dance Company’s Lolanthe. Since the grand re-opening, the theatre has exclusively hosted movement and dance performances and regularly hosts performances from Rambert, Northern Ballet Theatre, Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Scottish Ballet.

Today, Sadler’s Wells Theatre is world renowned as one of the best dance venues in Europe.