Sadler's Wells has announced its new season of work for the first half of 2024, including a UK premiere by Dimitris Papaioannou featuring hundreds of litres of water, a golden field of wheat and an octopus – of course – plus the UK premiere of the latest work by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young, and a revival of Ray Young's award-winning duet OUT, which challenges homophobia and transphobia, while reclaiming dancehall and celebrating vogue culture.
They appear in a rich season encompassing contemporary, flamenco, hip hop, kathak, Latin, ballet and dance theatre productions, including three world premieres, seven UK premieres and six Sadler’s Wells co-productions.
The experimental director Papaioannou returns following sell-out runs of The Great Tamer and Transverse Orientation with the UK premiere of INK, a feast for the senses set in an enigmatic water world (no octopi or any other animals were harmed in the making of the work, we're told, though it does involve full nudity for some of the humans).
For more endless experimentation, Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Wayne McGregor brings back his works Autobiography (v95.0 and v96.0) and UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey, an atmospheric ballet inspired by the 1982 animated film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz.
A focus on story and language animates Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young's latest piece, with Canadian dance company Kidd Pivot, with the company embodying a group of medieval re-enactors gathered in a community hall for their annual general meeting, while Aakash Odedra and Aditi Mangaldas, two of the finest Kathak contemporary dancers of their generations, will present "an unspoken and overlooked love story" in Mehek.
Celebrated flamenco guitarist Paco Peña’s Solera returns, and French choreographer Maguy Marin will present May B, a piece of dance theatre inspired by the writings of Samuel Beckett.
A co-presentation with LIFT, Marlene Monteiro Freitas’s award-winning Bacchae: Prelude to a Purge will provide carnival vibes to the sounds of Brazilian funk, clown antics, pop, and Ravel’s Boléro.
There are also classics on the menu – Sadler’s Wells Associate Company English National Ballet presents John Inger’s Carmen, Scottish Ballet’s award-winning production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire returns to London for the first time since 2015 and Northern Ballet brings one of its most beloved productions, Romeo and Juliet.
Birmingham Royal Ballet also returns to the Wells with Sir Peter Wright’s acclaimed The Sleeping Beauty. And at the Peacock Theatre, Sadler’s Wells’ home in the West End, Ockham’s Razor presents the London premiere of Tess, a bold adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
For musical lovers, Adam Cooper and Carly Mercedes Dyer will reprise their roles as Zach and Cassie in the critically-acclaimed revival of Broadway musical A Chorus Line in summer 2024. And for Strictly fans, following his sixth consecutive year on the hit BBC show, Graziano Di Prima and his wife Giada Lini take to the stage in a new show, Believe - My Life On Stage, while the show's Nadiya and Kai bring their own show, Behind the Magic.
And for families, balletLORENT will celebrate its 30th anniversary with new family show The Velveteen Rabbit, inspired by Margery Williams’ book.
The full Sadler's Wells programme is available here.
