Sadler's Wells
Edward Scissorhands, Sadler's Wells review - a true Christmas treat, witty and beguilingTuesday, 19 December 2023
The story of Edward Scissorhands may not seem an obvious Christmas subject, but it couldn’t be a more overt call for goodwill to all men. And there’s a hint of The Nutcracker about Matthew Bourne’s dance version, too.Created in 2005 and last seen in... Read more... |
The Yellow Wallpaper, Lilian Baylis Studio review - a tense and intimate monodramaSaturday, 16 September 2023
What a difference a few years make. In 2019 I reviewed composer Dani Howard’s first opera, Robin Hood, also produced by The Opera Story, and commented on the fundraising success that enabled a cast of six and an ensemble of 10.Fast forward through... Read more... |
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Sadler's Wells review - exhilarating display of a full deck of dance stylesSaturday, 09 September 2023
A big welcome awaited the Alvin Ailey dancers at the Wells, on their first international tour since lockdown. The company has scheduled four different mixed bills over 10 days, each with its signature piece, Revelations, as the finale. This is a... Read more... |
Matthew Bourne's Romeo + Juliet, Sadler's Wells review - exhilarating dancing, inventive movesMonday, 07 August 2023
Matthew Bourne regularly revamps the first version of a new piece so that by the second go-round it really zings. For the return of his 2019 Romeo + Juliet, though, very little has changed, yet it feels refreshed.Dramaturgically, it’s still a bit... Read more... |
Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras, Sadler's Wells - a roaring start to the Flamenco FestivalSaturday, 08 July 2023
When flamenco first came out of the shadows and started to fill big theatres, it was like something out of a historical pageant. The shows that played London in the early 1990s harked back to an imagined gypsy past where old men hammered rhythms on... Read more... |
42nd Street, Sadler's Wells review - musical extravaganza will knock your socks offThursday, 15 June 2023
There are better musicals in town, but can you find me a more spectacular show in a more comfortable theatre? I doubt it. Not that Jonathan Church's new production at Sadler's Wells is flawless. It's a 90-year-old blockbuster so, for all its... Read more... |
Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT1), Sadler's Wells review - an extinction rebellion in danceMonday, 24 April 2023
The timing was impeccable, though almost certainly accidental. As protesters lay prostrate in The Mall in a mass “die-in” on the day designated as Earth Day, and as many thousands more urged action against climate change outside the Houses of... Read more... |
Jungle Book reimagined, Sadler's Wells review - a doomy revision of the Kipling storiesFriday, 07 April 2023
Akram Khan Company promises “a magical dance-theatre retelling of Kipling’s classic”, and that’s more or less what you get. The choreography is striking and inventive, the dancing and staging superb.What work less well is the overall tone, which,... Read more... |
Turn It Out with Tiler Peck, Sadler's Wells review - America's ballet wonder-woman raises the barreTuesday, 14 March 2023
She can do anything. That’s what choreographers say about Tiler Peck, the peppy New York City Ballet principal who has launched a stream of projects above and beyond the day job. You want speed? Wham, you get it. You want complexity? She can learn a... Read more... |
Julie Cunningham & Co, Sadler's Wells review - a fine piece of work, with added spiceTuesday, 24 January 2023
At the arthouse end of contemporary dance no one expects a packed house, still less serial packed houses for more than a week. Yet Sadler’s Wells was fully confident when it invited the dancer-choreographer Jules Cunningham – one of its New Wave... Read more... |
Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty, Sadler's Wells review - a gothic romance with loads of goth and not much loveSaturday, 17 December 2022
Matthew Bourne is not the first choreographer to tinker with the story of The Sleeping Beauty and he won't be the last, such is the lure of Tchaikovsky's score and the potency of the plot.Good and evil, beauty and decrepitude, the suspended... Read more... |
English National Ballet: Ek, Forsythe, Quagebeur review - two masters, two marvelsSaturday, 12 November 2022
Of all the classic musical scores that could appeal to a choreographer, three are catnip: Ravel’s Bolero, Bizet’s Carmen, and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Each has been set dozens of times and the veteran Swedish dancemaker Mats Ek has notched up... Read more... |
