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{{Short description|Theatre in London, England}}
{{Redirect|Sadler's Wells|the racehorse|Sadler's Wells (horse)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}

{{Infobox Theatre
|name = Sadler's Wells Theatre
|image = Sadler's Wells Theatre (September 2015).jpg
|caption = Sadler's Wells,  2015
|address = Rosebery Avenue
|city = London, {{postcode|EC|1}}
|country = England
|designation = [[Listed building|Grade II listed]]
|coordinates = {{coord|51.529444|-0.106111|type:landmark|display=inline,title|format=dms}}
|mapframe-marker = theatre
|architect = 
|owner = Sadlers Wells Trust
|capacity = 1,500 on three levels<br />200 Lilian Baylis Studio
|type = Dance, production and receiving house
|opened = {{ca}} 1683
|website = {{URL|www.sadlerswells.com}}
}}

'''Sadler's Wells Theatre''' is a London performing arts venue, located in [[Rosebery Avenue]], [[Islington]]. 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]], 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]] 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 [[the Old Vic|Old Vic]], Sadler's Wells became home to dance, drama and opera companies that developed into the [[The Royal Ballet|Royal Ballet]], the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] and [[English National Opera]]. 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]], 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 American Dance Theater|Alvin Ailey]] and [[Merce Cunningham]] companies, the [[Dance Theatre of Harlem]], [[London Contemporary Dance Theatre]] and the [[Ballet Rambert]].

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]] in the [[West End theatre|West End]] as well as opening a new theatre, [[Sadler's Wells East Theatre]], in [[Stratford, London]] in 2025. 

==History==
===First theatre: {{ca}} 1683–1765===
Details of the origins of Sadler's Wells are disputed. According to [[Dennis Arundell]] in his history of the theatre, its founder was called Dick Sadler.<ref name=a2>Arundell, p. 2</ref> Many other sources, from the 18th century onwards, say the same,<ref name=dick>Carey, p. 105; Craine and Mackrell, p. 380; Jarman, p. 3; Rice, p. 67; Thomson, p. 128; and Urban, p. 798</ref>{{refn|Other sources give Sadler the full forename Richard.<ref>Lay, p. 101; and Rendell, p. 26</ref>|group=n}} but others give Sadler the forename Thomas,<ref>Hembry, p. 99; Law, p. 443; and Pinks and Wood, p. 760</ref><ref name=hartnoll>Hartnoll, Phyllis and Peter Found. [https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192825742.001.0001/acref-9780192825742-e-2678 "Sadler's Wells Theatre"], ''The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre'', Oxford University Press, 2003 {{subscription required}} </ref> and according to the [[Survey of London]] he was Edward.<ref>Temple, p. 141</ref> It is also uncertain when Sadler established his auditorium: many sources give the year as 1683;<ref>Carey, p. 105; Craine and Mackrell, p. 380; Jarman, p. 3; Rice, p. 67; and Urban, p. 798</ref> others give it as 1684 or 1685.<ref name=hartnoll/><ref>Thomson, p. 128</ref> According to Arundell, Sadler had already opened his "Musick-House" at an unspecified date before 1683;<ref name=a2/> 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 (London)|New River]] in 1614.<ref name=ttt>"Sadler's Wells", ''The Theatrical Times'', 5 June 1847, pp. 172–174</ref>

[[File:Sadler's-Wells-early-18th-century.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|left|The first, wooden, Sadler's Wells "Musick-House"|alt=exterior of substantial wooden structure, with many trees around and a lane passing in front of it]]

A well with water from a mineral spring was discovered on Sadler's land in [[Islington]], near the boundary with [[Clerkenwell]]. 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 [[spa]]s at [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], [[Tunbridge Wells|Tunbridge]] and [[Epsom]]<ref>Addison, p. 4</ref> – 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.<ref name=ttt/><ref>Arundell, pp. 2–3</ref> Sadler laid out ornamental gardens and engaged entertainers to amuse his patrons: there were tumblers, [[rope-dancing|rope-dancers]] and musicians. Sadler took as his business partner a violinist, Francis Forcer, who was both dancing-master and composer.<ref>Arundell, p. 4</ref> 

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.<ref name=a6>Arundell, p. 6</ref> 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".<ref name=a6/> 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".<ref name=sw>Crompton, Sarah. [https://www.sadlerswells.com/about-us/our-story/history/ "History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310154203/https://www.sadlerswells.com/about-us/our-story/history/ |date=10 March 2023}}, Sadler's Wells Theatre. Retrieved 9 June 2023</ref>
[[File:1700-ad-Sadler's-Wells.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|1700 newspaper advertisement|alt=press small ad seeking applications from "any fit person" to manage Sadler's Wells]]
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:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications/pleasuregardens-6-saddlerswells.htm|publisher=Victorian London|title=Victorian London – Publications – History – Views of the Pleasure Gardens of London, by H.A.Rogers, 1896|access-date=2 June 2007}}</ref>

{{quote|
Butchers and bailiffs, and such sort of fellows,<br/>
Mixed with a vermin train'd up for the gallows,<br/>
As Bullocks and files, housebreakers and padders,<br/>
With prize-fighters, sweetners, and such sort of traders,<br/>
Informers, thief-takers, deer stealers, and bullies.
}}

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",<ref>Highfill ''et al.'', p. 224</ref> and the place was frequented by many "unaccountable and disorderly" people.<ref>Arundell, p. 8</ref> In 1712 a man called French was sentenced to death at the Old Bailey for killing a Mr Thwaits at Sadler's Wells.<ref>Temple, p. 144; and "London, Sept. 13", ''Flying Post'', 13 September 1712, p. 2</ref>

Miles died in 1724,<ref>"News", ''Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer'', 18 April 1724, p. 4</ref> 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".<ref>Arundell, p. 11</ref> Forcer junior sought to improve standards – according to one historian he "succeeded, to a great degree," in driving away "the mass of incomprehensible vagabonds"<ref name=ttt/> – 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".<ref>Arundell, p. 15</ref> Rosoman substantially reconstructed the wooden building in 1748–49.<ref>Temple, p. 147</ref>
[[File:Saler's Wells, 1745 (Robert Chambers, p.73, 1832) - Copy.jpg|thumb|left|Sadler's Wells in 1745|alt=exterior of substantial wooden structure, with many trees around and a lane passing in front of the walls surrounding the site]]
Rosoman engaged a regular resident company of actors, and the old Musick-House became a theatre. Rosoman introduced [[burletta]]s, at that time a genre new to England.<ref name=ttt2>"Sadler's Wells", ''The Theatrical Times'', 12 June 1847, pp. 182–183</ref> According to the current laws, only the two [[patent theatre|patent companies]] were permitted to present non-musical dramas.<ref>Kinservik, Matthew [https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198601746.001.0001/acref-9780198601746-e-3023 "patent theatres"], ''Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance'',  Oxford University Press, 2005 {{subscription required}}</ref> 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.<ref>Thompson, pp. 129–130</ref> ''[[The Tempest]]'' was performed there in 1764, but Arundell suggests it was not Shakespeare's original, but "[[David Garrick|Garrick's]] version of the [[John Dryden|Dryden]]-Shakespeare-[[Henry Purcell|Purcell]] work castrated into [[The Tempest (Dryden and D'Avenant play)|an opera"]].<ref name=a23>Arundell, p. 23</ref>

In 1763 Rosoman engaged the dancers from the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]]. 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".<ref name=a23/> (Grimaldi's son, [[Joseph Grimaldi|Joseph]], 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".<ref>Arundell, p. 24</ref>

===Second theatre: 1765–1802 ===
[[File:Sadler's-Wells-1791.png|Rosoman's theatre|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=Exterior of detached theatre]]

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.<ref name=ttt2/> 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 [with] a degree of splendor and magnificence ... that do equal honour to the taste and liberality of the Proprietor".<ref>"News", ''Lloyd's Evening Post'', 6 March 1765, p. 7; and "News", ''Lloyd's Evening Post'', 12 April 1765, p. 3</ref>

In 1771 Rosoman retired. He sold his three-quarter share in the theatre to Thomas King, a friend and Drury Lane colleague of Garrick.{{refn|The other quarter was held by a goldsmith called Arnold, who appears to have taken no direct part in the running of the theatre.<ref name=a27>Arundell, p. 27</ref>|group=n}} King took over the management from December 1771,<ref name=a27/> 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".<ref>"Sadler's Wells", ''Public Advertiser'', 25 May 1774, p. 1</ref> Although his own tastes favoured the dramatic, King catered for the tastes of his audiences, and in particular featured [[pantomime]]s, establishing the theatre as a rival to the [[Theatre Royal, Haymarket]] in that genre.<ref>Arundell, p. 29</ref> His shows, with music by [[Charles Dibdin]], included such pieces as ''Vineyard Revels, or, The Harlequin Bacchanal'',<ref>"Sadler's Wells", ''The Morning Chronicle'' 3 May 1773, p. 1</ref> and ''The Whim-Wham, or, Harlequin Captive''.<ref>"Sadler's Wells", ''Public Advertiser'', 23 August 1773, p. 5</ref> In 1781 Joseph Grimaldi made his debut, aged two, dancing with his sister.<ref>Arundell, p. 34</ref>

In the 1790s Dibdin was stage manager as well as composer,{{refn|Before the 20th century, the term "stage-manager" covered the artistic functions now ascribed to directors as well as the purely technical aspects of staging to which "stage-manager" has subsequently come to be restricted.<ref>{{cite OED|stage manager}}</ref>|group=n}} with Grimaldi as comic star.<ref>Arundell, pp. 54–55</ref> 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]], proposed "an Entire new inside" so that "the Building will be a stable one for fifty years to come".<ref>Arundell, p. 64</ref>

===Third theatre: 1802–1879===
[[File:Sadler's-Wells-1802-advertisement.jpg|thumb | upright=1.15 |Press advertisement, 1802 – The patron, the Duke of Clarence, is the future [[William IV|King William IV]]|alt=Press ad: the text reads: NEW SADLER's WELLS. Under the Patronage of His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence. The public are respectfully informed that the interior of this theatre has been entirely re-built, at an immense expence, upon an elegant and extensive scale, by that ingenious architect Mr Cabanel, from a model by Mr Hughes. Accommodations of a most superior nature, and of every description. It will open on Monday next, 19 April 1802 with a great variety of new entertainments, and several new performers.]]
Sadler's Wells reopened in 1802 with an interior "entirely re-built at an immense Expence".<ref>Advertisement, ''True Briton'', 17 April 1802, p. 1</ref> In 1804 it acquired a new attraction, dubbed the Aqua-show. A huge water tank{{refn|The tank was 90 feet long, 25 feet wide, and 5 feet deep (approximately 27.5 x 7.5 x 1.5 metres).<ref name=allen77>Allen, p. 77</ref>|group=n}} 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".<ref name=allen77/> Grimaldi, by the early 19th century established as "the unchallenged king of clowns",<ref name=grim>Moody, Jane. [https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-11630 "Grimaldi, Joseph (Joe) (1778–1837), actor and pantomimist"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', 2014 {{ODNBsub}}</ref> continued as the theatre's principal clown until 1820, while pursuing a parallel career at Drury Lane.<ref name=grim/>

The law restricting non-musical drama to the two patent theatres was repealed by the [[Theatres Act 1843]],<ref>Sappa and Bonadio, p. 30</ref> 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.<ref name=phelps/> 
[[File:Samuel-Phelps-as-Wolsey-in-Henry-VIII.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Samuel Phelps]] as Wolsey in ''[[Henry VIII (play)|Henry VIII]]''|alt=clean=shaven white man in the robes of a Roman Catholic cardinal]]

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".<ref name=phelps/> His biographer [[J. P. Wearing]] writes:
{{blockindent|So began one of the most glorious reigns of any London theatre, during which Phelps produced more than 1,600 performances of thirty-one of Shakespeare's plays (the exceptions were ''[[Henry VI (play)|Henry VI]]'', ''[[Titus Andronicus]]'', ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'', and ''[[Troilus and Cressida]]''), together with numerous works from the Renaissance to the mid-nineteenth century.<ref name=phelps>Wearing, J. P. [https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-22092 "Phelps, Samuel (1804–1878), actor and theatre manager"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2015 {{ODNBsub}}</ref>|}}
Among the leading players in Phelps's company were [[Laura Addison]], [[George John Bennett|George Bennett]], [[Fanny Cooper]] and [[Isabella Glyn]];<ref>Allen, pp. 102, 119 and 202</ref> Phelps starred in roles from [[Prince Hamlet|Hamlet]] to [[John Falstaff|Falstaff]].<ref name=phelps/> 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.<ref name=phelps/> The theatre began to attract audiences from beyond Islington, including literary figures such as [[Charles Dickens]] and [[John Forster (biographer)|John Forster]].<ref>Allen, p. 107</ref>

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 wash houses in Britain|baths and washhouses]].<ref>Arundell, p. 164</ref> 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 Frances Bateman|Sidney Bateman]], who had been running the [[Lyceum Theatre, London|Lyceum Theatre]] in the West End, bought the unexpired thirty-three year term of the lease of Sadler's Wells.<ref>Arundell, pp. 164–166</ref>

===Fourth theatre: 1879–1915===
[[File:Sadler's-Wells-1879.jpg|thumb |upright=1.2|Interior of [[C. J. Phipps]]'s theatre, 1879|alt=interior of Victorian playhouse, with stalls, circle and at top gallery]]
[[File:Sadler's-Wells-1910.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|1910 photograph, showing [[Bertie Crewe]]'s portico added in 1894|alt=exterior of a theatre building with substantial portico parallel to a main road]]

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.<ref>Temple, pp. 153–154</ref> The theatrical newspaper ''[[The Era (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."<ref name=era79>"New Sadler's Wells", ''The Era'',  21 September 1879, p. 6</ref>

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".<ref>Temple, p. 154</ref> There were several attempts to convert the theatre into a [[music hall]], but the authorities refused to license it.<ref>Temple, pp. 154–155</ref>

The only major changes to Phipps's building was the addition by the architect [[Bertie Crewe]] of a new [[portico]] 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 ''[[Daily Chronicle|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".<ref>''Quoted'' in Temple, p. 155</ref>

With the support of leading theatre figures including [[George Bernard Shaw|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]] 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.<ref>Temple, pp. 155–156</ref>

===Fifth theatre: 1931–1998===
[[File:Lilian-Baylis-1924.png|thumb|[[Lilian Baylis]], 1924|alt=middle-aged white woman with dark hair, wearing academic cap and gown]]
Since 1914 the theatre proprietor and philanthropist [[Lilian Baylis]] had run drama and opera companies at her south London theatre, the [[the Old Vic|Old Vic]], with cheap prices aimed at attracting a local, working-class audience.<ref>Aston, Elaine. [https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-30648 "Baylis, Lilian Mary (1874–1937), theatre manager"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2011 {{ODNBsub}}</ref> 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|F.{{space}}G.{{space}}M. Chancellor]], who had succeeded [[Frank Matcham]] as senior partner of [[Frank Matcham#Matcham & Co|Matcham and Co.]].<ref>Temple, pp. 156–157</ref>

The new theatre opened with a gala performance on 6 January 1931 of Shakespeare's ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' starring [[John Gielgud]] as Malvolio and [[Ralph Richardson]] as [[Toby Belch]].<ref>"New Sadler's Wells", ''The Stage'', 8 January 1931, p. 14</ref> 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.<ref>Haltrecht, pp. 59–60; and Goodwin, Noël. [https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-71607 "Valois, Dame Ninette de (real name Edris Stannus; married name Edris Connell) (1898–2001), ballet dancer, choreographer, and founder of the Royal Ballet"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2011 {{ODNBsub}}</ref> The three companies Baylis founded developed over the next three decades to become the [[The Royal Ballet|Royal Ballet]], the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] and [[English National Opera]].<ref>Schafer, p. 4</ref>

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.<ref>Gilbert, pp. 44 and 57</ref> In 1935 both the opera and ballet companies went on summer tours for the first time.<ref name=a209>Arundell, p. 209</ref> In their absence the [[D'Oyly Carte Opera Company]] took the theatre for a season of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]], the first of 21 such London seasons at Sadler's Wells, returning in every decade until the 1980s.<ref name=rw>Rollins and Witts, p. 2, and Supplements pp. 16–18, 25–29 and 37–39</ref>{{refn|Sadler's Wells had the advantage over the [[Savoy Theatre]], D'Oyly Carte's traditional London home, of a substantially larger seating capacity: 1,639 as against 1,138.<ref>Parker, pp. 2000 and 2004.</ref> The company gave sixteen seasons at the Savoy and other London theatres between 1938 and its closing in 1982, but it gave most of its London seasons at Sadler's Wells from 1935 onwards.<ref name=rw/>|group=n}}

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]]. In the [[Second World War]] 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 (opera manager)|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.<ref>Haltrecht, p. 71</ref>{{refn|The main company became the Royal Ballet in 1956. In 1957 the Sadler's Wells company was renamed the Royal Ballet Touring Company, and in 1976 it became Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. In 1990 the company left Sadler's Wells and moved to Birmingham as the Birmingham Royal Ballet, but has continued to present London seasons at Sadler's Wells.<ref>Craine, Debra, and Judith Mackrell. [https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199563449.001.0001/acref-9780199563449-e-2030 "Royal Ballet"], ''The Oxford Dictionary of Dance'', Oxford University Press, 2010 {{subscription required}}; Craine Debra, "Go for the burn", ''The Times'', 12 February 1999, p. 35; and "Debra Craine's dance choice: Birmingham Royal Ballet", The Times, 1 September 2001, p. 122</ref>|group=n}} 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 [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]], [[Leoš Janáček|Janáček]], [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]], [[Kurt Weill|Weill]] and others.<ref>Gilbert, pp. 592–595</ref> Britten's ensemble the [[English Opera Group]] had London seasons at Sadler's Wells between 1954 and 1975.<ref>Arundell, pp. 237 and 312–313</ref> From 1959 to 1985 the theatre was the main venue for the annual seasons of the [[Handel Opera Society]].<ref>Arundell, pp. 250 and 312–313</ref>

In the 1960s there were plans for a new opera house on the [[Southbank Centre|South Bank]]; [[Norman Tucker]] and his successor, [[Stephen Arlen]], the directors of [[English National Opera#Sadler's Wells Opera|Sadler's Wells Opera]], hoped to relocate the company there.<ref>Gilbert, pp. 176–177</ref> The plans fell through when the government declined to contribute to the capital cost of the proposed building,<ref>Gilbert, p. 205</ref> but Arlen remained convinced that Sadler's Wells was too small for productions of large-scale works such as [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]'s [[Der Ring des Nibelungen|''Ring'' cycle]], and in 1968 the company left Sadler's Wells and moved to the [[London Coliseum]].<ref>Gilbert, p. 213</ref>{{refn|The Coliseum's seating capacity (2,500) was more than 40 per cent greater than that of Sadler's Wells, and the [[proscenium]] opening of 55 feet (16.7 metres) – compared with Sadler's Wells's 30&nbsp;feet (9.1&nbsp;m) – was the largest in London.<ref>Gaye, p. 1554</ref>|group=n}} 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.<ref name=sw/> Among the companies appearing there were the [[Ballet Rambert]] and [[London Contemporary Dance Theatre]], who both held residencies there, and visiting ensembles including those of [[Alvin Ailey]] and [[Merce Cunningham]], [[Nederlands Dans Theater]] and the [[Dance Theatre of Harlem]].<ref>Arundell, pp. 313–315</ref> 

After the opera company moved out, Sadler's Wells hosted operatic productions by, among others, [[Cologne Opera]] (1969) and the [[Camden Festival]] (1972).<ref>"Cologne Opera for Wells", ''The Times'', 22 March 1969, p. 18; and "Koanga", ''The Times'', 18 May 1972, p. 11</ref> 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]], the New Sadler's Wells Opera company focused on [[operetta]], sung in English, in London and on tour.<ref>Davies, Margaret. "Opera", ''Illustrated London News'', 1 January 1983.</ref> The first season opened with [[Franz Lehár|Lehar's]] ''[[Der Graf von Luxemburg|The Count of Luxembourg]]'', followed by Gilbert and Sullivan's ''[[The Mikado]]'' and [[Emmerich Kálmán|Kálmán's]] ''[[Countess Maritza]]''.<ref>"News", The Stage, 20 January 1983, p. 31</ref> Later productions included Gilbert and Sullivan's ''[[H.M.S. Pinafore]]'', ''[[Ruddigore]]'' and ''[[The Gondoliers]]'', [[Jacques Offenbach|Offenbach's]] ''[[La belle Hélène]]'', Lehár's ''[[The Merry Widow]]'' and [[Noël Coward]]'s ''[[Bitter Sweet (operetta)|Bitter Sweet]]''.<ref>"For Sale Privately", ''The Stage'',  19 October 1989, p. 11; and "Romantic renaissance in ''Bitter Sweet''", ''Illustrated London News'', 1 April 1988, p. 70</ref> Most of these productions were commercially recorded and released on LP and CD.<ref>{{oclc|27980350}} (H.M.S. Pinafore); {{oclc|32832811}} (Bitter Sweet); {{oclc|29663228}} (Count of Luxembourg); {{oclc|17428613}} (Ruddigore); {{oclc|20442857}} (Merry Widow ); {{oclc|173233099}} (Countess Maritza)</ref> After the  sponsorship ended, costs outstripped income, and the opera company – though not the theatre – went into [[liquidation]] with heavy debts in 1989.<ref>"NSWO decision 'robs creditors of cash'", ''The Stage'', 2 March 1989, p. 1</ref>

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]] in the [[West End theatre|West End]], where it has maintained a presence ever since.<ref name=sw/>

===Sixth theatre: 1998–===
[[File:Finsbury sadlers wells 1.jpg|Sixth theatre, seen from the south-west, 2005|thumb|alt=exterior of modern theatre building in red brick and glass]]

The new theatre was designed by the Arts Team division of the architects [[RHWL]].<ref>"Teamwork designs venue", ''The Stage'', 22 October 1998, p. 23; and [https://www.aedas.com/en/what-we-do/arts-team/dance/multipurpose/sadler-s-wells "Sadler's Wells Theatre"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920072212/https://www.aedas.com/en/what-we-do/arts-team/dance/multipurpose/sadler-s-wells |date=20 September 2022 }}, Aedas. Retrieved 11 June 2023</ref> 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&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup> 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.<ref name=sw/> The current building retains the [[listed building|Grade II listing]] applied to the Matcham theatre in 1950.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071130003719/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?pid=2&id=369263 English Heritage listing details]. Retrieved 28 April 2007</ref>

The opening season included performances by [[Pina Bausch]]'s [[Tanztheater Wuppertal]], [[William Forsythe (choreographer)|William Forsythe's]] [[Ballett Frankfurt]], and Rambert Dance.<ref name=sw/> Operatic productions at the new house have included seasons by the [[The Royal Opera|Royal Opera]] (1999),<ref>"Opera", ''The Times'', 11 January 1998, p. 18</ref> [[Welsh National Opera]] (1999 and 2001),<ref>"Welsh National Opera", ''The Times'', 12 March 1999, p. 35; and "Dance/Opera", ''The Times'', 6 October 2001, p. 253</ref> [[Polish National Opera]] (2004),<ref>"Opera", ''The Times'', 17 April 2004, p. 339</ref> [[Glyndebourne Touring Opera]] (2007)<ref>"Opera & Ballet", ''The Times'', 7 December 2007, p.  131</ref> and [[English Touring Opera]] (2010).<ref>"Opera", ''The Times'', 6 March 2010, p. 289</ref> 

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".<ref name=sw/> He announced:

{{blockindent|You've got the National Theatre for drama, English National Opera for opera and I want Sadler's Wells to perform the same function for contemporary dance.<ref name=sw/>|}} 

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.<ref name=sw/> In 2004 [[Breakin' Convention]] joined Sadler's Wells, "representing the origins and evolution of [[hip hop]] culture through performance and education."<ref name=sw2/> The theatre now claims to create and share more new work than any other dance organisation in the world.<ref name=sw2>[https://www.sadlerswells.com/about-us/our-story/ "Our Story"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601190420/https://www.sadlerswells.com/about-us/our-story/ |date=1 June 2023 }}, Sadler's Wells Theatre. Retrieved 11 June 2023</ref> In the 2020s the theatre has been criticised for its sponsorship by [[Barclays Bank]], which some campaigners associate with investment damaging to the environment.<ref>[https://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/23761227.activists-protest-sadlers-wells-theatre-links-barclays/ "Activists protest Sadler's Wells Theatre links with Barclays"], ''Islington Gazette'', 1 September 2023</ref>

==Sadler's Wells East==
[[File:Sadler's Wells East.jpg|thumb|right|Sadler's Wells East,  2024]]
In June 2018 [[Sadiq Khan]], 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]] [[Stratford, London]] and to open in February 2025.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/mayor-unveils-11bn-vision-for-east-bank|title=Mayor unveils £1.1bn vision for East Bank}}</ref> The architects were from [[O'Donnell & Tuomey]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.burohappold.com/projects/sadlers-wells-east/|title=Perfectly choreographed design at new Sadler's Wells}}</ref>

Located in [[Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park]], its focus is on dance. The venue opened on 16 January 2025 and first production was ‘Our Mighty Groove’ by choreographer Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu on 6 February 2025.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/news/londons-massive-new-theatre-sadlers-wells-east-will-open-in-february-091024|title=London's massive new theatre Sadler's Wells East will open in February}}</ref> The formal opening was on 6 February 2025.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sadlerswells.com/sadlers-wells-east-opening-season-announcement/|title=Opening Season Announcement - Sadler's Wells East - News - Sadler's Wells|website=SadlersWells}}</ref>

==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.<ref name="Collecting">{{cite web |last1=Cridland |first1=Clarissa |title=Lorna Hill |url=http://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/hill.html |website=Collecting Books and Magazines |access-date=11 December 2024}}</ref>
* 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 (actress)|Alice Marriott]], co-manager of Sadler's Wells in the 1860s.<ref name="The Stage 6 May 1999" >[https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001637/19990506/062/0009 "Heydays, a little bit of a drag"], ''The Stage'', 6 May 1999, p. 9</ref>

==Notes, references and sources==

===Notes===

{{Reflist|group=n}}

===References===

{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book | last = Addison | first = William | title = English Spas| date = 1951| location = London | publisher = B. T. Batsford | url = https://archive.org/details/englishspas0000will/mode/2up | oclc = 422941}}
*{{cite book | last = Allen | first =  Shirley S. | title = Samuel Phelps and Sadler's Wells Theatre | date = 1971 | location = Middletown | publisher = Wesleyan University Press | url = https://archive.org/details/samuelphelpssadl00alle/page/n5/mode/2up | oclc = 1036847847 }}
*{{cite book | last = Arundell | first = Dennis | authorlink = Dennis Arundell | title = The Story of Sadler's Wells, 1683–1977| date = 1978| location = Newton Abbot | publisher = David & Charles | url = https://archive.org/details/storyofsadlerswe0000arun/page/n7/mode/2up | isbn = 978-0-71-537620-1}}
*{{cite book | last = Carey | first = Hugh | title = Duet for Two Voices: An Informal Biography of Edward Dent | date = 1979 | location = Cambridge | publisher = Cambridge University Press | url = https://archive.org/details/duetfortwovoices0000care | isbn = 978-0-52-122312-6}}
*{{cite book | last = Craine | first = Debra | author2 = Judith Mackrell | title = The Oxford Dictionary of Dance | date = 2010 | edition = second | location = Oxford | publisher = Oxford University Press | url = https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary0000crai_a8h2 | isbn = 978-0-19-956344-9}}
*{{cite book | editor-last = Gaye | editor-first = Freda  | year = 1967 | title = Who's Who in the Theatre | edition = fourteenth | location = London | publisher = Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons | oclc = 5997224 }}
* {{cite book|last=Gilbert |first= Susie|year=2009 |title=Opera for Everybody: The Story of English National Opera|location=London |publisher=Faber and Faber |isbn= 978-0-571-22493-7}}
*{{cite book | last = Haltrecht | first = Montague | title = The Quiet Showman: Sir David Webster and the Royal Opera House | date = 1975 | location = London | publisher = Collins | isbn =978-0-00-211163-8 }}
*{{cite book | last = Hembry | first = Phyllis | title = The English Spa, 1560–1815: A Social History | date = 1990 | location = London | publisher = London University Press | isbn = 978-0-48-511374-7}}
* {{cite book | last = Highfill | first = Philip | author2 = Kalman Burnim | author3 = Edward Langhans | title = A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers & Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660–1800 | volume = 5 | date = 1973 | location = Carbondale | publisher = Southern Illinois University Press | oclc = 1000937503}}
* {{cite book | editor-first = Amanda | editor-last = Holden |editor-link = Amanda Holden (writer) | title = The Penguin Opera Guide | year = 1997 | location = London | publisher = Penguin | isbn = 978-0-14-051385-1 }}
*{{cite book | last = Jarman | first = Richard | title = A History of Sadler's Wells Opera | date = 1974 | location = London | publisher = English National Opera | isbn =978-0-95-036810-8}}
*{{cite book | last = Law | first = Jonathan | title = The Methuen Drama Dictionary of the Theatre | date = 2013 | location = London | publisher = Methuen Drama | isbn =978-1-40-813147-3}}
*{{cite book | last = Lay  | first = M. G | title = Ways of the World: A History of the World's Roads | date = 1999 | location = Brunswick | publisher = Rutgers University Press | isbn = 978-0-81-351758-2}}
* {{cite book | editor-last = Parker | editor-first = John  | year = 1939 | title = Who's Who in the Theatre | location = London | edition = ninth | publisher = Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons | oclc = 473894893}}
*{{cite book | last = Pinks | first = William John | author2 = Edward J. Wood | title = The History of Clerkenwell | date = 1881 | edition = second | location = London | publisher = Herbert | oclc = 1107606811}}
*{{cite book | last = Rendell | first = Mike | title = Georgian Harlots and Whores: Fame, Fashion & Fortune | date = 2022 | location = Barnsley | publisher = Pen and Sword | isbn = 978-1-52-679102-3}}
*{{cite book | last = Rice | first = Paul | title = British Music and the French Revolution | date = 2010 | location = Newcastle | publisher = Cambridge Scholars | isbn = 978-1-44-382110-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Rollins|first=Cyril|year=1962|author2=R. John Witts|title=The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Gilbert and Sullivan Operas: A Record of Productions, 1875&ndash;1961| location=London|publisher=Michael Joseph}} With four supplements, published 1966–1983. {{oclc|504581419}}
*{{cite book | last = Sappa | first =Cristiana | author2= Enrico Bonadio| title = The Subjects of Literary and Artistic Copyright| date = 2022| location = Northampton, Massachusetts| publisher = Edward Elgar Publishing | isbn= 978-1-80-088176-1 }}
*{{cite book | last = Schafer | first = Elizabeth | title = Lilian Baylis: A Biography| date = 2007| location = Hatfield | publisher = University of Hertfordshire Press | isbn = 978-1-90-280664-8}}
*{{cite book | last =Temple | first = Philip | title =Survey of London: Volume XLVII: Northern Clerkenwell and Pentonville | date = | location = New Haven and London| publisher =Yale University Press and English Heritage | isbn =978-0-30-013937-2 }}
*{{cite book | last = Thomson | first = Peter | title = The Cambridge Introduction to English Theatre, 1660–1900 | date = 2006 | location = Cambridge and New York | publisher = Cambridge University Press | url = https://archive.org/details/cambridgeintrodu0000thom/page/130/mode/2up | isbn = 978-0-52-183925-9}}
*{{cite book | last = Urban | first = Silvanus | authorlink = Edward Cave | title = Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle 1784, part 2 | date = 1784 | location = London | publisher = D. Henry | oclc = 7607917}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{official|https://www.sadlerswells.com/}}

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{{Authority control}}

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