Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive

An archive for today's Sadler’s Wells

In previous blogs we have focused primarily on the large collection of material that we hold concerning the beginnings of Sadler's Wells Theatre, and the first half of the 20th century, when the theatre was refurbished and reopened by Lilian Baylis in 1931. But for anyone interested in contemporary dance and choreography, the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Archive is a treasure trove.

We hold programmes and publicity material relating to some of the today’s most noted dance companies, choreographers, designers, musicians and, of course, dancers. Matthew Bourne, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Balletboyz, Sylvie Guillem, Akram Khan, Wayne McGregor, Nitin Sawhney and Hofesh Shechter are just some of the associated artists that perform regularly at the theatre today.

The cover and inside of the programme for the world premiere of Matthew Bourne's production of 'Swan Lake' at Sadler's Wells on 9 November 1995

We also hold material related to other noted performers and companies that have performed at Sadler’s Wells in the last thirty years. These include Carlos Acosta, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Michael Clarke, Paco Pena, Rambert Dance Company, Nederlands Dans Theatre 1 & 2, La La La Human Steps, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Batsheva Dance Company and Birmingham Royal Ballet.

The cover and inside of the programme for Tanzheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch's performance at Sadler's Wells in September 1982.

 
One of the biggest pleasures of working with such a diverse and comprehensive archive is that you get a feel of  how Sadler’s Wells Theatre has developed over its 330 years, as well a glimpse into the wider picture of how the world of theatre, dance and opera developed in general over that time.

The Wanderer: Graham Sutherland and Sadler's Wells

In our previous blog, Mark promised to reveal details of an exciting discovery found in the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive during listing and cataloguing of costume and set designs. I am now very pleased to share this news with our readers.

I have been tidying up the loose ends of the collection, looking at material that has either been put in the ‘too hard basket’ – items that don't slot easily into any obvious category - or files that were yet to be catalogued. Recently I turned my attention to set and costume designs awaiting listing and cataloguing, unaware of the surprise to come.

There are around five different series of set and costume designs in the archive and, while sorting through various items in this category, I was excited to discover that one set of costume designs was created by well-known British artist Graham Sutherland (1903-1980).

Sutherland was commissioned to design two backdrops and the costumes for Frederick Ashton's ballet The Wanderer, set to Schubert's piano sonata Fantasie in C major, Op. 15 ( D. 760) known as The Wanderer Fantasy. The Sadler's Wells Ballet production premiered on 27 January 1941 at the New Theatre in St Martin's Lane. The principle dancers included  Robert Helpmann playing 'The Traveller’ and Margot Fonteyn playing the lead female role, with Pamela May and Michael Somes playing 'The Lovers'.

We hold 12 of the costume designs by Sutherland for the ballet. These are outlined in pencil or pen and painted with watercolour, and notated with remarks about the characters' costumes. Some come complete with fabric swatches attached and labelled from B. Burnet & Co, Covent Garden. The fabrics are particularly vibrant in colour – pinks, reds and oranges for the lead roles and dark-greens, greys, browns and black for the supporting dancers (as shown below).

Unfortunately the archive doesn't possess any of the backdrop designs, or any colour reproductions. However, there is a painting held at the V&A upon which one of the backdrops is based,  The Wanderer I (1940). The painting has oranges, yellows and browns dominating the work, so perhaps we can imagine how the back drops may have originally appeared. 

The above photograph is from the Sadler's Wells Ballet production of The Wanderer and shows Sutherland’s distinctive backdrop behind the performers. Helpmann is being held aloft and Fonteyn is in the foreground to the right. Both are wearing the costumes shown in the above designs to the righ of the photograph.

The costumes were apparently not to everyone's taste but the backdrops were generally thought a great success. This was, as far as we are able to ascertain, Graham Sutherland's only sojourn into the world of theatre design and we are delighted to hold these items in our collection (S/SWT/2/10/6/1).

Julie Melrose
Islington Local History Centre 

 

 

The Sadler's Wells 'Smog' Blog (1952) - update

Following a post in December 2012 titled The Sadler's Wells Smog Blog (1952), which looked back sixty years to 1952 and the devasting smog attack that gripped London in December that year, I'm pleased to bring readers an update. 

Following an appeal for first-hand reports about the cancelled performance of La Traviata due to fog permeating through the theatre, I was delighted to receive an account of the event from Linda Carter whose mother, Majorie Shires, sang the opera's leading soprano role of Violetta during that very evening's performance. Linda also forwarded a newspaper cutting  - dated 9 December 1952 - detailing the circumstances that lead to the cancelled show (see below).

Linda also added; "My mother was Marjorie Shires and my father was John Probyn and they were both principal singers at Sadler's Wells during the 1940's and 1950's. Marjorie wrote in the story of her life that 'every breath was difficult.The next day I went to the throat specialist and the verdict was no singing or speaking for 6 weeks'.  So there was damage done to her throat by what she described as a 'black smog'."

The following is a transcription of the cutting (title of source newspaper and reporter unknown): 

The stopped opera
No one with whom I spoke with today could remember anything like this happening at Sadler’s Wells last night. Because of fog in the theatre, Mr Michael Mudie, the conductor, stopped the performance of La Traviata at the end of the first act. The audience had their money refunded.

Mr Mudie tells me he could see only the nearest members of the orchestra. The singers on the stage could not see Mr Mudie. Most of the audience could not see the singers.

Singer’s peril
Marjorie Shires singing Violetta, the leading soprano role, got through her big first act aria creditably. Mudie tells me, “But with much heavier lyric singing to come in the three only acts, she felt her throat might suffer irreparable damage from the fog. I agreed with her.”

So the performance was abandoned. Members of the audience who did not get their cash back can exchange the tickets for another opera. That is, if they keep the subs of their tickets.

Below: Newspaper cutting describing the fateful night at Sadler's Wells, including photograph of Majorie Shires (click on image to enlarge)

 

A very big thank you to Linda for submitting the information and cutting and, if anyone else has memories of the 'black smog' at Sadler's Wells, please do not hesitate to get in contact.

Meanwhile, don't miss our next blog in a few weeks that contains news of an exciting discovery found in the archive during item level cataloguing of costume and set designs!

Walter Sickert: an acting artist at Sadler's Wells

Our last blog of 2012 promised future news about Islington Local History Centre's latest archive cataloguing project, the Sickert Family Collection. I am therefore very pleased to announce that, as scheduled, this is now underway.

Undertaking the task is the Centre's Special Collection's Assistant, Julie Melrose. Julie has been an integral member of the team, working on the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive cataloguing project since its inception in 2011. At the heart of the Sickert Family Collection are the works, correspondence and ephemera of British artist Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942), whose early career included performing at Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1880.

From Sadler's Wells to Sickert
Julie has began the first stages of this latest cataloguing project by studying the life and times of this larger-than-life artist and his extended family, as well as familiarising herself with the material in the collection. The content is not as large or wide-ranging as that of the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive Collection but it contains many fascinating items and we're hoping that we may discover material that tells us more about Sickert's time at Sadler's Wells, both as actor and artist.

Actor to Artist
We know that Walter Sickert enjoyed attending performances at the Wells as a young man with his maternal great-aunt, Anne Sheepshanks  - during the 1860s, she had rented rooms in Duncan Terrace, Islington, only a short distanace from the theatre. He was to return to Sadler's Wells in 1880 as an actor. Now living at Claremont Square, off Pentonville Road, and only a few minutes walk from Sadler's Wells, Sickert occasionally worked as a utility player at the theatre;  Mrs Isobel Bateman was the incumbant manager - she had previously managed the Lyceum Theatre in London’s West End along the same lines as Samuel Phelps had run Sadler’s Wells. 

 

'The Times' (28 June 1880. (Double click image to enlarge)

 

In June and July 1880, and billed as 'Mr Sigurd', Sickert played the role of Demetrius in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He received a short review in the Theatre Magazine for July 1880, in which it was recorded that he "impersonated Demetrius with 'fair effect' ". Perhaps he realised that his destiny lay elsewhere and, in 1881, he abandoned 'the boards' deciding
instead to pursue a career as an artist.

 

Walter Sickert aged 20-years in 1880. (Double click image to enlarge)

 

Sickert returns to the Wells
Sickert returned to Sadler's Wells in 1932, when he took to the stage to ceremoniously donate his latest painting, The Raising of Lazarus to Lilian Baylis for auction; this was to raise funds for the new but financially struggling theatre. Sickert claimed that the donation was made "in memory of my perpetual adoration of Sam Phelps and my gratitude to Isobel Bateman, of whose Sadler's Wells company I was myself a utility member." A packed house witnessed proceedings and, in the weeks after the presentation, the painting was regularly displayed on the Well's stage before performances. It was finally auctioned on 2 December 1932 and bought for 380 guineas by the Beaux Arts Gallery. 

Julie and I will you keep you informed in future blogs as to how the project to catalogue the Sickert Family Collection is progressing, and hopefully bring further insights into the life of Walter Sickert at Sadler's Wells.

Visit our online display From Munich to Highbury: Walter Sickert and the Sickert Family Collection. 

 

Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive 'dark' for one week

From Monday 7 January until Saturday 12 January 2013 (inc.) there is no public access to the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive at Islington Local History Centre. 'Performances' however are back to normal on Monday 14 January.

The Local History Centre is closed for its annual stocktaking. Staff will be undertaking essential stock maintenance of collections that cannot ordinarily be done while open to the public. The Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive's poster collection will be receiving attention and it is anticipated that the larger items in this collection will be sorted to item level and rehoused in an alternative location within the archive.

For details about the Centre's opening times and other information about the Centre and its sister service, Islington Museum (also at Finsbury Library), visit the website at www.islington.gov.uk/heritage

'Because We Must'...wish you a Happy New Year 2013

Staff at the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive at Islington Local History Centre wish all of our blog readers and contributors a very happy and prosperous New Year 2013.

Our blog title begins rather cryptically - Because We Must. This in fact was the name of the show performed twenty-five years earlier at the Wells throughout Christmas and New Year 1987/88. BWM was the creation of innovative dancer and choreographer Michael Clark. 

Below: Image of front cover of programme for Because We Must
held in the archive (double click picture to enlarge)

The first performance of BWM took place at Sadler's Wells on 16 December 1987. Choreographed by Michael Clark and performed by his company, dancers included Leigh Bowery, Leslie Bryant and, of course, MC. The production challenged the conventions of dance, including the use of complex costumes and music composed by Graham Lewis, founder member of the legendary punk and post-punk band Wire.  

Meanwhile, look out for future blogs detailing our annual stocktaking closure week (7-12 January inc.) and news about Islington Local History Centre's latest archive cataloguing project, the Sickert Family Collection, due to begin in January. At this collection's heart are the works, correspondence and ephemera of British artist Walter Sickert (1860-1942), whose early career included performing at Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1880.

The Sadler's Wells 'Smog' Blog (1952)

It's recently come to the archive's attention that the infamous smog attack on London sixty years ago this month even affected a performance at Sadler's Wells Theatre.

On Tuesday 9 December 1952, after four-days of atrociously foggy conditions in London, in what became known later as the Great Smog of 1952, conditions finally dissipated but not before it had wreaked chaos on the streets of the capital. The fog took its toll on entertainments, sporting events, traffic and travel and business. And, on a more serious note, it emerged that approximately 4,000 people died as a direct result of the appalling weather conditions; these were mainly older people, the very young and those suffering with heart or respiratory problems.

However, on Sunday 8 December 1952, a performance of Verdi's opera La Traviata at Sadler’s Wells Theatre was cancelled after the first act. The fog had managed to infiltrate the auditorium and onto the stage, causing the manager to take the decision to abandon proceedings.  This was the first time (and probably the last) that the building was forced to close in such circumstances. 

Above: Article taken from The Times newspaper (9 Dec. 1952)

The smog was created through a lethal combination of by-products of coal-burning that had reached dangerously high levels, high atmospheric pressure, near-freezing temperatures and light winds, all resulting in the smog lingering for several days. Drastic action was needed to ensure that such a situation would never repeat itself and so, four-years later, the government introduced the Clean Air Act (1956).

Meanwhile, if any of this blog’s older readers witnessed the extraordinary conditions during La Traviata all those years ago, then staff at the archive would love to hear your personal account of this remarkable event at Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Fortunately today, the only ‘fog’ that’s likely to be seen inside the theatre is probably a dry-ice stage effect adding a ‘mysterious atmosphere’ to performances!

"If you catalogue it, they will come!"

Please forgive this blog title's reference to the 1989 Hollywood film Field of Dreams but it seemed very apt regarding the current status of the collection.

It's been over a month since we launched our Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive catalogue on the Archives Hub and I'm delighted to report that we have seen a huge increase in interest and use of the collection. So a big thanks to the National Cataloguing Grant and the Hub for affording the opportunity to allow even greater access to this valuable resource. A little therefore about some of our recent enquiries since launching the online catalogue.

Enquiries have been as wide ranging and as varied as the material held in the collection. For example, a PhD student from Germany, who is currently researching the life and work of composer Dame Ethel Smyth, found material relating to two of Smyth's operas performed at Sadler's Wells during the 1930s . Another researcher investigating the life of an ancestor,  Edward Noble Hallows (1849-1887), discovered that during the 1880s he was both actor and manager at the theatre. During the course of the research an amusing press cutting described Mr Hallows's performance in Baffled (1883) as "deserving of special mention", however, the reporter also highlighted the difficulties of entering the theatre (cutting reproduced below).  Other requests for information found via the catalogue include 1930s plans for the building (architectural student), images of the theatre in the 1950s (Scottish TV documentary) and performance programmes for the 1960s (enquirer's mother danced at the Wells). We have also had many requests for information from staff at Sadler's Wells Theatre itself.

Below: Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944),
English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement

 Below: Press article describing a performance of Baffled in 1883.

The launch of the catalogue and accompanying publicity has also brought forward donations from the public. These include a rare 1947 programme featuring a performance by Sadler's Wells Ballet in Vienna, an autobiography of dancer Constance Tomkinson titled Dancing Attendance and other unique material not already held in the collection. So thank you to all for your kind donations and the Centre is always happy to discuss additions to the collection.

Meanwhile, these acquisitions will be added to the catalogue and work on the collection still continues, especially cataloguing material to item level where practical.

London's Dance House in the 21st century

Following the excitement of the recent launch of the online Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive catalogue and accompanying display,  today's timely blog brings our ongoing history and development of Sadler's Wells Theatre up-to-date.

Our previous installment, posted earlier this month, describing A new theatre for a new millennium, focused on the building and opening of a new Sadler's Wells in 1998. The theatre's success continued into the 21st century, witnessing changes in management and the introduction of commissioned and co-productions.

Ian Albery retired as Chief Executive Officer in October 2002 and was succeeded by Jean Luc Choplin, who once worked with the great Rudolf Nureyev when Managing Director of the Paris Opera ballet. A few years later, Choplin left to take up a post at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.  In 2004  Alistair Spalding became Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Director of Sadler’s Wells and remains in post in 2012.  He has been responsible for programming at the theatre since February 2000 (when he joined as Director of Programming).  

Upon Alistair Spalding's appointment as CEO, the theatre expanded to become a production house, as well as a receiving house. Internationally renowned artists such as Sylvie Guillem and Akram Kahn were introduced as associate artists at the Wells, allowing joint collaboration on new works.

In the last five or so years, Sadler’s Wells has commissioned and co-produced over 75 productions, including the new ballet The Most Incredible Thing which saw the theatre work with pop stars The Pet Shop Boys and radical choreographer Javier De Frutos.

Matthew Bourne, arguably the country's most famous contemporary dance choreographer, is a resident artist at Sadler’s Wells; his company New Adventures were invited to be a resident company at the theatre in 2006. Many of  Bourne’s most famous works have enjoyed their premieres at the theatre, including his 1995 all male production of Swan Lake, his  revised production of Nutcracker (2002),  Edward Scissorhands (2005) and Cinderella (Christmas 2010/11) - see image below. 

In March 2009, Sadler's Wells launched the Global Dance Contest, an online competition to find new dance talent from around the world. The competition runs for four years, with winners each receiving a cash prize and an invitation to perform at Sadler's Wells Sampled, an annual showcase of the best in dance from around the world. The first winner was Shu-Yi Chou, a 26-year-old choreographer from Taiwan. His work [1875] Ravel and Bolero was performed at Sadler's Wells on 30 and 31 January 2010. UK based James Wilton won the competition in 2012 with The Shortest Day. 

October 2012's productions include Akram Kahn's Desh and Irish choreographer Marguerite Donlon's Rambert Dance Company debut with Labyrinth of Love. And, the ever-popluar Matthew Bourne's New Adventures Company take up residency at Christmas 2012/13 with its production of the classic ballet Sleeping Beauty. 

Below: Rambert Dance Company's Labyrinth of Love (2012)

From its humble beginnings in the 17th century, Sadler's Wells continues to entertain and educate, innovate and inspire new generations of audiences and performers alike. The future is truly 'all singing and dancing' for Islington-based Sadler's Wells Theatre - London's Dance House. 

 

'Display de ballet' (and more): the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive on show

From now until 20 October 2012, and hot on the heels of the online launch of the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive collection on the Archives Hub (see previous blog),  the story of the 'Wells' through the use of archive material can be viewed at Islington Local History Centre.

Dedicated interpretation panels explain the fascinating history of this world famous place of entertainment and specially selected items from the collection highlight the wide variety of material held in the archive. The earliest document on display is a pamphlet dated 1712 and the most recent is a programme for Sadler's Wells summer production of Matthew Bourne's Play Without Words, which was delivered, as part of a larger deposit, by theatre staff only two days ago!

Staff at the Centre are always pleased to answer enquiries about the collection and, for those unable to visit in person, the display is also available online (see link below). And, of course, further details of the material held in the collection can be accessed via the online catalogue (also see link below).

• View the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive collection display
• View the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive online catalogue