Olivier Award winners dominate Sadler’s Wells’ new season, with artists including Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Sylvie Guillem, Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant and Matthew Bourne all presenting work across the capital as part of the Islington venue’s autumn/winter programme.
Guillem, who was given a Special Award at this year’s Olivier Awards with MasterCard, will bring her career to a close later in 2015 with Life In Progress (28 July to 2 August) at the London Coliseum.
Also away from the Islington venue, 2012 Best New Dance Production Award winner Khan will make his Roundhouse debut when he presents his brand new exploration of gender and sexuality, Until The Lions (9 to 24 January), at the Camden venue.
Cherkaoui, who won the same award as Khan two years later, will lead proceedings at Sadler’s Wells itself, presenting 生长genesis (28 and 29 September), a piece that considers the idea of life, death and the constant testing and estrangement from nature that happens in between.
A duo of Olivier Award winners follows him later in the year in the form of choreographer Maliphant and lighting designer Michael Hulls, who mark the 20th anniversary of their collaboration with Conceal / Reveal (26 to 28 November).
Maliphant and Khan will also present Lest We Forget, a poignant reflection on World War I, which the acclaimed pair created with Liam Scarlett and premiered at the London Coliseum earlier this year, from 8 to 12 September.
Another Olivier Award winner, Matthew Bourne, will bring not one but two shows to the venue, following up his Bizet-inspired The Car Man (14 July to 9 August) with the return of his much-loved production of Sleeping Beauty (1 December to 24 January) this festive season.
Alongside a plethora of Olivier Award winners, the season also sees an abundance of premieres take place at the venue.
Fashion designer Hussein Chalayan will present the world premiere of his first theatrical foray Gravity Fatigue (28 to 31 October), Marcos Morau’s Voronia will receive its UK premiere (19 and 20 October) and French choreographer Christian Rizzo will give UK audiences the first chance to see his explosive and expressive d’après une histoire vraie (16 and 17 November).
Another UK premiere will come in the form of the Hofesh Shechter Company’s barbarians (18 to 25 September), which the company will present along with Political Mother: The Choreographer’s Cut (staged at Brixton’s O2 Academy on 7 and 8 October) as part of #Hofest.
Other highlights on the Sadler’s Wells main stage include Breakin’ Convention’s Borderline (2 and 3 October) the return of BalletBoyz (5 to 10 October), a new revamped version of ZooNation’s Into The Hoods (23 October to 14 November), Rambert’s Love, art & rock n roll (3 to 7 November) and the return of Birmingham Royal Ballet (13 to 17 October) with both a triple bill and Swan Lake.
While all this will be happening at the Islington venue, at Sadler’s Wells’ West End home, the Peacock Theatre, audiences will be treated to a new pantomime, dance and cabaret-filled family production of Hercules (24 to 25 July), Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (15 to 26 September), and Kung Fu masters Shaolin (29 September to 17 October).
Christmas at the Peacock wouldn’t be the same without the Birmingham Repertory Theatre production of Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman, which will also return for an incredible 18th year from 25 November to 3 January.
Audiences have all this to look forward to following the UK premiere of Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella, which kicks off the season at Sadler’s Wells from 8 to 11 July.
For full details, including the season’s offerings in the Lilian Baylis Studio, visit the Sadler’s Wells website. The new booking period opens on 11 May.