Dick Sadler’s Wells

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30953, 8 January 1966, Page 4

Dick Sadler’s Wells

The Story of Sadler’s Wells. By Dennis Arundel!. Hamish Hamilton. 306 pp.

Sadler’s Wells is a name honoured in the worlds of drama, opera, and ballet. It is strange to read, therefore, of its humble scorned beginnings in the 17th century. The theatre was first built as an extra attraction for those who came to drink the medicinal water of the wells which Dick Sadler had found. Liquor and refreshments were sold, and patrons would watch variety acts such as tumbling, clowning, ballad singing and wrestling. Drama unaccompanied by musical entertainment was forbidden by the Licensing Act of 1727, so that even those producers who wished to present legitimate drama were obliged to resort to gimmicks in order to comply with this ruling. For years the Wells had a very unsavoury reputation, its audience being rowdy and vulgar Even in 1875 while the company attempted to present “Macbeth,” babies were screaming, people brawling and swearing and shouting, eating apples and oranges and nuts, and drinking beer. The history of Sadler’s Wells is partly the history of the gradual evolution of such an undisciplined mob into the attentive, well-mannered audience of today. The tale of this hoary old theatre contains much interesting information for the student of drama: details about the development of make-up, for example, of (architectural changes in the

theatre, of the beginnings of ballet and various financial problems. Famous names throng the pages—so numerous and so glittering that any short list would be hopelessly incomplete. Actors and actresses, playwrights, composers, dancers and singers of great stature have been associated with Sadler’s Wells in their hundreds.

The history of the Wells in this century alone has been varied and controversial. At first it was used for vaudeville and newsreels. For about a year it was a cinema, then it was closed until 1925. Then began its greatest era as a home for serious drama, opera and ballet. There is still some doubt about its future, however, and the rest of this; century may see as many radical changes of policy and of owner as have the last six deOn the whole. Dennis Arun-j dell’s book is of considerable interest to the layman. He has produced the first history of the Sadler’s Wells theatre, and this alone makes it an important achievement. He himself has been closely linked with the theatre for the last 40 years as actor and producer. He has discovered a wealth of absorbing material. But occasionally, one’s attention begins to' stray during seemingly endless lists of productions and name and dates, all of which seem totally devoid of interest to the unprofessional reader. Yet if these were omitted or abridged, the book would perhaps lose its right to be regarded as a serious work.