Shoreditch Town Hall’s exciting 2024 spring season features interactive theatre from BAFTA-winning game makers Coney, a star-studded side-splitting ARGCom line-up, celebratory and activism-filled evenings from Positive East and Azadi Network, and WOW Festival’s only London event. This fantastic season also includes workshops and participatory events from Ballet Queer, Theatre Re, One-Drum Foundation and regular favourite Town Hall Tea Dance.
BAFTA-winning game-makers Coney return with 1884 (17th – 27th April), a thrilling immersive gametheatre show inspired by the legacy of the 1884 Berlin Conference, an often-overlooked historical turning point for the African continent and the world. Created with theatre-maker Rhianna Ilube, 1884 invites audiences on a fun, fast-paced, thought-provoking journey through the history you might not know.
Following the last two sell-out shows, ARG and Shoreditch Town Hall come together again to delight audiences for a standalone The Friday Night Show (22nd March), a spectacular, star-studded showcase of comedians at the top of their game. This blockbuster bill features Lou Sanders (Taskmaster, Channel 4; Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable, UKTV), Suzi Ruffell (Explicable Me, BBC Radio 2; OUT with Suzi Ruffell), Sophie Duker (Taskmaster, Channel 4; Celebrity Mastermind, BBC One), Kemah Bob (Richard Osman’s House of Games, BBC One; Death to 2021, Netflix) and Sofie Hagen (Edinburgh Comedy Award winner for Best Newcomer) — with even more to be announced.
The Friday Night Show will also be live captioned, in line with ARG’s commitment to making live comedy more accessible and inclusive. ARG also runs ARGComFest — a weekend comedy festival of Fringe previews and work-in-progress shows that takes place every summer, returning to Shoreditch Town Hall in July 2024.
Celebrate International Women’s Day with WOW Festival’s only London event WOW – One Night Live in London (8th March). Led by WOW’s Founder Jude Kelly, the evening will feature an interview with Annabelle Hirsch, the author of A History of Women in 101 Objects – now a remarkable audiobook involving 101 women readers – that takes us through the fascinating, too-oftenoverlooked, manifold histories of women via the stories of objects that changed the world. The evening will also feature by renowned singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright and others, as they perform special readings from the book.
In addition to this thrilling event, Shoreditch Town Hall are also hosting Azadi Network’s On our own terms: An evening of resistance through art, storytelling and conversation (9th March). Attendees are invited to join Baroness Kennedy KC, Jude Kelly CBE, Madeleine Rees, Negin Shiraghaei and Horia Mosadiq as they discuss the British Parliamentary Report which unveils the parallels between the structural gendered injustice in Iran and Afghanistan, alongside women and community leaders, artists and activists.
The evening will also feature art and music celebrating the resistance of women and the LGBTQ+ community, dedicated to empowering voices across the world. Ballet Queer present The Queer History of You Through Movement (Saturday 24th February) – a free practical movement workshop that explores queer identity through dance.
Delivered by Ballet Queer’s award-winning founder and choreographer Jonathan Watkins alongside other creative collaborators, Hackney based LGBTQ+ participants are invited to go on a journey of discovery through chat, movement and self-led responses to music. Designed for those without formal training, this workshop is an opportunity to express your identity through your own movement and navigate your own queer history. This workshop is delivered in partnership with Shoreditch Town Hall, and is funded by Hackney Council’s Pride 365 scheme as part of LGBT+ History Month 2024. Shoreditch Town Hall are hosting STAMP Connects (Wednesday 7th February), breaking down barriers between independent artists and the organisations who exist to support them.
An afternoon to come together for useful panel talks, open conversations and networking, this is an opportunity for artists and companies to meet, chat and build relationships with up to 20 Londonbased arts organisations, including the King’s Head Theatre, Soho Theatre, Theatre Deli and Pleasance. Returning due to popular demand, Shoreditch Town Hall favourites One-Drum are back this June with Festival of Highlife (1st June).
Featuring a line-up of talented musicians and soulful singers performing Afrobeat Highlife Jazz alongside energetic dancers, this family-friendly concert promises to be an evening of stunning music and dancing. Positive East presents the inaugural Rays of Resistance: Illuminating art and HIV activism (24th May), an evening illuminating the radical and historic connection between the arts, LGBTQ+ sexual health and HIV/AIDS activism. Hosted by singer and producer Roy Inc, this one-off event will give a stage to singers, musicians, actors and dancers in a dazzling display of the powerful intersection between the arts and HIV/AIDS activism.
The Town Hall Tea Dances continue throughout the year (15th January/12th February/15th April), continuing to delight audiences with an opportunity to dance the afternoon away in the magnificent surrounding of the Assembly Hall. Theatre Re’s monthly Sunday professional classes (February – June) return to Shoreditch Town Hall for the fourth consecutive year, with participants developing their skills and creativity in an open, playful and generous environment.
Christie Hill, Cultural Programme Producer, comments, This spring we’re pleased to be presenting a real range of cultural activity for you to see and get involved with. We’re excited for Coney to join us with their new interactive theatre show, and we welcome back ARGComFest this Summer, along with an addition of a new star-studded Friday Night Show in March to get your comedy fix earlier in the year. We’re thrilled to be joined by the Women of the World Festival and Positive East to the Assembly Hall, both hosting epic one nighters, celebrating women and the queer community. We’ll be hosting Ballet Queer workshops for Hackney’s LGBTQ+ History Month, to explore explores queer identity through dance, and excited for the opportunity to invite local residents to participate for free. Finally, our regular Tea Dances and Theatre Re workshops return this season, continuing todelight attendees. We hope you’ll find something that inspires you this Spring – see you there!
You can find the full season at https://shoreditchtownhall.com
