Sadler's Wells Theatre is the name of six theatres that have been built since 1683 at a site on Rosebery Avenue,
Clerkenwell in the
London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre seats 1,500 and specialises in
dance, ranging from
ballet to
hip hop,
contemporary dance to
flamenco.
Opera, theatre, visual arts and dance on screen also feature in the mix.
In 1698 Thomas Guidott the noted Doctor of Physik who popularised the waters of Bath wrote what he called A true and exact account of Sadlers Well, or, The new mineral-waters lately found out at Islington treating of its nature and virtues&_160; together with an enumeration of the chiefest diseases which it is good for, and against which it may be used, and the manner and order of taking of it.
This brought the health giving properties of the hot mineral waters to the country and soon the aristocracy started to arrive to partake in them.
Thus, this still quite rural London location became famous for both water and for music, but as more wells were dug and the exclusiveness of Sadler's Wells declined, so did the quality of the entertainment provided - along with the quality of the clientele who were described as "vermin trained up to the gallows" by a contemporary, while, by 1711, Sadler's Wells was characterized as "a nursery of debauchery".
