Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Sadler’s Wells is a world-leading creative organisation dedicated to dance in all its forms. The theatre, located in Islington, London, commissions and presents more new dance work than any other theatre in the world, embracing the popular and the unknown.

Sutra is an award-winning collaboration between choreographer and Sadler’s Wells Theatre Associate Artist Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Turner Prize-winning sculptor Antony Gormley, composer Szymon Brzóska and 19 Buddhist monks from the Shaolin Temple in China.

The production is an incredible spectacle of athleticism that explores the philosophy and faith behind the Shaolin tradition and its relationship with Kung Fu within a contemporary context.

Sutra is one of the Theatre’s longest running and most successful productions. Since its first sell-out performances in London in May 2008, it has toured around the world and played to sell-out audiences as far afield as Singapore, New Zealand, Mexico and the US. The critically acclaimed production has been seen by over 160,000 people in 60 cities across 28 countries and continues to tour worldwide.

Sutra is co-produced with Athens Festival, Festival de Barcelona Grec, Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, La Monnaie Brussels, Festival d’Avignon, Fondazione Musica per Roma and Shaolin Cultural Communications Company.

Find out more about Sadler’s Wells Theatre and the Sutra production directly at www.sadlerswells.com

The Sutra production features a striking set of 21 wooden boxes made of spruce which are three times as high as they are wide and conform roughly to human dimensions.

BCP was tasked by Sadler’s Wells Theatre to manufacture an aluminium box which would be used by lead performer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui throughout the production as a platform to stand on and interact with.

The BCP team’s craftsmanship and engineering skills were integrated in the manufacturing of the box, which is made up of aluminium panels using 3/8-inch cell size honeycomb core and bonded together using 3/4-inch aluminium square bar.

Sadler’s Wells Theatre required the box to be lightweight and strong to enable it to withstand the tour and make it easy to transport.

The aluminium box was assembled in a jig before being delivered to Sadler’s Wells Theatre for Sutra’s London leg of the tour.

Following an initial order in the first quarter of 2018 for their London shows, the Theatre placed an order for another aluminium box for the Australian leg of their world tour, which the BCP team built and delivered in September.

“The level of craftsmanship which went into the design and manufacture of the aluminium box is exceptional. The final product is lightweight and of very high quality which was a key requirement as the box needed to be able to withstand the tour. We were pleased with the outcome and would definitely consider using BCP again on future projects.”

Sadler’s Wells Theatre