In 2011, we turned a disused warehouse into a theatre, a bar, a dancefloor — and a home for new ideas. Fourteen years on, our spirit hasn’t changed. But our building needs to.

So we’ve closed. Tearing it down. And rebuilding it — right here in Hackney Wick, right here in the same spot — twice the size.

Thanks to partners including Arts Council England, The London Legacy Development Corporation, and the Greater London Authority, we’re building a brand new Yard, designed by RIBA award-winning architects Takero Shimazaki.

Our new building will feature a new double the size auditorium, a dedicated studio for young artists, new backstage and office facilities, and a six-storey natural ventilation chimney, making this a theatre built for the future.

We’re scaling up to support more artists, welcome more audiences and deepen our roots in East London.

We’ll be back soon. Same spirit, different foundations.

We support our artists to expand the potential of theatre.

We help artists find their voice, engaging local young people with our Yard Young Artists programme, inspiring them to create the future of theatre, today.

We support artists who have found their voice, encouraging them to take imaginative risks, and backing them to follow their instincts. They make great shows.

We work with no rule book, no formula and total belief in the power of artists and what they can create for our world.

By breaking down the barriers between stage and dancefloor, we upend expectations of theatre.

Both are spaces where stories are told, inviting us into journeys of escape, euphoria, possibility and hope — making both forms as invigorating as each other.

Both are spaces where artist and audience come together, feeding off each others’ ideas and energies in a live and exhilarating back-and-forth.

Both are spaces that ask us to be in the moment. To be there, we have to be there.

We work to reflect the stories, cultures, subcultures and communities of East London.

We prioritise our local audiences. We develop East London talent. We run free weekly workshops with our Yard Young Artists to partner with local schools, local artists and develop young voices.

We’re here to share East London with the world.

The Yard Theatre was founded in 2011 by Artistic Director Jay Miller because he wanted theatre to be more and do more. So over one summer, Jay and 50 volunteers converted a disused warehouse into an amphitheatre and nightclub, using reclaimed materials and a £10,000 grant from Arts Council England.

Originally intended as a six-month pop-up, The Yard has stuck around, and grown in influence.

Shows first shared at The Yard Theatre have been turned into television series, transferred to the National Theatre, and toured the world. Club nights first staged at The Yard have found bigger homes and love at venues like The ICA.

Artists like Michaela Coel, Alexander Zeldin, Marikiscrycrycry and Dipo Baruwa-Etti, collectives like INFERNO and Pxssy Palace, Yard Young Artists like Lamesha Ruddock — they’ve all used their vision and energy to give us new stories and narratives for what the world could be.

Now a permanent fixture in the UK's cultural scene, The Yard Theatre testifies to the power of a grassroots space that loves to explore and thrives on nonconformity.