In 2011, The Yard wasn’t supposed to last. Built from reclaimed materials in a Hackney Wick warehouse, it was meant to be a temporary experiment—just a summer fling with theatre. But then, something happened. The work was electric. Audiences kept coming. And suddenly, we weren’t temporary anymore.

We staged Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum Dreams, a one-woman powerhouse of a show that transferred to the National Theatre’s Shed before becoming a BAFTA-winning TV series. Alexander Zeldin’s Beyond Caring started here too, exposing the bleak reality of zero-hours contracts before heading to the National Theatre and then worldwide. Our club nights were just as legendary - Knickerbocker launched at The Yard in 2015, bringing chaotic, sweaty joy that continues to this day.

By now, The Yard Theatre had found its voice. Our work got bigger, wilder, and harder to ignore. The Mikvah Project explored queer love and ritual in a world of faith. Rita Kalnejais' This Beautiful Future took us into a bedroom where a Nazi soldier and a French girl fell in love. MJ Harding's Removal Men cracked open questions of care and coercion. Ncuti Gatwa starred in Pamela Carter's Lines, and Joshua Azouz's Buggy Baby turned the chaos of young motherhood into a fever dream. We staged our first 20th-century classic and turned it on its head with a gender-swapped The Crucible starring Emma D’Arcy.

We took over the running of Hub67 in 2016, transforming it into a space for creativity, connection, and local collaboration.

NOW Festival was launched, an annual explosion of radical performance and nightlife. Each year, we brought together wild, boundary-pushing acts—like women in Princess Diana masks smashing VHS tapes and dancers weaving through our crowds.

Live Drafts began and became our tinderbox of new shows — a festival where raw ideas meet their first audience. PECS Drag Kings, Marikiscrycrycry, Dipo Baruwa-Etti, In Bed With My Brother, Selina Thompson, Nina Segal, Sami Ibrahim, Temi Wilkey, Katie Greenall—so many groundbreaking artists debuted at Live Drafts, some growing into full productions at The Yard and some going elsewhere. Our nightlife programme hit full stride, with every weekend packed with DJs and performers from London’s best underground collectives.

Meanwhile, our Yard Young Artists programme began, offering free workshops to young people aged 9-21 in East London. What started as a small initiative has become a thriving community where playful experimentation meets professional mentorship, leading to performances on The Yard’s stage—some even becoming part of our public programme, like The Egg Show or Really Real Teenz.

In 2018, we became a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO), securing long-term Arts Council funding. The Yard had officially made its mark. In 2019, we launched The Hall in East Village—our second community space, expanding The Yard's reach into a new corner of East London.

When the pandemic hit, The Yard didn’t stop—we changed shape. The Hall became a food bank, supporting our community. Our Yard Young Artists program went virtual, running workshops and sending art packs to keep young people creating and connected. We launched Live Lab, a four-month program supporting six artists with development, mentorship, and masterclasses from industry legends. We also launched Yard Online—a virtual experiment that turned Zoom into a stage, Animal Crossing into an afterparty, and your phone into an intimate theatre space.

Night Drafts launched, supported by Help Musicians UK, creating space for the next generation of nightlife artists. Emerging collectives received commissions, mentorship, and masterclasses from London's club scene. Innovation doesn’t just happen on stage—it happens on the dance floor, too.

When we finally reopened, we threw Yard 10, our 10th birthday festival—right when the venue was hit by intense rain and floods, turning Hackney Wick into a canal. But we went ahead, proving exactly what we knew about The Yard: no matter what, we make it happen.

Then came SAMSKARA (which remounted due to a sell-out run), followed by Athena (a collaboration with the National Theatre), both pushing theatre into bold new places. And after years of pandemic delays, Dipo Baruwa Etti's An unfinished man finally made it to the stage in 2022.

Somehow, against all odds, we went ahead. That’s The Yard. That’s what we do.

The momentum kept building. The Flea, James Fritz’s fever dream of Victorian scandal, queer desire, and political corruption, smashed our box office records and became a cult favourite. We brought it back in 2024, making it our longest-running show ever. Meanwhile, our club nights kept evolving, with parties like DOOMSCROLL, U-Haul Dyke Rescue, T-Boys, and Habibti Nation joining the lineup and bringing their own revolution to the dance floor.

We also saw some incredible new works. Vinay Patel’s reimagining of The Cherry Orchard blasted off into space, while Rhianna Ilube’s Samuel Takes a Break... took us deep into the haunting history of Ghana’s Cape Coast Castle and Selina Thompson’s Twine and Sami Ibrahim’s Multiple Casualty Incident proved we were still pushing boundaries and taking big swings.

In 2024, we expanded further with Yard on Tour, taking our work to Latitude Festival for the first time. Then, the biggest news of all: We announced a new building with grants, including a £700,000 award from Arts Council England's Capital Investment Programme—a permanent home for The Yard’s next chapter.

Then, our final show, The Glass Menagerie, came along and smashed every box office record we’ve had. What a way to go out on a high.

From a warehouse experiment to a force pushing innovation in British theatre, The Yard has always been about reimagining theatre to reimagine the world. But this is just the beginning.

Join us for The Next Act and be part of the future—where new stories, new voices, and new ideas will shape what’s next for The Yard.