The rebuilt Yard Theatre in Hackney Wick opens with Ian McKellen's Lear

The Yard Theatre has form for starting small. It first opened in 2011 in a temporary DIY warehouse space in Hackney Wick, built from packing crates for around £9,000. Now it has a permanent, purpose-built home on the same site, and a very big name on the bill.

According to the Ham & High and the Islington Gazette, the £6.7million venue reopened in July, after the old Yard closed in May 2025 for a major redevelopment. Founder and director Jay Miller is still in charge.

McKellen's Lear

The opening season's headline act is Lear, a new play created from Shakespeare's tragedy and drawn from recorded conversations between Sir Ian McKellen and Miller. Tickets sold out in under 30 minutes, according to the reports.

The tag line runs: "Ian McKellen has performed in King Lear 708 times, Never like this". The piece riffs on the 87-year-old's life and 65-year career, with subject matter taking in "Endings. Refusing to stop. And what’s left when you do."

Miller has co-written the play with playwright Simon Stephens. Taylor Russell, known for Lost in Space and Escape Room, joins the cast as Cordelia, King Lear's youngest and favourite daughter. Miller described her as "an extraordinary addition to our company".

Stephens said that sitting "in a church hall in east London while Ian McKellen finds the rage and beauty and humanity of Lear has been an experience I will always treasure."

Art on the roof and in the foyer

The opening season includes The Collections, a dedicated fund for projects beyond traditional theatre. It supports commissions and public events across Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, including work with V&A East and Sadler's Wells East.

• A permanent roof sculpture by Antony Gormley, titled Domain.
• A front-entrance installation by Ed Atkins.
• A project led by Jeremy Deller, working with students from Gainsborough School to design a young artist's studio on the first floor.

Gormley said he was "delighted Domain CIII will find a permanent home at the new Yard Theatre".

Ashleigh Wheeler, executive director of The Yard, said the team "dreamed up The Collections to celebrate the opening of the new Yard Theatre", bringing together neighbours from the primary school down the road to the East Bank organisations across the canal.

Schools and what comes next

Two school matinees of Lear will run on 9 and 16 December, with tickets starting from free. Schools in Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Waltham Forest get priority.

Later productions include There's Something About Adam Black by Troy Hunter, and a new adaptation of Mrs Dalloway by Holly Robinson, from Virginia Woolf.

Know before you go

• Where: The Yard Theatre, Hackney Wick, east London.
• Lear dates: 17 November to 2 January 2027.
• Tickets: the main run has sold out. Free-to-start tickets are available for the school matinees on 9 and 16 December, with priority for schools in the four boroughs above.

Sources: Ham & High, Islington Gazette