I know we all believe our beautiful borough is the beating heart of the city. Thankfully since taking over as chief executive in January, Chris Sudworth agrees, relaunching the Edwardian monolith with an ongoing tasteful spruce up, refocused around the idea of centrality - to its community, its artists, and its place in the city’s twinkling cultural firmament. "We are actually quite central in London as well as central to our communities," he explains of the new strategy's name, Hackney:Central.
"It's been a home for generations of communities and actually, even within our staff team, there are generations of families that still work here, and you can feel it in the warmth of the welcome," he beams. That sense of belonging is shown through the building's extensive youth programming, which next year marks 25 years of the Creative Futures programme. Each summer, between 50 and 60 young creatives stage an entirely original production through the Artist Development Programme (ADP) - "they create a brand-new piece of music theatre from scratch" - while schemes like Take the Lead train young people as facilitators, and Young Producers help shape the venue's wider strategy. "Young people permeate through this whole organisation," he says simply.
As if on cue we wander through the rigging backstage and onto the boards in between youths fiddling with guitars and warming up vocally, filling Frank Matcham’s Venetian/Byzantine splendour with bubbling life. “We also work in partnership with communities and partner schools—there's this whole world that not everyone knows about. We're a charity, like so many theatres are, and this is where our energy goes: opportunity, access, progression, really supporting people's journeys.” explains Chris as he smiles and shakes hands with everyone we encounter. Can this camaraderie be genuine? The critic in me flickers before I sublimate the cynicism, this is a CEO who genuinely cares.
On the question of affordability amid the cost-of-living crisis, Sudworth is candid about the balancing act involved. "It's an increasingly challenging world for people to commit both the time and the finance to come and enjoy brilliant collective experiences—so we consciously look at accessible pricing. There might occasionally be a premium price, but sometimes those premium prices enable us to keep the rest accessible. We're committed to that."
Alongside pricing, he wants Hackney Empire to commission work that really speaks to locals: "How do we make the stories that Hackney wants to see, and communities like it up and down the country want to see? People seeing their own lived experience reflected." That ambition translates into a commitment to producing at least two shows a year in-house or in partnership - including Nanny of the Maroons, a co-production with Coventry's Belgrade Theatre due in July next year, alongside a yet-to-be-announced large-scale touring production opening in September 2027 (watch this space).
Speaking on Hackney Empire's unique approach: “one thing I've probably seen to a deeper level here than anywhere else is the wraparound care that they put around everything — genuine wellbeing, genuine individual support, there's a dedicated role for it. The team thinks ahead, they're wonderful, and that's a huge part of the ethos here.”
Asked for a highlight of the past six months, Sudworth points to I’m Every Woman, the Chaka Khan musical starring Alexandra Burke, which was meant only to use the venue for technical rehearsals before a West End opening fell through. "We then had to work round the clock with them to see could there be a solution where they could open here," he recalls. The result was a sold-out world premiere staged alongside four separate comedy runs in the same week. "It just reminded us what's possible," he says, understandably, with a little pride.
Sustainability, Sudworth insists, runs underneath all of this. "We recognise the climate crisis and we're going to work to make sure that we do everything in our power to make sure we are not worsening that, and wherever we can, we're improving that." He cites the Alter Ego talent showcase as the venue's first production staged to Green Book environmental standards, alongside rooftop solar panels and a recent switch to dimmable LED lighting funded by a green energy grant.
What gets us both really excited is the extended celebration of the theatre's 125th anniversary - a "16-month birthday" running from September 2026 to December 2027. It opens with Hackney's Open House weekend, featuring a new Young Producer-led festival stage in the currently refurbished square outside the theatre: “Within that weekend, when all the buildings around Town Square open their doors, we'll be celebrating the centre of our town.” As if that’s not enough jubilation, it’s a joint celebration with Hackney Women's FC's 40th anniversary kit launch: “Playing with Pride Since 1986.”
October brings a run of milestone shows, including the tenth anniversary of The Nature of Forgetting by Theatre Re. “Literally five days later,” Talawa Theatre Company (the UK’s premier Black theatre company) celebrates its 40th anniversary gala (there was something special happening in Hackney in 1986 clearly). Ten days later they’re launching a new variety strand called Empire Nights, curated around the personal tastes of a different comedian, each instalment highlighting the theatre’s music hall and variety beginnings.
November pairs comedy legends Lenny Henry and Jo Brand - both closely tied to the venue's 1980s reopening and place in stand-up history - with a rare appearance from Talking Heads’ David Byrne. December closes the year with beloved panto, featuring director Clive Rowe returning as the Dame “for the 125th year there'll be some really beautiful extra-special content woven in”.
Throughout our chat, Sudworth returns to an overarching refrain: that the theatre's value lies less in any single show than in the relationships it builds. "The more you can be here, the more you understand us, and the more you're part of the family," he says. East End Review can’t wait to see dazzling opportunities arise from a chief executive and theatrical ecosystem dedicated to “remaining central to the lives of Hackney people, and we take that really seriously”.
