ON STAGE | SADLER’S WELLS EAST TO KICK OFF FESTIVE SEASON WITH ‘EBONY SCROOGE’ BY ZOONATION

By Rishma • On What is New

 

 

 

 

28th Novem­ber — 4th January 

Tick­ets On Sale HERE

The first ever Christ­mas show at Sadler’s Wells East opens this Novem­ber, with the world première of Ebony Scrooge run­ning from Wed­nes­day 26 Novem­ber — Sunday 4 Janu­ary 2026. A brand-new adapt­a­tion and bold retell­ing of A Christ­mas Car­ol, blend­ing hip hop, com­edy and phys­ic­al theatre, Ebony Scrooge is a ZooN­a­tion: The Kate Prince Com­pany and Sadler’s Wells pro­duc­tion.

The first Christ­mas show at Sadler’s Wells East will round off the first year at the new theatre, which opened in Feb­ru­ary and will have staged over 30 dance pro­duc­tions in its aud­it­or­i­um in 2025 along­side a pro­gramme of free per­form­ances, events and work­shops across the build­ing. Sadler’s Wells East is a power­house for dance in the UK and is home to six state-of-the-art dance stu­di­os for cre­at­ing and pro­du­cing new work. Ebony Scrooge will be rehearsed in the Martha Gra­ham Stu­dio and is the third Sadler’s Wells pro­duc­tion to be cre­ated in the new build­ing, fol­low­ing the inaug­ur­al show Our Mighty Groove and Quad­rophenia: A Mod Bal­let.

The fam­ily friendly hip hop dance theatre show is brought to life by East Lon­don born and raised cho­reo­graph­er Dan­ni­elle ‘Rhimes’ Lecointe. The Olivi­er Award win­ning cho­reo­graph­er is Asso­ci­ate Artist­ic Dir­ect­or of ZooN­a­tion: The Kate Prince Com­pany. Rhimes has worked across theatre, film and tv and cho­reo­graphed for the 2012 Olympic Open­ing Cere­mon­ies. Rhimes is basing the show on her per­son­al exper­i­ence, tak­ing inspir­a­tion from revis­it­ing her own Carib­bean roots. The show will fea­ture ori­gin­al music from Sky Arts and Olivi­er Award-win­ning Boy Blue Co-Artist­ic Dir­ect­or Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante MBE.

Rhimes has worked on many of ZooNation’s shows includ­ing Into the Hoods, Some Like It Hip Hop, Mix­tape and Sylvia. Sadler’s Wells Asso­ci­ate Artist Kate Prince foun­ded ZooN­a­tion in 2002 to pion­eer innov­at­ive, enter­tain­ing and access­ible dance theatre inspired by hip hop cul­ture. ZooN­a­tion is cel­eb­rated for its ground­break­ing pro­duc­tions, includ­ing the inter­na­tion­ally acclaimed Mes­sage In A Bottle also co-pro­duced by Sadler’s Wells.

The new fest­ive fam­ily show fol­lows Ebony, the for­mid­able fash­ion design­er behind a renowned fash­ion empire who has can­celled Christ­mas to focus on her land­mark fash­ion show. Sur­roun­ded by wealth, style and suc­cess, Ebony embarks on a jour­ney as she is vis­ited by the ghosts of Christ­mas past, present and future and redis­cov­ers her Carib­bean roots, and the true mean­ing of happiness.

Artist­ic Dir­ect­or Dan­ni­elle ‘Rhimes’ Lecointe said, “Ebony Scrooge is a bold reima­gin­ing of A Christ­mas Car­ol, fus­ing ZooNation’s sig­na­ture dance styles and ori­gin­al music inspired by hip hop cul­ture into a vibrant cel­eb­ra­tion of fam­ily, tra­di­tion and heritage. 

Rooted in my per­son­al jour­ney of dis­con­nec­tion from Christ­mas — a time once enriched by Domin­ic­an tra­di­tions and shared with my grand­moth­er, whose jour­ney with demen­tia reshaped our family’s cel­eb­ra­tions, it delves into the joys and chal­lenges of the fest­ive sea­son. More than just anoth­er Christ­mas show, it’s the ulti­mate Christ­mas party where everyone’s invited. I hope audi­ences are inspired by this jour­ney of self-dis­cov­ery and cel­eb­ra­tion, con­nect­ing with the uni­ver­sal themes of love, resi­li­ence and cul­tur­al pride.”

A ZooN­a­tion: The Kate Prince Com­pany and Sadler’s Wells production

Audio described per­form­ance and accom­pa­ny­ing touch tour on Sat­urday 13 December 
Relaxed per­form­ance on Wed­nes­day 17 December
Cap­tioned per­form­ance on Sat­urday 6 December

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Rishma

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds
Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voiceless.

About Rishma

Rishma Dhaliwal has extensive experience studying and working in the music and media industry. Having written a thesis on how Hip Hop acts as a social movement, she has spent years researching and connecting with artists who use the art form as a tool for bringing a voice to the voiceless.