Summer in The Ditch came, slayed and conquered the basement, with artists bringing energy, quirkiness, and pure chaos to The Ditch – just how we like it. Our basement space is having another epic takeover with Ministry of Stories for an interactive family adventure, ending this Saturday. Plus the Majorettes return for their hoola hooping workshops and Local Lounge continues if you’re after free space. AND if you’re looking for Early Bird discounts, you’re in the right place… Read on for our #FriendsAtSTH blog – your monthly round up of exciting people passing through our building.

Events

Ministry of Stories

DreamState

Until 2 August

After a successful Speak Up event in July, Ministry of Stories is back at Shoreditch Town Hall for an interactive adventure for families which involves a full takeover of our basement space, The Ditch. DreamState is a free, choose-your-own-path experience where audiences journey through eight fantastical rooms, jam packed with activities, experiences and surprises. Created in workshops with 112 young people between the ages of 6 and 16, it is an imaginative exhibition for all ages. Tickets are SOLD OUT, but you can keep an eye on our website in case there are any returns.

Workshops

Marawa’s Majorettes

5 August

Marawa’s Majorettes returns to make everyone fall in love with hooping! They’ve become a leading fitness team and international performance troupe, teaching the world to hoop as they go. Every week we support the Majorettes by giving them space to rehearse at Shoreditch Town Hall. Explore more here.

Local Lounge

It is not too late to take part in our Local Lounge initiative which offers free use of our Front Room space for Hackney-based grassroots organisations, charities and not-for-profits to use for meetings, social events, training sessions, creative workshops, and more.

From Paint N Sip nights to focus groups, mindfulness sessions to networking, there is an endless possibility of what you can use our Local Lounge for. For more information on Local Lounge and to submit your interest, click here.

Xenia

9, 23, 30 August

Xenia brings together women from different backgrounds to connect, share and learn. In particular they welcome women learning English to participate, alongside women who speak fluent English, using Xenia sessions as a time to connect with people you wouldn’t otherwise meet and learn about each other’s perspectives through friendship and shared learning. A regular staple of our Local Lounge, the team have also used the initiative for their staff and Trustee away days.

Queertopia Consortium

18 August

Local Lounge regulars Queertopia Consortium, is a grassroots community group which provides a safe space where individuals from LGBTQIA community can gather, connect, and provide mutual support. They are using Local Lounge for a day of networking, collaboration, and empowerment with like-minded individuals and businesses in the LGBTQ+ community. Attendees will hear from inspiring speakers, participate in workshops, and explore opportunities for growth and success. 

Coming up this Autumn

Theatre Re’s Beginnings: 5 Day Workshop and Monthly Training Classes

1 – 5 September; September – December

Beginnings: 5 Day Workshop is a week-long intensive which explores the beginnings of Theatre Re‘s unique process of making visually striking theatre with original live music. They will share how the work starts and how it evolves as participants train and play both individually and as an ensemble, devising work with music being composed live in the room. Theatre Re’s Monthly Sunday Training Classes are professional sessions which are rooted in their training and creative process. Sessions will focus on conditioning the body in preparation for: rigorous training, Corporeal Mime technique and repertoire, as well as improvisation and composition inspired by the company’s current projects.

Town Hall Tea Dance

September – December

Our iconic Town Hall Tea Dance is back! After a summer hiatus Mr Wonderful and Raymond Root return to bring you a wonderful afternoon of groovy moves, tasty cakes and of course a warm cuppa as you dance the afternoon away in the magnificent surrounding of our Assembly Hall. Book by clicking here.

The Place’s Anatomy of Survival

11-12 September

A woman walks into a cafe. She orders a coffee. The barista doesn’t understand her request. The woman loses her sh*t. Chaos reigns. Anatomy of Survival questions how the human nervous system allows us to explore our colliding perceptions of reality, whilst examining the fragility of shared social reality. Through dance, music, text, science, psychology – and a bit of mess – it exposes how easily things fall apart. Limited Early Bird tickets are available right now, grab yours while you can by clicking here.

Open House

20 September

Open House Festival is back at Shoreditch Town Hall! The world’s largest architecture festival heads back to London this September for a two-week celebration of London’s homes, architecture and neighbourhoods. Peak inside some of London’s best known buildings, as well as some of its best kept secrets all for free! Come along on one of our Guided Tours to explore spaces that are never usually open to the public and learn about our rich history, featuring Sylvia Pankhurst, women’s rights advocate Helen Taylor; Shoreditch’s first woman mayor Henrietta Girling OBE and more. Click here fore more details.

Little Bulb’s Listen Dance

3 – 4 October

Put on your dancing shoes and get ready to hit the floor in this raucous evening of social dance from Olivier Award-Winning Little Bulb Theatre. At Listen Dance you can try everything from ceilidh to candy, disco to DnB – there’s even a beginner’s guide to moshing! All accompanied by a genre-hopping live band and sprinkled with Little Bulb’s signature theatre magic. A joyous night out that celebrates the past, present and future of social dance. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes moving, always joyful, all are welcome. Click here for tickets.

Shoreditch Town Hall is a Fun Palace!

4 October

Fun Palaces returns to Shoreditch Town Hall for an exciting family-friendly day of creativity and chat. Come and be part of what happens in our building as we open our doors to our community as a part of this fantastic nationwide initiative with Fun Palaces. Events we have confirmed so far include our History Tours, board games in our Front Room, activities led by Filament Theatre. Full line-up to be announced soon. If you have an idea, would like to get involved in this year’s Fun Palace, or just want to explore more about the event, head to our website by clicking here.

Dance Umbrella’s LANDSCAPE by Elena Antoniou

24 – 25 October

Dance Umbrella returns to Shoreditch Town Hall this year as a part of their 2025 festival with Elena Antoniou’s radical solo performance LANDSCAPE taking place in our Assembly Hall. Antoniou’s bold and intimate show transforms the body into a living stage. With striking physicality and unapologetic presence, she invites us into a world where self-objectification becomes a radical act as she hypersexualises her form whilst holding space for trauma. Exploring how personal experience can become a shared space – a landscape shaped by desire, pleasure, pain, exposure and resistance. Click here to book.

curious directive

24 October – 1 November

Critically acclaimed curious directive bring their razor-sharp family drama, Black Sheep to Shoreditch Town Hall this Autumn. Showcasing the hidden financial, political and mental pressures shaping rural Britain through an intergenerational story focusing on the Cater family, Black Sheep was devised in collaboration with 12 Norfolk Farmers. Early Bird Ticket price ends TODAY (Friday 1 August) so grab your discounted tickets now by clicking here.