Home to a diverse programme of international theatre, cinema, art, events, exhibitions, music, TV.
(669)
Riverside Studios brings artists, audiences and our community together to open minds and change lives through the collaborative nature of the arts. Riverside Studios is the home to two theatres, an independent two-screen cinema, hospitality, art, community, workplace and event spaces, all on the banks of the River Thames in Hammersmith, London.
25/07/2025
COMING SOON TO RIVERSIDE - A MANCHESTER ANTHEM !
19 Aug - 13 Sep 2025
We had to have it –and now it’s coming to London! After a storming sell-out run at the Fringe, this bold, funny, and deeply moving show is landing right here.
Tommy’s got one foot in Manchester, the other heading to Oxford, but first, one last big night out. Sticky floors, loud music, and a whole lot of heart.
James Gunn’s Superman isn’t just another reboot, it’s the fresh start DC desperately needed. Bold and packed with energy, this is the film that actually makes you believe in superhero movies again.
From the award-winning makers of Frankie Goes to Bollywood and Britain’s Got Bhangra comes a brand-new panto packed with naach, drama, and full-on filmi fun!
Meet our stars:
✨ Sonya Venugopal as Surinder
✨ Rory Dulku as Prince Kavi
Surinder’s stuck with two selfie-obsessed stepsisters, while Prince Kavi’s drowning in shaadi pressure. But when their worlds collide… the magic really begins.
Expect glam, giggles, a cow called Basanti, and a Bollywood Ball to remember!
Performances of The Tempest and Twelfth Night for autistic people of all ages at Riverside Studios London. August 2025.
24/07/2025
Meet Pierre Peters: once a hotshot political correspondent, this reporting legend is now stuck profiling celebs 📰
Played by Tony Award winner, Robert Sean Leonard. 🤩
One half of a gripping two-person story. Interview is one night. Two people. Just the truth. Or someone's version of it.
Book now at interviewplayonstage.com. 5 WEEKS ONLY, starting 23rd August at Riverside Studios!
24/07/2025
KOKONA
2 - 3 August 2025 | Bitesize Festival
As if detached from the rest of the world, KOK and KONA are on a journey of exploring their own and each other's bodies; which, peculiarly, feel different and alike at the same time. With only a few clues from what outer society inscribes on bodies like theirs, they set out to understand who and how they should be. Driven by their curiosity and their desire to become one, they dive into playful experimentations about the feminine and masculine, and create space for transformations.
KOKONA is a dance theatre duet experimenting with ideas around body, identity and self-expression. It constructs a world, in which bodies are detached from their materiality, to playfully explore how we would experience different norms and constraints if we hadn’t yet embodied them.
🎭What is Bitesize Festival?
Bitesize Festival is Riverside Studios’ 4-week showcase of bold, one-hour performances from emerging artists. Celebrating new writing, fresh ideas, and adventurous theatre, all in bite-sized form. This edition, with the addition of short films and art.
At Once Before and After
30 July - 3 August 2025 | Bitesize Festival
A woman is displaced, she must find a new home, she must find a new story. Can she weave a way forward when her roots have been lost? Must she excavate the past to find a place in the present?
At Once Before And After centres around four female identifying characters who are at once individuals and part of a whole, through burial rites, stories told around campfires and archaeological sites. They are at once before and after.
🎭What is Bitesize Festival?
Bitesize Festival is Riverside Studios’ 4-week showcase of bold, one-hour performances from emerging artists. Celebrating new writing, fresh ideas, and adventurous theatre, all in bite-sized form. This edition, with the addition of short films and art.
The Wise Men
30 - 31 July 2025 | Bitesize Festival
The Wise Men presents hilarious and uncomfortably familiar stories of Jewish men grappling with their masculinity and whether or not to call their mums back.
The show uses drag, character work, acute observations, original song, dance and physical comedy to celebrate and critique the modern Jewish man in all his variations. Inspired by the Jewish folklore stories of The Wise Men of Chelm.
🎭What is Bitesize Festival?
Bitesize Festival is Riverside Studios’ 4-week showcase of bold, one-hour performances from emerging artists. Celebrating new writing, fresh ideas, and adventurous theatre, all in bite-sized form. This edition, with the addition of short films and art.
Rodney Black: Who cares? It's Working
29 July 2025 | Bitesize Festival
Rodney Black is an up-and-coming stand-up. Thanks to a two-fingers-up-to-polite-society approach, and a money-hungry manager, his career is at its peak as he titillates and aggravates with equal measure. But, when a violent crime is committed by a ‘super fan’, Rodney must grapple with the ethical implications of his new found spotlight.
Grappling with hard-hitting issues and diving right into the cultural zeitgeist, Rodney Black presents a powerful and nuanced exploration of cancel culture, freedom of speech and misogyny in entertainment - from a radically womxn and GenZ perspective.
🎭What is Bitesize Festival?
Bitesize Festival is Riverside Studios’ 4-week showcase of bold, one-hour performances from emerging artists. Celebrating new writing, fresh ideas, and adventurous theatre, all in bite-sized form. This edition, with the addition of short films and art.
It's Just The Industry
29 July - 3 August 2025 | Bitesize Festival
It’s Just The Industry is a fictional exploration into the world of Musical Theatre training in London and what it truly looks like. Because I would guess like many others you think you know, but you don’t really know.
It’s Just The Industry takes you on a three year journey through college. Jessie drags you up to her highest euphorias and down to her darkest corners through spoken narrative and song, and whilst no one else is talking about this, she’s shouting.
🎭What is Bitesize Festival?
Bitesize Festival is Riverside Studios’ 4-week showcase of bold, one-hour performances from emerging artists. Celebrating new writing, fresh ideas, and adventurous theatre, all in bite-sized form. This edition, with the addition of short films and art.
Walking with Molly
28 July - 1 August 2025 | Bitesize Festival
Walking with Molly follows a twenty-five year old grappling with the fallout of an impulsive TikTok gone viral. After gaining an unexpected following overnight, Molly fights to forge an identity online, fast becoming a flaming car crash you just won’t be able to stop watching.
Between questionable dates, minor mental breakdowns and an ever growing divide between her TikTok and reality, Molly’s story questions how far we’ll go to stay relevant in a world that thrives on spectacle, and what happens when the mask slips.
🎭What is Bitesize Festival?
Bitesize Festival is Riverside Studios’ 4-week showcase of bold, one-hour performances from emerging artists. Celebrating new writing, fresh ideas, and adventurous theatre, all in bite-sized form. This edition, with the addition of short films and art.
Emily Lane will join the previously announced cast of the world premiere of Blessings, by acclaimed playwright Sarah Shelton, at Riverside Studios from 30 September-26 October.
For more info, please click on the link in the comments below...
22/07/2025
22/07/2025
Still buzzing from our Creative Night, an incredible evening meeting the makers behind this year’s shows, sharing stories (and a few beers thanks to our partner Lost and Grounded Brewers) with the creatives, and celebrating everything that makes Bitesize so special!
We’re now in Week 3 and officially in the second half of the festival, and things are only getting better...
This weekend we’re bringing you the Bitesize Short Film Festival, a handpicked line-up of short films, plus networking drinks after the screenings. Big shoutout to our brilliant partners Lost and Grounded Brewers, who are keeping the good times flowing throughout the fest 🙌
Photography by Ethan Date
22/07/2025
✨ West End star Emily Lane joins the cast of Blessings as youngest daughter of The Deacons - Sally! Emily is due to star as Anne Boleyn in Anne Boleyn The Musical and has also been seen on stage in Frozen, Les Miserables and Hello Dolly. She's also just been cast as Princess Beauty in the London Palladium's upcoming Christmas pantomime.
Set in a small English town in the 1960s, Blessings is a blisteringly honest, darkly funny new play exploring faith, family and the lies we tell to keep everything from falling apart.
Are you a UK-based student or recent graduate who identifies as a person of colour? This is your chance to exhibit your work at Riverside Studios!
We’re inviting to be part of our exhibition theme “Inherited Rituals”, exploring how generational customs shape cultural and personal identity.
- Deadline: 04.08.25
- Email 3–5 images of your work + a 300-word write-up and CV to [email protected]
- Opening exhibition reception: 17.08.25
Physical or digital works welcome with optional sensory and performative components!
17/07/2025
🎶 Live Music at Riverside | August Line-Up
From soul-stirring vocals to global grooves, jazz fusions to high-energy DJ sets. Join us for unforgettable nights of live music from some of the most exciting rising and established artists.
Line-up includes:
Jemima Whyte + Mali Sheard’s Homestead - 8 Aug
Dr. Telefunk DJ Set (FREE) - 9 Aug
Annabelle Boissonnet & Batekes Band - 9 Aug
Hip Hop Jazz Night - 15 Aug
No Wahala Sound Orchestra + Solur Jazz - 16 Aug Amore Jazz & World-Music
flora (headline debut) + Mt Douglas - 30 Aug
Tickets from £10–£15 | Concessions available
Book now: riversidestudios.co.uk
17/07/2025
🎬 Bitesize Short Film Festival 2025
25–27 July
We’re thrilled to launch the inaugural Bitesize Short Film Festival, a three-night celebration of bold, imaginative short films that showcase exceptional storytelling in its most distilled form.
Each evening features a curated programme of powerful short fiction followed by networking drinks with free beers provided by Lost and Grounded Brewers. A chance to connect with fellow creatives, filmmakers, and film enthusiasts in a relaxed setting.
I Love You Michael, from Nadine
25 - 27 July 2025 | Bitesize Festival
Inspired by a true story, ‘I love you Michael, from Nadine’ follows the life of 19-year-old jazz singer Nadine as she falls in love with outlaw Michael Vajour. Marrying into a life of crime, Nadine finds herself slipping comfortably into her new role, but when a botched bank heist finds Michael locked away, Nadine is pushed to unimaginable lengths to help him escape, quickly learning what it takes to be the best at being bad. Yet, when an estranged visit from her forgotten past confronts her, the world she built around her begins to crack, threatening to unravel everything she’s fought to protect.
🎭What is Bitesize Festival?
Bitesize Festival is Riverside Studios’ 4-week showcase of bold, one-hour performances from emerging artists. Celebrating new writing, fresh ideas, and adventurous theatre, all in bite-sized form. This edition, with the addition of short films and art.
Arrogant Soft
24 - 27 July 2025 | Bitesize Festival
Set in modern-day South London, Arrogant Soft follows a games night that unravels into an evening of revelations as two couples discover the games they play aren't all on the table.
We are excited to announce a special post-show Q&A on Thursday 24th July. Join us straight after the performance and free to all ticket-holders!
🎭What is Bitesize Festival?
Bitesize Festival is Riverside Studios’ 4-week showcase of bold, one-hour performances from emerging artists. Celebrating new writing, fresh ideas, and adventurous theatre, all in bite-sized form. This edition, with the addition of short films and art.
Jay and Tess are waiting to be reborn. Stuck in the in-between, they pass the time imagining new lives—flicking through professions, trying on futures—while recounting the night they met: a house party full of music, chaos, and the moment that ended it all. Inspired by Plato’s Myth of Er, Er unfolds across three timelines—past, present, and future. Part party, part myth; a bit Godot, a bit Albi—Er is a new piece from Hornsey–Pennell Productions, exploring destiny, reincarnation, and the quiet search for the divine, even in a flat full of drugs, booze, and basslines.
🎭What is Bitesize Festival?
Bitesize Festival is Riverside Studios’ 4-week showcase of bold, one-hour performances from emerging artists. Celebrating new writing, fresh ideas, and adventurous theatre, all in bite-sized form. This edition, with the addition of short films and art.
A Series of Poorly Timed Questions
22 - 25 July 2025 | Bitesize Festival
A Series of Poorly Timed Questions is a solo show about curiosity, chaos, and the art of opening your mouth before your brain catches up. Some questions start as jokes. Some accidentally spiral. Some sound fine until you say them out loud and realise what you’ve just done. There’s no fourth wall. There’s barely a first one…It’s part theatre, part unravelling, part awkward eye contact with a stranger (who might be you), not interested in answers. Just what happens when we ask anyway. Come for the questions. Stay for whatever happens in the parts between them.
🎭What is Bitesize Festival?
Bitesize Festival is Riverside Studios’ 4-week showcase of bold, one-hour performances from emerging artists. Celebrating new writing, fresh ideas, and adventurous theatre, all in bite-sized form. This edition, with the addition of short films and art.
Go with the Flow
22 - 27 July 2025 | Bitesize Festival
Go With The Flow is on a mission to educate and empower people on the subject of periods with sass, wit and a small dash of interrogation. Starring the Gynae Guru, this jukebox cabaret is unapologetically audacious and heartfelt, taking the audience through the 28-day menstrual cycle like you’ve never seen before. Come for the laughs, stay for the liberation!
🎭What is Bitesize Festival?
Bitesize Festival is Riverside Studios’ 4-week showcase of bold, one-hour performances from emerging artists. Celebrating new writing, fresh ideas, and adventurous theatre, all in bite-sized form. This edition, with the addition of short films and art.
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Riverside Studios posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
In 1976, Peter Gill (pictured centre) was appointed Riverside's first Artistic Director and soon established the Studios as a leading London arts venue with acclaimed productions of The Cherry Orchard starring Julie Covington (1978), The Changeling starring Brian Cox (1979) and Measure for Measure (1979) starring Helen Mirren.
During the late 1970s and 80s, Riverside hosted the highly successful Dance Umbrella seasons, as well as a huge variety of international productions including notably the work of Polish theatre maestro Tadeusz Kantor and a series of legendary theatre workshops with the Italian playwright Dario Fo. On two occasions during the early 1980s, Samuel Beckett rehearsed productions at Riverside, later describing the venue as ‘a haven’. An influential gallery also flourished, hosting exhibitions by such luminaries as David Hockney, Antony Gormley and Yoko Ono.
Throughout the 1990s Riverside Studios continued its popular programme of theatre, film, opera, dance and music with notable productions including Hamlet starring Alan Rickman, Robert Lepage’s The Seven Streams of the River Ota, The Master Builder starring Brian Cox and Anthony and Cleopatra starring Vanessa Redgrave. Television production also returned to Riverside, with Studio 1 hosting such long-running shows as TFI Friday and CD:UK and, in more recent years,The Apprentice: You're Fired!, Celebrity Juice, Russell Howard's Good News and The Last Leg.
The 2000s saw companies such as Complicite and The Wooster Group bring their groundbreaking work to Riverside, while other notable theatre productions include Scaramouche Jones starring Pete Postlethwaite and The Exonerated starring Stockard Channing and Danny Glover. In the early 2010s, the musical Salad Days, A Round-Heeled Woman starring Sharon Gless and Mies Julie by Yael Farber proved great successes.
Riverside Studios closed for redevelopment in September 2014. Its future promises a wonderful new home (opening in 2019) in which the best of its past in film, theatre, comedy, dance and television is mixed with the latest technology to provide even more opportunities and inspiration for artists and audiences.
