Aszure Barton's Mere Mortals, which recasts Pandora's box as a story about artificial intelligence, brought San Francisco Ballet and Floating Points to Sadler's Wells.
San Francisco Ballet brought Aszure Barton’s Mere Mortals to Sadler’s Wells Theatre in Angel from Wednesday 9 to Saturday 12 September 2026. The visit opened the theatre’s autumn season of visiting international companies.
Barton made Mere Mortals as a world premiere for Tamara Rojo’s inaugural season as artistic director. It retells the Greek myth of Pandora, the first mortal woman, as a story about artificial intelligence.
The score is by Sam Shepherd, who records as Floating Points, and the production joins electronic music and festival culture to contemporary ballet. Hamill Industries made the design and visuals.
Founded in 1933, the company is the oldest professional ballet company in the United States. Rojo ran English National Ballet for a decade before she took it over in 2022. The visit returned her to a London stage with the work she commissioned to open her tenure.
Floating Points performed the score live with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia from Wednesday to Friday, and the four performances made up the entire British run. Natalie Haynes, author of Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths, one of Rojo’s named influences, gave a free pre-show talk.