Interview With… Ella Spira and Pietra Mello-Pittman

It feels like a total dream come true. Every day there are new learnings. It feels like freedom! To have the flexibility to test new ideas and continue the creative journey in a way that is right for our cast, our Sisters Grimm methodology and our audiences is hugely liberating and audiences are responding to the authenticity in a way we couldn’t have imagined. 

We met in 2008 and immediately clicked creatively. We were introduced by chance on a Thursday night, and by that Sunday we were already in the Royal Opera House testing ideas together. Most people were probably nursing hangovers but we were in a studio seeing what might happen.

We can’t pick just one, but two really stand out. Premiering INALA at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2014 was extraordinary – performing in the largest theatre in Europe to nearly 3,500 people and receiving a full house standing ovation is something we’ll never forget. And more recently, opening our own new-concept West End venue, House of Sisters Grimm, with a red-carpet, invite-only gala on 28 November was a huge achievement.

We have always been driven to produce work that is motivated by a desire to see positive social change, through cultural collaboration all told within a new format that feels familiar and has commercial viability. We want positive change for the artists we work with, the audiences and to play our part in societal progress. 

We would love to open House of Sisters Grimm in other major cities around the world broadening the reach and impact of INALA and the whole experience of the venue to audiences in New York, Tokyo, Shanghai to name a few. So, watch this space…..