Rip It Up: Rock the Boat brings five nights of iconic British films paired with emerging live music to Theatreship in Canary Wharf from August to September.
There is a 110-year-old cargo ship moored on the Millwall Cutting in Canary Wharf. It was built in 1913, spent a century hauling grain between the ports of northern Europe, and has been a not-for-profit arts venue since 2024. Its former hold is now a 100-seat cinema and theatre. It has hosted King Krule. And this August, someone has had the inspired idea of screening Quadrophenia, Human Traffic and This Is England inside it, each paired with a live performance from an emerging British band.
Rip It Up: Rock the Boat is Theatreship’s contribution to the BFI’s UK-wide Rip It Up season, co-curated with Phase, a London and Paris-based arts and culture magazine. Five events across August and September pair five decades of British youth culture on film with five contemporary acts responding to that same spirit of rebellion, community and collective experience.
The lineup
Monday 3 August: Quadrophenia + newbuild
The season opens with Franc Roddam’s 1979 film of The Who’s rock opera, the definitive mod film and one of the great British youth movies. Opening the night is newbuild, a DIY band drawing from 90s electronics, dream pop and noise rock who have become a fixture in London’s emerging rock scene. The pairing feels right.
Friday 7 August: 24 Hour Party People + Spanish Horses
Michael Winterbottom’s fictionalised chronicle of Manchester’s music scene from Joy Division to the Haçienda gets Spanish Horses as its support act: a London-based, Parisian group whose sound blends shoegaze haze, post-punk edge and melodically ambitious 80s and 90s indie songwriting. As pairings go, this one is doing real thematic work.
Sunday 23 August: A Hard Day’s Night + August
Richard Lester’s 1964 black-and-white Beatles film, which essentially invented the music video, screens alongside August, who bring buzzy, energetic alternative rock to the stage. The film that shaped decades of music cinema deserves a live act, and this is a good one.
Sunday 30 August: Human Traffic + Domina
The cult 1999 film of a group of friends navigating a euphoric weekend of clubbing in Cardiff gets London electronic trio Domina, whose minimalist, dreamlike synth-driven music with atmospheric vocals is exactly the right sonic companion for a film about the highs and comedowns of 90s rave culture.
Tuesday 1 September: This Is England + Wasabi
Shane Meadows’ 2006 masterpiece, one of the most emotionally devastating British films of the last thirty years, closes the season. Wasabi, a four-piece shoegaze and alternative band from Exeter blending the influences of Portishead, Slowdive and Fontaines D.C., have the weight and texture to hold the room before that film begins.
Why Theatreship
The venue is part of the story here. Theatreship has been doing this since it opened in 2024: pairing classic films with live music and contemporary performances in a space that has genuine physical history and character. The cargo hold where the screenings happen still has its original hardwood floors and steel hull. The bar is small and characterful. The whole thing holds 100 people and sells out. This is exactly the kind of programme that the venue was built for, and the BFI and Phase have found the right home for it.
The London x London Take: The combination of film and live music in this setting is one of those ideas that makes you wonder why it doesn’t happen more often. Human Traffic on a boat in the Docklands with a synth band playing beforehand is genuinely one of the more appealing summer evenings we’ve seen on this list. Book early, it will sell out.
Need to Know
- Where: Theatreship, South Quay, Canary Wharf, London E14
- Nearest DLR: South Quay
- Dates: 3 August, 7 August, 23 August, 30 August, 1 September 2026
