Lyric Hammersmith Theatre announces 2027 season

The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre has announced its 2027 season.

Rufus Norris, the former artistic director and chief executive of the National Theatre, will direct in London for the first time since leaving the organisation with Brock’s Mill, a Royal Shakespeare Company production (it will first open in Stratford-upon-Avon) in association with the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. Written by Stewart Pringle, the play explores the world of stop-motion filmmaking, with animation by Astrid Goldsmith. It runs from 13 May to 5 June.

As already revealed, the Tony Award-winning play Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, written by Jocelyn Bioh and directed in the UK by Monique Touko, returns from 20 January to 27 February, following its previous run at the Lyric. The production reunites the creative team behind School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play.

Inua Ellams’ Once Upon a Time in Sokoto will receive its London premiere from 13 April to 8 May, directed by Roy Alexander Weise and presented by Fuel. Winner of the 2024 Alfred Fagon Award, the play tells the story of a friendship between an enslaved woman and her former master, set against events leading to the creation of Nigeria.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold, adapted by Conor McPherson from Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s bestselling novel, will receive its world premiere from 17 June to 17 July. The story centres on a café in which customers can travel through time, subject to a series of rules, including returning to the present before their coffee gets cold.

The musical adaptation of Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief will have its London premiere, which we’ve covered separately here.

O’Riordan will direct Kieran Hurley’s adaptation of Graeme Armstrong’s novel The Young Team, a co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland and playing from 31 August to 25 September, after first running at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The world premiere follows Azzy, a young man growing up in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who becomes involved with a local gang. The production explores themes of friendship, loyalty, violence and belonging. After London, it will move to the Citizen’s Theatre in Glasgow.

Sarah Frankcom will direct Alistair McDowall’s adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle. The world premiere follows the Blackwood family, whose remaining members live in isolation after the deaths of most of their relatives. It runs from 7 October to 6 November.

Alongside the main-stage programme, the Lyric has announced a new partnership with Hackney Showroom, which will take up residency in the theatre’s studio Theatre. The partnership will include two world premieres, to be announced, and a festival titled Nice Pair, running from 8 to 20 March 2027.

The festival will invite four pairs of artists to develop original work in collaboration with Hackney Showroom’s artistic team. Each pair will receive a fee of £6,000 and present their production for a week. The open call will run from 27 October to 29 November 2026.

O’Riordan said: “This 2027 season at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is a statement of intent: a big, bold celebration of our audience and the artists who make such incredible work here. Three World Premieres, four London Premieres and one returning favourite, this year of incredible work represents the Lyric’s eclectic, imaginative, ambitious spirit.

“New plays are the lifeblood of theatre and this year we are proudly sharing six major new works, including Stewart Pringle’s innovative Brock’s Mill and Inua Ellams’s Once Upon a Time in Sokoto. Adaptations of much loved novels, both contemporary and classic, are a vibrant part of our programme. These stories have moved, delighted and challenged readers on the page; now we look at them again on-stage, re-lensed by exceptional artists.

“I am so proud to be directing Kieran Hurley’s stage version of The Young Team by Graeme Armstrong. The novel is a cultural phenomenon – heartbreaking, vital and hilarious – and I cannot wait to bring this new version to audiences in Scotland and London in partnership with National Theatre of Scotland.”