Lyric Hammersmith Theatre announces 2027 season

Lyric Hammersmith Theatre Artistic Director Rachel O’Riordan has announced her 2027 season.

Summary

• Lyric Hammersmith Theatre Artistic Director Rachel O’Riordan has announced her 2027 season
• Rufus Norris directs Stewart Pringle’s Brock’s Mill
• Directors also include Sarah Frankcom, Tom Jackson Greaves, Monique Touko, and Roy Alexander Weise

Rachel O’Riordan has announced the 2027 season at Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. The programming features three World Premieres, three London Premieres, and a returning smash hit.

The Tony Award-winning Jaja’s African Hair Braiding will return, driven by director-writer duo Monique Touko and Jocelyn Bioh, the team behind smash hit School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play.

Internationally acclaimed poet and playwright Inua Ellams’s Once Upon a Time in Sokoto will have its London Premiere, directed by Roy Alexander Weise. It follows the beautiful but unlikely friendship forged between an enslaved woman and her former master.

Former National Theatre Artistic Director Rufus Norris returns to to direct in London for the first time since leaving his post with Stewart Pringle’s Brock’s Mill. A family drama and a love letter to the craft of stop-motion film-making.

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s international bestselling novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold is adapted for the stage by Conor McPherson, transporting the iconic time-travelling Funiculi Funicula to London.

The musical adaptation of Markus Zusak’s global hit The Book Thief has its London premiere, with music and lyrics from Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson, libretto by internationally renowned author Jodi Picoult and playwright Timothy Allen McDonald. the show will be directed by Tom Jackson Greaves.

Another world premiere production is Kieran Hurley's adaptation of Graeme Armstrong’s bestselling debut novel The Young Team. Directed by Lyric Hammersmith Theatre Artistic Director Rachel O’Riordan in co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland.

Alistair McDowall adapts Shirley Jackson’s final novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, directed by Sarah Frankcom in a world premiere production about the social and psychological implications of societal ostracisation and family tragedy on two sisters.

Rachel O’Riordan, Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, 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, three London Premieres and one returning favourite, this year of incredible work represents the Lyric’s eclectic, imaginative, ambitious spirit."