Lyric Hammersmith Theatre unveils new productions for 2026

The new season includes an Oscar Wilde play, a UK premiere, and a world premiere, with creatives including Michael Longhurst, Nicholai La Barrie, and Monique Touko on board.

Summary

• First in the season is the UK premiere of Jocelyn Bioh’s play Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
• This is followed by a contemporary production of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband
• The final show to be announced is Ben Ockrent’s darkly comedic play Relics

Three new productions have been announced as part of the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre's 2026 season.

The season opens with the UK premiere of Jocelyn Bioh’s Tony Award-winning play Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, which follows a group of West African immigrant braiders working in a bustling Harlem braiding salon. Performances begin on 18 March 2026, running through 25 April. Monique Touko directs, reuniting with the team behind School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play.

Bioh said: “At the centre of it, Jaja's African Hair Braiding is about the power of community and I cannot think of a better theatre community to come back to! The love that UK audiences gave to me and my play School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play two years ago was beyond incredible and it is truly an honor to team back up with Lyric and the incomparable director Monique Touko for the UK premiere of Jaja's African Hair Braiding. I hope audiences will once again connect with the heart, humor and universality of my work. I truly cannot wait for the shop to open!”

Touko said: “I’m so thrilled to return to the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre with Jocelyn Bioh for our second collaboration. Jaja's African Hair Braiding is a portrayal of femininity rooted in the African experience. Jocelyn's writing is a celebration and interrogation of what it means to dream and survive in a place where you are othered. We will invite everyone to the shop- to listen, learn and laugh and expose UK audiences to a context which puts black women front and centre with joy, complexity and power.”

The creative team includes set design by Paul Wills, wigs, hair and make-up design by Cynthia De La Rosa, lighting design by Simisola Majekodunmi, sound design by Tony Gayle, and movement direction by Kloé Dean.

It is followed by a contemporary production of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, directed by the Lyric’s Associate Director Nicholai La Barrie. The production marks the 100th anniversary of the play's last appearance at the Lyric in 1926. Wilde's classic comedy follows Sir Robert Chiltern, who is loving his comfortable life as an affluent gentleman until the arrival of the devious Mrs Cheveley. Performances run from 8 May to 6 June 2026.

La Barrie said: “An Ideal Husband is, at its heart, about the contradictions that define us: love and betrayal, politics and family, forgiveness and redemption, morality and greed. More than a century after it was written, these themes feel as urgent as ever. We are still navigating the same questions—how to balance ambition with integrity, how to forgive the people we love, how to reconcile private mistakes with public lives. Wilde wraps these struggles in razor-sharp wit, reminding us that laughter can be a way of facing uncomfortable truths. What I love most about this play is how it holds a mirror to us all, exposing the masks we wear in society while gently nudging us to find compassion, honesty, and even humor in our flaws.”

Ben Ockrent’s darkly comedic play Relics receives its world premiere at the Lyric, directed by Michael Longhurst (Constellations, Next To Normal). Following the reunion of four siblings to clean out the contents of their mother’s house, the play explores the true cost of family secrets. Performances begin on 18 June, running through 18 July 2026.

Ockrent said: “I am beyond excited that Relics will have its world premiere at the beautiful Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, under the stellar direction of Mike Longhurst. Over the course of one evening, the four characters of this play unravel through their conflicting responses to a hugely personal moral dilemma. That we should be putting on this play now, when all around the world there appears to be such a dearth of moral leadership, feels particularly timely and I can’t wait to share this funny and heartfelt story with our audiences!”

Longhurst added: “Ben's play is brilliantly challenging and very very funny. He’s taken that classic tinderbox set-up - the post-funeral family get-together, where emotions and resentments run high - and gleefully dumped a ton of petrol on it. Siblings behaving badly, doesn’t begin to cover it. I was agog reading it and can’t wait to get in a room with these characters and bring them to a Lyric audience.”

Check back for shows in the Lyric Hammersmith's new season on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: artwork for new season. (Courtesy of Lyric Hammersmith Theatre)