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Continuing the current London theatre trend of announcing an entire year of programming in one go, west London’s ever-hip Lyric Hammersmith theatre has today announced its entire 2027 roster.
Following this year’s Christmas panto Cinderella, the new year will get underway with a return for the smash 2025 UK premiere production of Jocelyn Bioh’s Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Jan 20-Feb 27), her hugely enjoyable comedy about the ebb and flow of life in an African hair salon in New York.
Next up, the London transfer of Barber Shop Chronicles writer Inua Ellams’ highly praised drama Once Upon a Time in Sokoto (Apr 13-May 8), which concerns the founding of Nigeria and the intra-African slave trade, centring on the relationship between an enslaved woman and her former master.
Then, it’s a swift transfer for the RSC’s production of Stewart Pringle’s Brock’s Mill (May 13-Jun 5), a homage to the glory days of stop-motion kids’ animation that follows an elderly former animator as he finds himself confronted by his daughter May, who is grown-up and in need of having aspects of her childhood explained. The show is directed by former National Theatre boss Rufus Norris – it’s his first show to be seen in London since he left the NT in 2025.
The first world premiere of the year is a good ’un: big-name Irish playwright Conor McPherson adapts Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s 2015 novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Jun 17-Jul 17), a series of interweaving magical realist stories about an unusual Toyko café that allows customers to travel back in time for a limited period (until their coffee gets cold – about one hour).
The Lyric is fond of a big summer musical, and in 2027 it will present the London premiere of the stage version of Markus Zusak’s smash historical fiction novel The Book Thief (Jul 24-Aug 28). Concerning a young German girl who steals books as she comes to understand the power of literature while being raised by foster parents during the Second World War, it’s a new reworking of the musical by Jodi Picoult, Timothy Allen McDonald, Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson, which premiered in Bolton in 2022.
In the autumn, Lyric boss Rachel O’Riordan will direct Kieran Hurley’s stage adaptation of Graeme Armstrong’s violent, semi-autobiographical Scots gangland drama The Young Team (Aug 31-Sep 25), a co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland.
Finally – and very excitingly – Alistair McDowell’s first full-length play since 2022 is an adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s psychological horror We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Oct 7-Nov 6), which revolves around an isolated family living on a crumbling estate, grappling with the tragedy that took place six years previously. That’s it for now, though it would be pretty remarkable if the show immediately after wasn’t a pantomime, which will probably be announced fairly soon.
The Lyric Hammersmith 2027 season goes on sale October 2027.
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