Lyric Hammersmith announces 2027 season, including London premiere of THE BOOK THIEF

Jaja's African Hair Braiding

The 2026 UK premiere cast of Jaja's African Hair Braiding. Image provided by production

Returning by popular demand, Jocelyn Bioh (School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play; Merry Wives) and Monique Touko's (Wedding Band; Marie and Rosetta) smash-hit Tony Award-winning play tells the story of a bustling braiding salon in Harlem run by West African immigrants. It had its UK premiere in March last year.

• 28 January - 27 February 2027

Jaja's African Hair Braiding Tickets

Once Upon a Time in Sokoto

Image provided by production

Internationally acclaimed poet and playwright Inua Ellams’ (Barber Shop Chronicles) Alfred Fagon Award-winning play will have its London premiere. Roy Alexander Weise (Nine Night, Hot Wing King) directs this powerful story about the beautiful, unlikely friendship that develops between an enslaved woman and her former master.

• 13 April - 8 May 2027

Once Upon a Time in Sokoto Tickets

Brock's Mill

Image provided by production

Former National Theatre Artistic Director Rufus Norris returns to London to direct for the first time since leaving his post, bringing to the stage Stewart Pringle’s (The Bounds, Trestle) moving family drama and love letter to the art of stop-motion film-making, which features animation by award-winning stop-motion animator Astrid Goldsmith.

• 13 May - 5 June 2027

Brock's Mill Tickets

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Image provided by production

Conor McPherson (The Weir) adapts Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s international bestselling novel - which originally began life as a play! It tells the whimsical story of a cafe in Tokyo that allows its customers to travel back in time, provided they return before their coffees get cold.

• 17 June - 17 July 2027

Before the Coffee Gets Cold Tickets

The Book Thief

Image provided by production

The musical adaptation of Markus Zusak’s global bestseller The Book Thief will have its London premiere, featuring a book by renowned author Jodi Picoult (My Sister's Keeper) and award-winning playwright Timothy Allen McDonald (Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka, The Musical), and music and lyrics from Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson. Directed by Tom Jackson Greaves (FAME The Musical), it tells the story of twelve-year-old Liesel Meminger, growing up in Nazi Germany and spending her time stealing books, while Death himself narrates.

• 24 July - 28 August 2027

The Book Thief Tickets

The Young Team

Image provided by production

In this world premiere, Kieran Hurley (Beats) adapts Graeme Armstrong’s ground-breaking, bestselling debut novel, bringing it to the stage for the first time, directed by Rachel O'Riordan. Set in Scotland in 2005, it follows Azzy Williams as he rises through the ranks of the Young Team Posse, in a world that's fast, furious, and dangerous.

31 August - 25 September 2027

The Young Team Tickets

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Image provided by production

Alistair McDowall (all of it, The Glow), adapts Shirley Jackson’s seminal gothic thriller and final novel. Sarah Frankcom directs this world premiere production, which explores the social and psychological implications of societal ostracisation in this story about eighteen-year-old Merricat Blackwood, who lives with her agoraphobic sister and ailing uncle on an estate, as the only three survivors of a family tragedy.

7 October - 6 November 2027

We Have Always Lived in the Castle Tickets

O'Riordan described the upcoming season as "a statement of intent: a big, bold celebration of our audience and the artists who make such incredible work here" and went on to say that "this year of incredible work represents the Lyric’s eclectic, imaginative, ambitious spirit."