The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in London has announced three new productions for 2026.
Their spring/summer season starts with the UK premiere of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, then a revival of An Ideal Husband, and finally the world premiere of Relics.
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
The season begins with the UK premiere of Jocelyn Bioh’s Tony Award-winning play Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.
Set on a hot summer’s day in a bustling Harlem braiding salon, neighbourhood women come to have their greatest hairstyle dreams come true, all in the hands of a lively group of West African immigrant braiders.
The play reunites the creative team behind the Lyric’s hit production of School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, including writer Jocelyn Bioh, director Monique Touko (Marie and Rosetta), and designer Paul Wills (Les Misérables).
The creative team also includes wigs, hair & makeup design by Cynthia De La Rosa; lighting design by Simisola Majekodunmi; sound design by Tony Gayle; movement direction by Kloé Dean; casting by Julia Horan; and assistant direction by Gráinne Flynn.
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is playing from 18 March to 25 April 2026.
An Ideal Husband
The Lyric will also stage a new contemporary production of Oscar Wilde’s classic comedy An Ideal Husband in 2026, directed by Lyric Associate Director Nicholai La Barrie (God Of Carnage).
In An Ideal Husband, Sir Robert Chiltern is riding high on all the very best that modern life has to offer a man of his impeccable taste and immaculate reputation. The house, the clothes, the wife. All seems well until the arrival of the devious Mrs Cheveley, who has a taste for drama and secrets to spill. Her revelations threaten scandal, betrayal, public disgrace: so how far will this perfect gentleman go to protect his good name?
An Ideal Husband is running from 8 May to 6 June 2026.
Relics
Finally the Lyric is staging the world premiere of Ben Ockrent’s dark comedy Relics.
Directed by former Donmar Warehouse artistic director Michael Longhurst (Next To Normal), Relics follows the reunion of four siblings as they clean out the contents of their mother’s house, exploring the legacy of our childhoods and the true cost of family secrets.
Relics is playing from 18 June to 18 July 2026.
Now playing at the Lyric Hammersmith
Currently running at the Lyric Hammersmith is Dracula, until 11 October 2025.
Coming up is the Lyric’s annual panto, this year Jack and the Beanstalk from the 15 November 2025 to 4 January 2026.
What They Said
Rachel O’Riordan, Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, said in a statement: “I’m excited today to be announcing a new season of three shows for 2026 which exemplify the true spirit of the Lyric: bold, entertaining stories which bring audiences into seemingly familiar settings, and then turn them on their heads. We’re delighted to be reuniting Jocelyn Bioh and Monique Touko for Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. This writer-director team brought us Schools Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play in 2023 and this new play has all the same ingredients to be a great night out at the theatre. At the Lyric, we’re committed to taking classic works and reimagining them for the audiences of today. Nicholai La Barrie’s major new production of An Ideal Husband will do exactly that, taking Oscar Wilde’s enduring comedy and setting it in an opulent, modern-day London. It is always a thrill to programme a world premiere and Ben Ockrent’s Relics is no exception. Directed by Michael Longhurst, this dark comedy explores the long shadow of family secrets, shared history and sibling rivalries. Buckle up for a delicious family drama. From a Harlem hair braiding salon, to the highest echelons of modern-day London, and a family home haunted by secrets: I cannot wait for audiences to see these worlds come to life on our beautiful stage.”
Jocelyn Bioh (Writer of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding), said: “At the center 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!”
Monique Touko (Director of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding), 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.”
Nicholai La Barrie (Director of An Ideal Husband), 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 (Writer of Relics), 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!”
Michael Longhurst (Director of Relics), said: “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.”
Book tickets to shows at Lyric Hammersmith, London
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