JAJA'S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING and More Set For Lyric Hammersmith's 2026 Season

Lyric Hammersmith Theatre Artistic Director Rachel O’Riordan has announced three new productions for 2026. All three are razor-sharp comedies, set across a single day, inviting audiences into vivid, pressurised worlds, and investigating how we both understand and misunderstand each other.

The season begins with the UK premiere of Jocelyn Bioh’s Tony Award-winning play Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, reuniting the team behind the smash hit School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play including director Monique Touko (Wedding Band; Marie and Rosetta).

It is followed by a contemporary production of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, directed by the Lyric’s Associate Director Nicholai La Barrie (God Of Carnage, Aladdin) on the 100th anniversary of its last appearance at the Lyric in 1926. This classic comedy uncovers the love, betrayal and scandal that prevails in the rarefied world of modern, affluent London.

Finally Ben Ockrent’s darkly comedic play Relics receives its world premiere production, directed by Michael Longhurst (Constellations, Next To Normal). Following the reunion of four siblings to clean out the content of their mother’s house, the play explores the legacy of our childhoods and the true cost of family secrets.

Rachel O’Riordan, Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, said: “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.