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The Lyric Hammersmith, one of London’s oldest and most influential off-West End theatres has just announced details of what is, remarkably, its 130th anniversary season.
That makes it just a little younger that Henrik Ibsen’s landmark play Ghosts, which was first published in 1881 to howls of horror from a polite Victorian world utterly unprepared for its bleak depiction of a family being ripped apart by – amongst other things – syphilis. The Ghosts that opens the Lyric’s sweet 1-3-0 season (Apr 10-May 10 2025) is not technically that Ghosts: it’s a reworking by Welsh playwright Gary Owen, in his latest collaboration with director and Lyric boss Rachel O’Riordan, that will see the story brought aggressively into the the present day.
That will be followed by Marriage Material (May 22-Jun 21), Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s acclaimed debut novel about a hipster London graphic designer forced to take over his family’s Wolverhampton corner shop following the death of his father. Iqbal Khan directs.
The most anticipated show in the season is probably Sing Street (Jul 8-Aug 23), top playwright Enda Walsh’s new wave musical adaptation of the hit 2016 indie film about a bullied young boy who forms a band in ’80s Dublin. The musical was due to open on Broadway in 2020 but was never able to open due to the pandemic, though a cast recording was made in the early weeks of lockdown – consequently it’s acquired a serious cult following.
Finally another new adaptation of a classic of the Lyric’s vintage: Morgan Lloyd Malcolm will bring Bram Stoker’s Dracula to the stage (Sep 11-Oct 11) in a version that puts the female characters at the heart of the story.
Tickets to all shows are on sale now - buy tickets here.
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