The Lyric Hammersmith has announced its 2018 eason comprising a new adaptation, an innovative Shakespeare staging, a major festival production, a stunning revival, an award-winning contemporary opera and a brand new dance production.
Joining the previously announced Things I Know To Be True by Frantic Assembly, which returns to the venue from January, Toyah Willcox comes to the Lyric in an audacious new staging of Derek Jarman’s seminal film, Jubilee (February 2018), which aims to capture punk at its giddy height of music, DIY fashion and the occasional spot of nihilism.
In March, Sean Holmes’ production of Sean O’Casey’s The Plough And The Stars comes to the Lyric after a sell-out run at the Abbey Theatre, where it told the story of a community amid the tumult of the Easter Rising.
This is followed by the revival of the Royal Opera’s award-winning operatic production of Sarah Kane’s emotionally stirring 4.48 Psychosis in April, which won the UK Theatre Award for Achievement in Opera in 2016.
The internationally renowned choreographer Hofesh Shechter brings his Shechter II company of talented young dancers to the Lyric Hammersmith for 6 performances only in May, performing a double-bill of Hofesh’s blackly comic piece Clowns and a brand new creation to sit alongside it. The company aims to combine the energy of a rock gig with beautiful, moving choreography.
The Lyric’s co-production of Fatherland, exploring identity, nationality and masculinity, arrives in London in May/June as part of LIFT Festival, following its world premiere at Manchester International Festival in 2017.
The season is rounded off by a new condensed staging of two of Shakespeare’s most brutal and poetic plays – two directors, two plays, one set, one company. o t h e l l o m a c b e t h, directed by Jude Christian and Sean Holmes, plays from October-November.
The Lyric Hammersmith’s Artistic Director Sean Holmes said: “It’s a real pleasure to announce such a vibrant and provocative season. Punk rebellion, Irish revolt, ground-breaking opera, electrifying dance, Shakespeare doubled and Frantic Assembly at their best make for a rich and compelling Lyric season: one that promotes emerging talent and celebrates the artistic benefits of collaboration in all its forms.”