The Young Vic Theatre’s Artistic Director and CEO Nadia Fall has today announced details of her 2026/7 season - a programme of compelling international storytelling from world-class theatre makers and exciting new voices, many of whom are making their Young Vic debuts.
Running from September 2026 - July 2027 across the Main House and the Maria Studio, this new season of work pulls together adventurous new theatremaking and reimaginings of classic work which interrogate the past, confront the future and help us to grapple with the here and now.
In the Main House
● The 26/7 season will open with the World premiere of Thelma & Louise, a brand-new musical adaptation of Callie Khouri’s Oscar and Golden-Globe winning road movie, featuring music and lyrics by Grammy-nominated iconoclast Neko Case. Directed by Trip Cullman (Choir Boy) and starring Amy Lennox (Cabaret, Kinky Boots) and Rachel Tucker (Wicked, Come From Away) in the title roles, Thelma & Louise has been reimagined for the stage at a time when the politics of the original film feel more relevant than ever. 3 Sep - 24 Oct 2026.
● The premiere of the English language adaptation of Eurotrash reunites the creative team behind the Young Vic's hit productions Kafka's Monkey (2009) and The Emperor (2016). Ben Whishaw (Peter Hujar’s Day and This is Going to Hurt) and Kathryn Hunter (Poor Things & Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) from the hit Netflix series Black Doves reunite here as a mother and son who embark on a road trip through the Swiss Alps to give away their vast family fortune in an attempt to escape the shadows of their past. This new adaptation of Christian Kracht’s internationally best-selling novel by Colin Teevan (The Tank, Das Boot, Monkey!), directed by Walter Meierjohann (Blindness, In the Red and Brown Water) is a darkly comedic search for absolution. 13 Nov 2026 - 9 Jan 2027.
● Tiago Rodrigues (By Heart, Catarina, Beauty of Killing Fascists), Portuguese playwright and director, and current director of the Festival d’Avignon, presents the UK premiere of his intimate and inventive play La Distance. First performed at the Festival d’Avignon in 2025, La Distance, performed in French with English surtitles, is a profoundly human exploration of separation, hope, and the bond between parent and child, set within a collapsing world. Original cast members Alison Dechamps and Adama Diop reprise their roles as father and daughter. 22 Jan – 13 Feb 2027.
● Olivier and BAFTA award-winner debbie tucker green (ear for eye) writes and directs the World premiere of dissent, an explosive new play about humanity's capacity for monstrous behaviour. 5 Mar - 24 Apr 2027.
● Young Vic Artistic Director and CEO Nadia Fall (Entertaining Mr Sloane) directs the first UK staging in 20 years of August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, a moving exploration of resistance, redemption, and the enduring search for freedom. 14 May - 10 July 2027.
Now in its second year of programming, the Maria Studio offers a platform of scale for brilliant directors, writers and artists to present inventive, creative approaches to theatremaking.
In the Maria
● Straight from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Shedinburgh lands in London for the very first time. The immersive venue will be re-built in the Maria to present the very best of the Fringe, showcasing over 40 shows from artists including Inua Ellams, Sara Pascoe, Bryony Kimmings and Rosie Jones. This month-long residency will celebrate the creativity and diversity of the Fringe, featuring iconic shows alongside brand new work. The full programme of intimate shed-style performances will span theatre, music, comedy and everything in between, with all shows announced next month. 19 Sept - 10 Oct 2026.
● Ewa Dina (The Welsh Dragon), winner of the 2026 JMK Award makes her Young Vic debut directing Theresa Ikoko’s (Rocks) award-winning play Girls. Set in Nigeria during the 2014 militant insurrection when hundreds of girls were kidnapped from their homes, Girls is a powerful story of three friends and the difficult choices they make to survive. 22 Oct - 21 Nov.
Further programming for the Maria Studio will be announced in the autumn.
As part of the Young Vic's ambition to open-up its building and animate its spaces year-round, the organisation will begin hosting stand-alone events across both the Maria Studio and the Main House which will span scratch nights, gigs, panel events and more.
● Professor Daisy Fancourt, an award-winning scientist and world-leading expert who recently published Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health, will discuss the life-enhancing power of the arts in an evening hosted by broadcaster, journalist and podcast host, Hannah MacInnes. 27 Sept 2026 (Main House)
● Award-winning poet and playwright Inua Ellams brings a special edition of his global R.A.P. Party, Brown Sugar, to the Young Vic, honouring influential artist D’Angelo, founder of the Neo-Soul movement who passed away in October last year. The event will feature D’Angelo’s music alongside poetic responses to his work. 14 Oct 2026. (Maria Studio)
Nadia Fall, Artistic Director and CEO of the Young Vic said: “As we witness our global landscape become riddled with strife and division, we need spaces where connections and communities can be forged and cultivated. I believe theatre has the unique ability to ignite dialogue between artists and audiences; where ideas, memories, stories and histories can be shared.
Our 2026/7 season welcomes powerful international storytelling into our unique shape-shifting spaces, transporting audiences from the American mid-west to Nigeria and from the Swiss Alps, to a red planet in the depths of our solar system. Each of these new productions are cathartic, poignant, wickedly funny and above all profoundly human stories.
As we throw open the doors to the Young Vic this season, the building will be bursting at the seams with leading international artists and exciting new voices presenting work simultaneously across both the Maria and Main House spaces. From blockbuster musicals to experimental new work and a celebration of the creativity and anarchy of the Edinburgh Fringe, I can’t wait to share this new programme with you all.
The Young Vic continues its commitment to supporting the next generation of theatre makers through the Creators’ Program and its ongoing partnership with the JMK Award, which returns to the theatre in 2027. Applications for next year’s award will open this autumn, offering an early career director the opportunity to direct a full-scale professional play in the Young Vic’s Maria Studio. Year round, the Young Vic Creators Program provides opportunities for theatremakers to develop their practice through programmes such as the Jerwood Assistant Director Programme, which appoints an early career director to the creative team of every Young Vic production. The Young Vic is grateful to the longstanding support of the Jerwood Foundation towards the organisation’s Assistant Director Programme.
For thirty years, the Young Vic’s work has extended beyond the walls of the building, fostering long lasting relationships with the communities of Southwark and Lambeth through Young Vic Taking Part. Throughout 26/7 Young Vic Taking Part will continue to offer free tickets to all performances alongside offering creative and artistic opportunities that span three key strands, learning, participation and Neighbourhood Theatre. Details of their 30th anniversary programmes will be announced later in the year.
Priority booking for Thelma & Louise, Girls, Eurotrash and La Distance opens at 12pm 20 April, with general on sale for these productions and for R.A.P Party and Art Cure from 12pm Thursday 23 April.
dissent, Gem of the Ocean and Shedinburgh and will go on sale to supporters and the general public later this year.