Sheffield Theatres Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman and CEO Tom Bird have announced details of the 2026/27 season. With this newly announced season, Sheffield Theatres continues to grow in the strength and scale of its ambition to engage audiences and artists across its four auditoria, foyers, rehearsal rooms, across the city and beyond.

Major revivals

The new season includes a double-bill of Shakespeare in the Crucible with two major new productions brought to the stage by a company of actors across both titles, in association with MGC, which marks a reunion for Sheffield Theatres and former Artistic Director Michael Grandage. The company will be joined by Matthew Horne in Twelfth Night, which will be directed by Jamie Glover, and Ian McDiarmid in King Lear which is directed by Titas Halder. King Lear runs from 29th August to 19th September 2026, with Twelfth Night running from 10th to 31st October 2026.

Olivier Award-winner Jonathan Church will return to Sheffield Theatres with the beloved classic Singin’ in the Rain which will delight audiences in the Crucible over the festive period from 26th November 2026 until 16th January 2027.

World premieres

Set in Yorkshire and based on the acclaimed book, the world premiere of The Ballroom will mark the return of the director of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie to Sheffield. The production is created by Jonathan Butterell, Strictly Come Dancing star Kevin Clifton and Anna Hope. Dates and further details will be announced soon.

As always, Sheffield Theatres’ programming brings together locally-rooted productions with global stories.

The world-premiere of Ugandan born and Sheffield bred and based John Rwothomack’s Never Look Back is brought to the stage in a co-production with Roots Mbili Theatre. It is a retelling of the East and Southern African soldiers who fought for the Commonwealth in World War II. It runs at the Crucible from 27th February until 13th March 2027.

Sheffield Theatres collaborates with English Touring Theatre and Graeae with the world premiere of 12 Letters To My Name by Sheffield’s Lettie Precious, telling the story of two African schoolchildren who have recently made Sheffield their home. This production runs at the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse from 12th to 26th June 2027.

The world premiere of the stage adaptation of Sunjeev Sahota’s novel The Year of the Runaways is directed by Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman and adapted by playwright Stephanie Street, presented in association with Ranga Shankara. The production is set to play the Crucible Theatre from 5th to 26th June 2027.

This autumn, Open Works, a first-of-its-kind festival for Sheffield Theatres, will celebrate artists from across South Yorkshire and beyond in a coming together of creatives that will expand Sheffield as a destination for discovery.

A new generation of talent will also take to the stage at Sheffield Theatres’ Youth Theatre present the world premiere of The Trip by Janys Chambers, created in collaboration with its young members and creatives. The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2025 winner, Sapling by Georgina Duncan, will be produced at Sheffield Theatres, the new venue partner of the Prize, in co-production with Paines Plough and the Women’s Prize for Playwriting. Sapling is a tender and darkly funny story which follows a young man dealing with the pains of adolescence and the lingering shadow of grief in 1990s Belfast. Dates for Sapling are to be announced, whilst The Trip runs at the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse from 6th to 8th August 2026.

Visiting productions

As ever, Sheffield Theatres welcomes a host of visiting productions.

In the Lyceum

Ruby Wax presents Absolutely Fabulous on 25th June 2026, in which she reunites with Clive Tulloh to revisit iconic interviews and reveal scandalous stories from their career. German Comedy Ambassador Henning Wehn presents Acid Wehn on 5th October 2026. Henning takes an unbiased look at climate change – a topic sure to delight audiences. After all, everyone loves talking about the weather.

Heathers the Musical returns from 20th to 24th October 2026, before Burlesque the Musical arrives in Sheffield for the first time from 27th to 31st October 2026. Agatha Christie’s classic The Mousetrap plays from 3rd to 7th November 2026, before STOS Theatre Company presents festive favourite Nativity! The Musical from 17th to 21st November 2026.

Looking into 2027, the Lyceum welcomes Dirty Dancing (6th to 9th January 2027), The Full Monty (15th to 30th January 2027) at the start of its 30th anniversary UK tour, Blood Brothers (2nd to 6th February 2027), Paranormal Activity (16th to 20th February 2027), Annie (23rd to 27th February 2026) starring Claire Sweeney, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (8th to 13th March 2027), a brand new production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (13th to 17th April 2027) and Mrs Doubtfire (18th May to 6th June 2027).

In the Crucible and Playhouse

Senior Snooker stars return to the Crucible for the World Senior Snooker Championship. The 24 player tournament runs from 6th to 10th May 2026.

On 6th June 2026, Daryl & Co. and Half Moon present Boxed In at the Playhouse, a largely non-verbal show for ages 3 to 6 exploring confusing rules and feeling left out. Written and performed by acclaimed actor Sudha Bhuchar, Evening Conversations plays on 27th June 2026. Frank, fast-paced dramedy Invisible by Totally Visible Company plays on 1st July 2026, before Anosh Irani tells the story of love, loss and the magic of clowning in Buffoon from 16th to 18th July 2026.

Two performers create condensed versions of some of Shakespeare’s most iconic plays in Table Top Shakespeare, presented by Forced Entertainment. This show runs from 10th to 12th November 2026.

In the Montgomery

Touching, funny and utterly original, Freckle Productions’ delightful adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s Stick Man comes to the Montgomery this Christmas! What starts off as a morning jog becomes quite the misadventure for Stick Man: a dog wants to play fetch with him, a swan builds a nest with him, and he even ends up on a fire! How will Stick Man ever get back to the family tree in time for Christmas? This award-winning production, from the team behind Zog and Zog and The Flying Doctors features a trio of top actors and is packed full of puppetry, songs, live music and funky moves. The show runs from Saturday 5th December 2026 until Sunday 3 January 2027.

Further afield

After beginning its life in Sheffield and a sold-out West End run, KENREX opens on Broadway this April and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie will be touring the UK once again, celebrating ten years since it first burst onto the Crucible stage. Looking into next year, Sheffield Theatres continues to develop global partnerships, including the association with Ranga Shankara in Bengaluru, India, a collaboration rooted in exchange, learning and shared ambition.

New productions go on sale to Centre Stage Members at 10am on 7th March and on general sale at 10am on 14th March. Tickets for The Ballroom and Sapling will go on sale soon.