The Barbican Centre today announces four further productions, presented by the Barbican Theatre, to complete its spring season drawing on themes of gathering and renewal. The Theatre & Dance programme of ground-breaking new work, major anniversaries and spellbinding live performance runs from 14 Jan – 11 May 2025. These four productions follow the previously announced world premiere of THE SEAGULL starring Cate Blanchett and Tom Burke in Chekhov’s classic, adapted by Duncan Macmillan & Thomas Ostermeier, directed by Thomas Ostermeier (world premiere, 26 Feb-5 April).
Tickets for the full spring season are now on sale to Barbican Premier Patrons, Principal Patrons, Director’s Circle Patrons and Barbican Patrons, and will go onsale to Barbican Members Plus and Barbican Members from 10am tomorrow. Tickets for general sale will be available from Fri 17 Jan from 10am via barbican.org.uk.
Toni Racklin, Barbican Head of Theatre & Dance, says:
“I am excited to share more details of our spring season today, bringing the inspiring work of international and London-based artists to our unique stage, connecting our audiences with companies who create new and unforgettable experiences, helping us to feel our shared humanity and navigate the world around us.
Samuel Beckett’s works have always had a particularly profound resonance when performed at the Barbican and we welcome back Landmark Productions following their previous compelling productions which have celebrated important Irish playwrights on our stages. We are delighted to present Teatro La Plaza’s work in London for the first time, their focus on community and inclusion while developing ground-breaking theatre which questions today’s world aligns closely with our values at the Barbican. And we look forward to celebrating the meeting of Dance and Music, with our Associates Boy Blue, and Clod Ensemble and Nu Civilisation Orchestra finding thrilling ways to connect across generations.”
Celebrated Irish actor Stephen Rea makes his Barbican Theatre debut in a new, captivating production of one-act masterpiece Krapp’s Last Tape, continuing the Barbican Centre’s longstanding connection with Nobel prize-winning playwright Samuel Beckett and contemporary Irish theatre. Transferring from Dublin after two sold-out runs, Landmark’s production is directed by Vicky Featherstone and features recordings Rea made as a younger man. Almost 50 years on from working with Beckett on another of his seminal works, Endgame, these layers of personal history resonate profoundly with the play’s themes of memory, loneliness and lost love as the performer is confronted by his own past onstage night after night.
The first Peruvian company to perform in the Barbican Theatre, Teatro la Plaza, make their London debut with their joyful and enigmatic reinvention of Hamlet. From visionary Director Chela De Ferrari, eight actors with Down’s Syndrome take centre stage, weaving in their own desires and frustrations with text from Shakespeare’s classic tragedy.
Also on the main Barbican Theatre stage will be the return of two wildly popular fusions of dance and music by some of the UK’s most talented young artists. There’s an extended opportunity to catch Clod Ensemble and Nu Civilisation Orchestra’s jazz-club restaging of Charles Mingus’ seminal album in The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady. And the season culminates with an almighty, roof-raising hip-hop takeover by Barbican Associate Artist Boy Blue. The Sky Arts Award-winning company bring all ages of the hip hop community together with their sensational signature showcase, A Night with Boy Blue, part of a three-day series of events including a panel discussion, free performances in the foyers and a dance battle, spotlighting the next generation of dancers at the beating heart of the future of hip hop.
The four new productions announced today complete the Barbican’s spring Theatre & Dance programme celebrating bold new work in the Theatre and in The Pit, the Barbican’s award-winning experimental studio venue. The season launches today with extraordinary visual performances by four astonishing international companies as part of MimeLondon, followed by Belarus Free Theatre’s UK premiere of KS6: Small Forward, HighRise Entertainment’s world premiere of Lil.Miss.Lady, and ambitious works in progress from inspiring artists Racheal Ofori, Will Adamsdale, Jay Bernard and Melanie Wilson under the umbrella of FuelFest. Later on, a new production of Dior Clarke and Stephanie Martin’s original drama Passion Fruit directed Rikki Beadle-Blair, and Queer East Festival platforms the work of Singaporean artists in the UK premiere of When the Cloud Catches Colours.
