The Barbican Centre today announces its Theatre & Dance programme running over autumn-winter this year, presenting international work for all ages across its theatres. The line-up features UK premieres of epic-scale multidisciplinary work from two of Europe’s most sought-after directors; the return of Dance Umbrella spotlighting choreographers making their London debuts and challenging expectations of dance; award-winning artists transforming The Pit into radical spaces of belonging with experimental blends of physical theatre, storytelling and sound; and over the festive period, under-2s join Catalan artists on an immersive sensory journey in outer space.
Two major UK premieres start off the season in the Barbican Theatre: French-Vietnamese theatre and filmmaker Caroline Guiela Nguyen making her UK debut with LACRIMA (25 – 27 Sept), a hauntingly beautiful, multi-lingual drama shedding light on the hidden personal cost behind the luxury fashion industry; followed by Polish director Łukasz Twarkowski’s electrifying exploration of art and legacy, ROHTKO (2 – 5 Oct).
In The Pit, the programme continues with a vibrant mix of premieres, cross-genre storytelling, and intimate encounters. Dance Umbrella introduces distinctive artists from Australia and Spain in Change Tempo (8-9 Oct), a double bill challenging expectations of dance, as well as previously announced Gesualdo Passione (16 Oct) in the Hall in collaboration with the Barbican’s Music department. Award-winning company KISS WITNESS premieres the darkly comedic Prayers for a Hungry Ghost (29 Oct – 1 Nov), created through the Barbican’s prestigious Open Lab talent development programme. CN Lester returns with a sixth edition of their Transpose Pit Party; Subverse (12 – 15 Nov) celebrates non-conforming work and features some of the UK’s most exciting trans artists, curated by ILĀ and directed by Jamie Hale. As the festive season gets underway, female-led Catalan company Engruna Teatre make their London debut with Univers (3 – 13 Dec), a magical sensory experience for 0-2 year olds.
Tickets are now on sale to Barbican Premier Patrons, Principal Patrons, Director’s Circle Patrons, Barbican Patrons, and Barbican Members Plus, with tickets available tomorrow at 10am for Barbican Members and general sale on Sat 10 May from 10am via barbican.org.uk.
Toni Racklin, Barbican Head of Theatre & Dance, said:
“We are so pleased to announce a striking Theatre & Dance line-up for autumn-winter 2025, presenting work that embodies the breadth and ambition of the Barbican’s boundary-pushing international programme. This season invites audiences to experience the power of live performance to connect, provoke and inspire. We continue to champion cross-disciplinary experimentation to bring together a programme of extraordinary artists from around the world who challenge convention and shed light our lives in all their complexity.”
Full programme information:
https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/series/theatre-and-dance-autumnwinter-2025
Caroline Guiela Nguyen: LACRIMA
UK premiere
Thursday 25 – Saturday 27 September 2025
Barbican Theatre
Press Performance: Thursday 25 September, 7pm
Kicking off the autumn season, the Barbican will introduce acclaimed French-Vietnamese writer, director and filmmaker Caroline Guiela Nguyen to the UK with LACRIMA, her thrilling, large-scale production which spans continents to reveal the dramatic and dangerous world behind couture fashion.
LACRIMA cinematically stages myriad gripping narratives unraveling around a dress that will spend mere minutes in the spotlight, uncovering the institutional and private violence in the creation of one royal bridal gown.
Performed in French sign-language, French, English and Tamil, LACRIMA unfolds against a hyper-realistic set design incorporating split-screen and live-captured video projection. The extraordinary piece exposes the weight of closely-guarded secrets carried by the often-invisible workers who sustain the global fashion industry.
Caroline Guiela Nguyen (SAIGON and FRATERNITÉ, Conte fantastique) is founder of the theatre company Les Hommes Approximatifs and Artistic Director of Théâtre national de Strasbourg. LACRIMA premiered at the Avignon Festival 2024 before embarking on an international tour including performances in Germany (FIND festival, Schaubühne Berlin, part of a season celebrating her body of work), Japan and Canada.
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Łukasz Twarkowski / Anka Herbut / Dailes Theatre: ROHTKO
UK premiere
Thursday 2 – Sunday 5 October 2025
Barbican Theatre
Press performance: Thursday 2 October, 6.30pm
Following his sold-out production of The Employees (Southbank Centre), trailblazing Polish director Łukasz Twarkowski returns to London with the UK premiere of ROHTKO, a four-hour fusion of event theatre, live cinema and pumping techno beats navigating one of the art world’s biggest forgery scandals. From Latvian-American artist Mark Rothko and the abstract expressionists to Chinese “decreation” philosophy and NFTs, dramatist Anka Herbut’s text explores authenticity and how we define value in a fast-changing world.
One of Europe’s most in-demand theatre makers, Twarkowski’s monumental spectacle is brought to life in collaboration with a creative team and crew of nearly 40, and features actors from Latvia, Poland and China. Produced by Latvia’s Dailes Theatre, the largest professional theatre in the Baltics, ROHTKO premiered in 2022 in Riga, Latvia and has since won numerous awards on its tour around Europe.
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Presented by Dance Umbrella and the Barbican: Change Tempo double bill
Lilian Steiner: Siren Dance
María del Mar Suárez (La Chachi): Random Taranto
UK premieres
Wednesday 8 – Thursday 9 October 2025
The Pit
Press performance: Wednesday 8 October, 7.45pm
For the first time, the Barbican will host Change Tempo, Dance Umbrella festival’s signature mixed bill to introduce distinctive international artists to London. In The Pit, the vibrant and complementary programme will feature two UK premieres. Both artists challenge expectations of dance, pushing boundaries with their contemporary approaches to classical forms.
Lilian Steiner is a Stockholm-based Australian artist and dancer with Sweden’s leading contemporary ballet company, Cullberg. In her latest solo work, Siren Dance, she plays with seduction, illusion and shifting truths in a mesmerising exploration of power, transformation, and the fine line between authenticity and disguise.
Random Taranto by Spanish flamenco dancer María del Mar Suárez (La Chachi), turns the everyday into something extraordinary. Two women share a moment – eating sunflower seeds, exchanging glances – until flamenco erupts, raw and electric. Stripped back to voice and movement, this playful take on the Taranto form pulses with irreverence and unexpected humour.
Presented by Dance Umbrella and the Barbican:
Les Arts Florissants & Amala Dianor Company: Gesualdo Passione
UK premiere
Thursday 16 October 2025
Barbican Hall
Press performance: Thursday 16 October, 7.30pm
Combining a cappella singing with the emotional power of the body, Gesualdo Passione marks the culmination of conductor Paul Agnew and Les Arts Florissants’ work on the music of Carlo Gesualdo, transforming his 1611 Responsories for Holy Week into a contemporary creation by choreographer Amala Dianor, performed with dancers from Amala Dianor Compagnie. Uniting past and present Gesualdo Passione also forms part of the wider international dance festival Dance Umbrella.
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KISS WITNESS: Prayers for a Hungry Ghost
World premiere
Wednesday 29 October – Saturday 1 November 2025
The Pit
Press performance: Wednesday 29 October, 7.45pm
Led by award-winning theatre maker Elisabeth Gunawan (Unforgettable Girl), KISS WITNESS’ latest production is a mesmerising family drama set in the underworld, exploring the intergenerational trauma born from the pressure of meeting society’s impossible standards. The show combines horror, physical performance, live cinema, dark comedy and Chinese mythology (in which ‘hungry ghosts’ are reincarnated souls of those who were selfish, envious or greedy). This sardonic yet tender ensemble production follows Father, Big Sister and Little Sister’s lives as they spiral in opposite directions.
Developed through the Barbican’s Open Lab programme in 2023, Prayers for a Hungry Ghost makes its world premiere at The Pit this autumn.
Chinese-Indonesian writer and performer Elisabeth Gunawan 吳金蘭 founded the company KISS WITNESS (formerly Saksi Bisou) to decolonise the imagination, empower people and create spaces of belonging. Awards include The Stage Debut Award for Best Performer in a Play (2022), OffFest Award (2022) and The Pleasance’s Charlie Hartill Award (2023). Gunawan will be presenting her immersive headphone theatre piece Stampin’ in the Graveyard at Summerhall, Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025.
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CN Lester’s Transpose Pit Party: Subverse
Wed 12 – Sat 15 November 2025
The Pit
Press performance: Thu 13 Nov 2025
CN Lester’s Transpose festival returns with a new edition of their legendary Pit Party takeovers, celebrating and platforming some of the UK’s most exciting trans artists in two powerful evenings of live music and performance. Curated by ILĀ (producer, creative director and co-founder of Trans Voices, the UK’s first professional Trans+ choir) and directed by Jamie Hale (artistic director and founder of CRIPtic Arts), Subverse invites artists and audiences to look at things differently, challenge dominant narratives and defy binary expectations.
Inspired by ILĀ’s prolific career breaking down artificial boundaries, showcasing diverse voices, and more recently composing using DNA sequencing and the world’s first quantum synth, there will be a focus on sound, with the featured artists being encouraged to draw on disciplines beyond their core practice to create unexpected results. Full line-up to be announced soon.
Both ILĀ and CN Lester are contributors in the Barbican’s upcoming Immersive exhibition, Feel The Sound.
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Engruna Teatre: Univers
London premiere
Wednesday 3 – Saturday 13 December 2025
The Pit
Press performances: Fri 5 Dec, 10am, 12noon, 3pm
Performing for the first time in London, the award-winning Engruna Teatre’s endearing, internationally touring sensory experience has been created especially to give 0-2 year-olds the space to explore in magical and unexpected ways. Inspired by the fragile balance of the universe, this evocative and immersive journey combines playful movement from two performers and live music by an onstage musician. Univers invites babies and toddlers to explore, reflect, and interact with beautiful objects of different textures and shapes that are scattered and rearranged.
Catalonia-based, women-led company Engruna Teatre have over fifteen years of experience charming and thrilling audiences of all ages at festivals and theatres across Spain, Catalonia, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, UK and Czech Republic. Univers arrives in London following highly praised performances at Edinburgh International Children’s Festival in 2024 and Baboró Festival in Galway, 2023.
