Live Theatre has revealed a diverse new season running from May 2026 to May 2027, featuring world premieres, festivals, and anniversary events. Highlights include a new stage adaptation of Our Friends in the North and a play about the iconic Sycamore Gap tree.

The 2026–27 season at Live Theatre opens on 14 May with Astell and Woolf by Shelagh Stephenson, directed by Karen Traynor. The play imagines early feminist Mary Astell in a waiting room in the afterlife alongside Virginia Woolf and runs until 6 June.

In July, the Unearthed Festival returns, spotlighting female, non-binary, and trans artists through a programme of performances and workshops. Following this, Alison Carr’s All At Sea runs from 24 September to 10 October, a co-production with Stephen Joseph Theatre that will transfer to Scarborough later in October.

October features the premiere of Our Friends in the North 1979–84, a stage adaptation of the acclaimed television series focusing on the Thatcher-era segment of the story. Written by Jack McNamara and based on Peter Flannery’s original screenplays, this production marks Live Theatre’s first foray into producing a play for the Theatre Royal stage in Newcastle, presented in partnership with Newcastle Theatre Royal and Eastlake Productions.

The season also includes commemorations and readings: a 30th anniversary performance of Marie Jones’s Stones in His Pockets, a birthday celebration for playwright Richard Bean featuring a reading of Smack Family Robinson, and a regional reading of Lenny Henry’s August in England, presented with the North East of England African and Caribbean Association.

November offers a short series of American play readings, including Suzan-Lori Parks’s Topdog/Underdog and Annie Baker’s John. Additionally, Live Theatre will mark a decade of its Live Tales creative writing programme for schoolchildren in 2026.

The season concludes in May 2027 with Rory Mullarkey’s The Most Famous Tree in the World, which examines the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian’s Wall. The production runs from 6 to 29 May, rounding off an ambitious year for Live Theatre.