By Grace Hatchell- Written from the back seat of a touring van currently somewhere between Bristol, Shakespeare and a service station sausage roll.
Now then, this one’s come through the letterbox with a proper bit of weight to it. English Touring Theatre has announced a brand-new season running from autumn 2026 into spring 2027, and it’s not exactly tiptoeing quietly onto the stage with a custard cream and a polite cough.
Oh no. This is a season with big ideas, urgent stories, new writing, adaptations, Shakespeare reimagined, and touring theatre standing up tall in a time when, frankly, the industry could do with a bit of backbone and a decent pair of walking shoes.
Artistic Director Richard Twyman and Executive Producer Sophie Scull have announced five productions so far, with more still to come. The season includes world premieres, bold adaptations and a major revival, all rooted in ETT’s commitment to taking important stories across the country and into local theatres.
And that matters. Because not everyone can hop on a train to London every time they fancy seeing something ambitious, moving or properly thought-provoking. Some of us are lucky if the bus turns up before the interval.
The season opens in autumn 2026 with Application 39, written by Palestinian writer Ahmed Masoud and directed by Cressida Brown. Described as a sharply satirical and resonant take on life in Gaza, the play imagines a future where Gaza, risen from ruin, unexpectedly wins the right to host the 2048 Olympic Games, exactly 100 years after the Nakba.
The story follows two young IT workers in Gaza who hack the Olympic bid process as a prank — only to find themselves winning. What follows is a surreal, urgent journey through occupation, bureaucracy, absurdity, reconstruction and hope. Rooted in lived testimony, including from Gaza itself, Application 39 asks what it might mean for Gaza to be seen not as rubble or siege, but as a place of gathering, resistance and renewal.
The production opens at Bristol Old Vic from 23 to 26 September 2026, with a press performance on 24 September, before heading to Factory International in Manchester and Theatre Royal Stratford East.
Next up is Lanny, a world premiere stage adaptation of Max Porter’s much-loved novel, presented by Bristol Old Vic Production in association with ETT. Adapted by Bea Roberts and directed by Bristol Old Vic Artistic Director Nancy Medina, the production runs at Bristol Old Vic from 16 October to 7 November, with press night on Thursday 22 October.
Lanny is one of those stories that sounds quiet at first, then creeps up behind you like folklore wearing wellies. Set in a village not far from Bristol, it follows a place caught between England’s mysterious past and its complicated present. The village belongs to families who have lived there for generations, to those who have only just arrived, and to something older and stranger in the woods: Dead Papa Toothwort.
I mean, with a name like Dead Papa Toothwort, you know you’re not getting a cheerful little village fete and a raffle for a hamper. This is fable, belonging, unease and imagination all stirred together in one wonderfully odd theatrical pot.
Then, in early 2027, ETT turns to Shakespeare with a new production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Chelsea Walker. This co-production with Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Leeds Playhouse and Nottingham Playhouse opens at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh from 30 January to 27 February 2027, before touring to Leeds Playhouse, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, and Nottingham Playhouse, where it finishes on 8 May 2027.
Chelsea Walker has described the play as feeling more urgent and moving than ever, especially in a world where decisions are made in the blink of an eye and young people are forced to grow up too quickly.
And she’s not wrong, is she? Romeo and Juliet may be one of the most famous love stories ever written, but under all the balcony business and teenage swooning, it’s also about violence, pressure, family division, grief and what happens when young people are trapped inside decisions made by everyone around them.
This new production promises a visceral, contemporary take on the tragedy, following two teenagers who fall madly in love while their families tear each other apart. One wrong decision changes everything. One secret leads to another. And before you know it, fate’s gone and knocked the teapot clean off the table.
ETT Artistic Director Richard Twyman will then direct the world premiere of Pericles, Prince of Lebanon, a new play by Sami Ibrahim inspired by Shakespeare’s Pericles. Co-produced with Bristol Old Vic and Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, in association with MMXX, the production opens at Bristol Old Vic from 25 February to 20 March 2027, with press night on Wednesday 3 March, before travelling to Luxembourg in April.
This version brings Shakespeare’s ancient tale of displacement into direct conversation with the present. Set across modern-day Lebanon, Turkey, Greece and Libya, the story follows a father and daughter separated by war and scattered across borders. Ibrahim blends Shakespeare’s original verse with modern language, exploring migration, survival, family separation and hope.
Sami Ibrahim has said the piece has been years in the making and described it as a play about migration, and about the way families are torn apart and reunited over decades. It also features shipwrecks and wrong turns, which feels fairly on-brand for both Shakespeare and public transport after 6pm.
The final announced production is 12 Letters to My Name by Lettie Precious, staged in a co-production with Sheffield Theatres and Graeae. Running at Sheffield Theatres from 12 to 26 June 2027, with press night on Thursday 17 June, the play is described as a deeply personal coming-of-age story about growing up between different worlds.
The story follows Tobi and Jay, the only two Africans in their class, newly arrived in Sheffield and trying to navigate a new life while holding onto their names, their identities and the ache of home. Originally developed through ETT’s Nationwide Voices programme, supported by the John Ellerman Foundation, it sounds like a piece full of identity, tenderness and quiet strength.
Alongside the season, ETT has also announced The New Classics, a new partnership with Guildhall and English Touring Theatre. The initiative will develop urgent contemporary adaptations of classic plays and novels, helping bring the canon into the present moment for a new generation of theatre makers and audiences.
The first cohort includes Hannah Khalil and Dipo Baruwa-Etti, who will create new adaptations to be performed first by Guildhall students before moving towards professional tours.
Richard Twyman and Sophie Scull said the season responds to two major challenges in British theatre: the decline in new writing and the reduction in touring drama. By the end of this season, ETT will have produced nine shows since the beginning of 2026, eight of them new plays or adaptations.
That’s not just busy. That’s a company putting its money, artists and rehearsal rooms where its mouth is.
So there we have it: Gaza reimagined through satire and hope, a haunted English village, star-crossed lovers, Shakespeare through the lens of migration, and a Sheffield coming-of-age story about names, identity and belonging.
Not bad for one season, is it?
English Touring Theatre looks to be making a proper statement here: that touring theatre still matters, new writing still matters, and audiences across the UK deserve work that is ambitious, alive and willing to meet the moment.
And from where I’m standing — admittedly near a pigeon, with a satchel full of press releases — that feels like a delivery worth signing for.
APPLICATION 39
BRISTOL OLD VIC
23 – 26 September 2026
Press performance: 24 September 2026
FACTORY INTERNATIONAL, MANCHESTER
9 – 10 October 2026
THEATRE ROYAL STRATFORD EAST
13 – 14 October 2026
LANNY
BRISTOL OLD VIC
16 October – 7 November 2026
Press performance: 22 October 2026
ROMEO AND JULIET
ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE, EDINBURGH
30 January – 27 February 2027
Press performance: 4 February 2027
LEEDS PLAYHOUSE
1 – 20 March 2027
YVONNE ARNAUD THEATRE
22 – 27 March 2027
NOTTINGHAM PLAYHOUSE
19 April – 8 May 2027
Age: 12+
PERICLES
BRISTOL OLD VIC
25 February – 20 March 2027
Press performance: 3 March 2027
THÉÂTRES DE LA VILLE DE LUXEMBOURG
12 – 17 April 2027
12 LETTERS TO MY NAME
SHEFFIELD THEATRES
12 June – 26 June 2027
Press performance: 17 June 2027
About the Author
