21 November 2025
Newsdesk
The Barbican has unveiled its Spring 2026 Theatre & Dance programme, Scene Change, a season of transformative performances and gatherings staged in surprising locations across the Barbican Centre and partnering London venues. This innovative approach allows the arts institution to engage with its civic spaces while the Barbican Theatre and The Pit undergo essential maintenance.
Scene Change invites audiences to experience intimate moments of connection with artists from the UK, Belarus, Ireland, and North America. The programme emphasizes the relationship between performers and spectators, prompting questions about how arts institutions welcome and involve visitors.
Season Highlights:
Dante or Die: I Do (20 Jan–8 Feb, Malmaison London): The site-specific company celebrates its 20th birthday by reviving its cult-hit, a promenade "jigsaw puzzle" through six hotel rooms in the final ten minutes before a wedding.
Fevered Sleep: This Grief Thing (12–22 Feb, Barbican Studio): Making its Barbican debut, this experimental cross-arts company will create a free pop-up shop intervention in the foyers, offering visitors a dedicated space to connect, share loss, and normalize conversations around grief.
Landmark Productions and Octopus Theatricals: Theatre for One (12–22 March, Barbican Hub): This international sensation showcases miniature five-minute plays from celebrated Irish writers, including Enda Walsh, performed by a single actor for one audience member at a time in a custom-built, travelling theatre booth.
Belarus Free Theatre (BFT): Kitchen Revolution (31 March–1 April, Barbican Conservatory): BFT returns to host a secret supper-club experience in the iconic Conservatory, taking inspiration from a real Soviet-era underground movement. Guests will enjoy Belarusian fusion cuisine and engage in lively debate with guest provocateurs like Carole Cadwalladr and Stephen Sackur.
Toni Racklin, Barbican Head of Theatre & Dance, highlights the season's goal: “Live performance holds a tremendous power to combat isolation and division in modern society... With our Scene Change programme this spring, we invite audience members to take a new journey through our Centre.”
Additionally, the Barbican is restarting its artist development programme, Open Lab, supporting early- to mid-career theatremakers and choreographers to push the boundaries of live performance and take creative risks.
