Headlong have announced full details of their 2026 season, featuring a major UK tour of Fences, new work in Oxford, and the return of an acclaimed A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The season includes a brand-new production of Fences by August Wilson, directed by Daniel Bailey, marking the first major revival of the play in over a decade.
The production is co-produced with Leeds Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and HOME Manchester, and will open at Leeds Playhouse from Friday 11 to Saturday 26 September 2026.
The tour will then visit Oxford Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, HOME Manchester and Nottingham Playhouse through to mid-November.
Daniel Bailey said: “It’s an enormous privilege to be bringing August Wilson’s Fences to the stage this year, a play that is a barometer for our time. I have such huge admiration for the productions that came before but I hope we’re able to create a new idea of what this play is for a new generation.”
The creative team includes casting director Heather Basten, designer Lily Arnold, composer and sound designer Khalil Madovi, lighting designer Jai Morjaria, movement director Shelley Maxwell and fight director Kev McCurdy.
Set in 1950s Pittsburgh, Fences follows Troy Maxson and his family as personal dreams, generational conflict and racial injustice collide in a story that continues to resonate today.
Leeds Playhouse Artistic Director Tom Wright said: “Fences is an exhilarating way to open my first season at Leeds Playhouse and the next chapter of our partnership with Headlong. August Wilson is one of the great modern playwrights, and this landmark play reminds us that every classic was once a brave new work.”
Headlong have also announced the appointment of Naeem Hayat as Associate Artistic Director, effective from January 2026.
Hayat, who co-directs the current production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, said: “I’m beyond thrilled to be working with Holly and the brilliant team at Headlong. To join a company known for such bold, exciting and dynamic work is a real privilege. I’m incredibly passionate about the power and importance of touring theatre and can’t wait to get stuck in!”
This summer will see the world premiere of ROBOTA, adapted by Ella Road from Karel Čapek’s R.U.R, and directed by Roy Alexander Weise.
The production will run from 3 to 18 July 2026 at Oxford University’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities and promises “a high-voltage piece of theatre for the age of artificial intelligence”.
Headlong have also revealed the 2026 cohort for their Origins programme, supporting early-career directors based outside London.
The selected artists are Amelia Michaels, Ciaran Stewart, Oisín Kearney, Robert Furey and Amy Hailwood.
Meanwhile, Holly Race Roughan’s acclaimed staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, co-directed with Hayat, will embark on a UK tour in early 2026.
Following its run at Shakespeare’s Globe’s Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the production will visit Shakespeare North Playhouse, Leeds Playhouse, Bristol Old Vic and Oxford Playhouse.
Holly Race Roughan and Headlong Executive Director Lisa Maguire said: “At Headlong, our mission is to serve the country with high-quality main-stage drama that makes the big questions of the moment thrilling. This year’s programme does exactly that.”
“We return to the road with the masterful writing of August Wilson, grapple with the promise and threat of AI with Robota, and reimagine Shakespeare for a world politically turned inside out.”
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
