York Theatre Royal announces new additions to 2026 programme

York Theatre Royal today announces exciting new additions to their 2026 programme, including Firebird – a Mixed Bill, a York Theatre Royal co-production with London City Ballet and the Opera de Vichy, France and an evening with award-winning writer Maggie O’Farrell (Hamnet).

Additional shows going on sale include the world premiere of Jesse North Is Broken, a brand-new play by the John Godber Company, written and told by Martha Godber and Paperback Theatre’s The Wind in the Willows which will be brought to life in the Studio.

Marking their third successful season, the award-winning London City Ballet, former resident company of Sadler’s Wells, returns to York this autumn with a co – production with York Theatre Royal and the Opera de Vichy, France.

The unique offering includes a gothic retelling of American choreographer Glen Tetley’s FIREBIRD, marking Tetley’s centenary year. This fresh take illustrates a young woman breaking free from the constraints of a controlling family – a pioneer flying the nest, embracing her differences and liberating her peers.

Audiences can also enjoy celebrated international choreographer John Neumeier’s, new version of his 2020 creation, GHOST LIGHT. Performed for the very first time outside of the Hamburg ballet, Ghost Light, allows us a glimpse at the spirits of those artists who once inhabited our stages. After the curtain falls and the Theatre goes dark, a light illuminates the memory of those performers whose footsteps we dance in.

On 10 June, for one night only York Theatre Royal hosts An Evening with Maggie O’ Farrell, presented by Waterstones, to celebrate the release of Maggie’s new novel Land.

The new novel is about separation and reunion, tragedy and recovery, colonisation and rebellion. It is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, a particularly loyal dog, and how, when it comes to both land and history, nothing ever goes away.

Maggie O’Farrell is the author of nine previous novels, including Hamnet which won Waterstones Book of the Year in 2020 and the Women’s Prize for Fiction in the same year.  Hamnet has been made into a film and Maggie co-wrote the screenplay with Academy-Award-winning director Chloé Zhao.

The John Godber Company return to YTR with a brand- new piece of writing Jesse North Is Broken, written and told by Martha Godber (Do I Love You?).

Jesse is 25, from Hull. A carer on minimum wage, keeping the elderly alive while trying to live her own messy, chaotic life. Told over one night, we follow her from care shift to the dance floor, from the late-night kebab to an early morning call-out as she battles the system that undervalues her and the city that shapes her, all while her ADHD-fuelled thoughts and anxious mind crave order in the chaos.

Both political and personal, the show shines a light on working-class survival in Britain today – where carers are underpaid, the care system is crumbling, and young women are left to piece themselves together in a society that keeps breaking them.

For families, the Studio will house Paperback Theatre’s The Wind in the Willows in May as part of York St John Takeover Festival 2026.

Mole has been stuck inside for far too long. Finally escaping their underground home, they team up with good friends, Ratty, Badger and the loveably roguish Toad on an adventure to blow away the winter cobwebs. Mole and the gang must go head-to-head with a motor-car, His Majesty’s Constabulary, and a legion of Weasels, Ferrets, and Stoats taking up residence in Toad Hall.

Can our plucky band of heroes save the day?

Find out in Paperback Theatre’s charming adaptation of The Wind in the Willows. 

For more information, visit here.