Relics at a glance

Show
Relics
Venue
Lyric Hammersmith
Address
King Street, Lyric Square, London W6 0QL
Nearest station
Hammersmith (1 min walk) — District, Piccadilly, Circle, Hammersmith & City lines
Genre
Drama (dark comedy / new writing)
Running time
To be confirmed (world premiere)
Age guidance
14+
Dates
19 June – 18 July 2026
Schedule
Mon–Sat evenings; matinees Wed and Sat
Price range
From £12 (up to £100)
Writer
Ben Ockrent
Director
Michael Longhurst

Expert Preview: Relics at the Lyric Hammersmith

4.3
★★★★★

LTH Anticipated Rating

Preview by the London Theatre Hub editorial team. Published: 8 May 2026. Relics is a world premiere — this rating reflects our assessment of the pedigree of the production ahead of opening night on 19 June 2026. We will update this page with verified critic ratings once reviews are published.

Why This Production Matters

Relics has not yet opened — it receives its world premiere at the Lyric Hammersmith on 19 June 2026. Which means there are no critic ratings to cite, no performances to review, and no cast to assess. What there is, instead, is a production with serious pedigree at every level, and a premise that suggests exactly the kind of play the Lyric Hammersmith does best.

Michael Longhurst directed Constellations at the Royal Court and subsequently in the West End and on Broadway — widely considered one of the most precisely executed theatrical experiences of the 2010s. He directed the Donmar Warehouse's Next to Normal, which transferred to the West End. He served as the Donmar's Artistic Director from 2019 to 2023. His involvement signals a production that will be technically accomplished, emotionally exact, and likely structured with the kind of formal intelligence that distinguishes his best work.

Ben Ockrent is a writer with a track record in exactly the kind of pressurised, character-driven drama that Relics appears to be. His previous theatre work includes Husbands and Sons, a triptych of D.H. Lawrence adaptations for the National Theatre and Lyric Hammersmith, which demonstrated a gift for capturing family dynamics under extreme tension with dark comic precision. Francesca Moody Productions — whose credits include Prima Facie — co-producing the play signals further confidence in the material.

The premise itself has deep theatrical roots. Four adult siblings, a parent's death, divided possessions, a buried secret — this is a situation that works as drama because it is entirely true to how families actually behave. The domestic setting is incendiary precisely because it looks safe. Ockrent and Longhurst between them should know exactly how to use it.

What to Expect

  • Michael Longhurst's direction. His productions of Constellations and Next to Normal are among the finest pieces of theatre direction of the last decade. The structural precision he brings to formally demanding material — both of those shows have complex architectural challenges — suggests Relics will be built with rigorous craft regardless of what the premise delivers dramatically.
  • A genuinely affordable world premiere. Tickets from £12 make this one of the most accessible world premieres in London this year. The Lyric Hammersmith's pricing model consistently allows audiences to see significant new work at prices that don't require the investment of West End tickets. For theatregoers interested in new British writing, this is the kind of opportunity worth taking.
  • Francesca Moody Productions as co-producer. Moody's company has produced Prima Facie, Fleabag (the stage version), and a string of significant new plays that subsequently transferred or had major impact. Her involvement is consistently a positive signal about the quality of the underlying material.
  • The Lyric Hammersmith's track record. The Lyric has produced Sing Street, School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, Minority Report, and a succession of significant world premieres that have gone on to wider lives. It is a venue that consistently programmes with ambition and delivers with quality. A world premiere in their main house is a serious event.
  • Four very specific characters. The siblings — Liv (bulldozer), Rob (people-pleaser), Michelle (fed up with compromise), Jonny (provocateur) — are drawn with enough specificity in the available production materials to suggest the play is built on character observation rather than plot mechanics. That combination of type and individuality is Ockrent's signature.

You'll love Relics if you...

  • Are interested in new British writing at one of London's finest producing theatres — this is the kind of world premiere that can go anywhere
  • Are a fan of Michael Longhurst's work on Constellations or Next to Normal and want to see what he does with new material
  • Enjoy dark family comedies where the humour and the pain arrive from the same place simultaneously
  • Want a genuinely affordable ticket to a significant theatrical event — from £12 is exceptional value for a world premiere at this level
  • Like the experience of being in a room when something is first performed — before the reviews, before the reputation, before anyone knows what it is

It might not be for you if you...

  • Need the reassurance of reviews before booking — as a world premiere, no critical consensus exists yet
  • Prefer shows with confirmed running times and published cast lists — both are TBC at time of writing
  • Are travelling specifically from outside London and want certainty about what you're booking — the risk profile of a world premiere is higher than an established production
  • Are bringing anyone under 14 — the age guidance is 14+ and the themes of family conflict and moral crisis warrant it

Best for

  • New writing fans
  • Lyric Hammersmith regulars
  • Dark comedy lovers
  • Budget-conscious theatregoers
  • Date night
  • Longhurst devotees

Not ideal for those who need confirmed reviews or cast lists before booking.

Critical Reception

Relics is a world premiere opening on 19 June 2026. No critical reviews exist at the time of publication. This page will be updated with verified star ratings and critical response once reviews are published following the press night.

For context: the Lyric Hammersmith's previous production in this 2026 season, Jaja's African Hair Braiding, received four stars from The Guardian. Michael Longhurst's most recent major London production, Next to Normal at the Donmar Warehouse, was widely praised. Francesca Moody Productions has co-produced multiple award-winning new plays including Prima Facie.

This page was last updated 8 May 2026. Reviews will be added following the press night in June 2026.

Everything You Need to Know

What happens in Relics?

Four adult siblings return to their late mother's house. The occasion is practical — there are possessions to be divided, a home to be cleared — and everyone, on some level, would like it to stay practical. It doesn't.

The four siblings

Liv is the eldest and has always been the one who bulldozes her way through difficulty — the sibling who makes decisions, sets expectations, and assumes the family will follow. Rob is the people-pleaser: he has spent his life trying to keep the temperature down, to find the reasonable position, to avoid conflict. Michelle has had enough of the family's careful fictions and the emotional labour of maintaining them. And Jonny — the prodigal, the one who left, the one who has always pushed buttons he didn't intend to — arrives with the particular energy of someone who has nothing left to lose in this room.

The secret

The play's central event — a long-buried family secret that surfaces among the mother's possessions — is the specific detail that Ockrent and the production have, rightly, chosen not to reveal in advance. What can be said is that writer Ben Ockrent has described the siblings' responses to a "hugely personal moral dilemma" as the engine of the play's action. The four characters do not all respond to the same information in the same way, and the comedy — described by Longhurst as very very funny — comes from the collision of those different responses under the pressure of a shared space and a shared history.

Over the course of one evening

The play unfolds in real time, or close to it — "over the course of one evening" is the frame Ockrent has used, following the Lyric's season theme of three plays each set within a single day. The compression is deliberate: what gets released in a few hours in a room full of old furniture and older resentments is the kind of thing that has been accumulating for decades. The title refers to the objects in the house — the relics of a life — but also to the emotional residue the four characters carry into the room. What they do with both is the play.