Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) just dropped its 2025/26 season, and if you’re even slightly theatre-curious, this is your sign to get excited. Packed with world premieres, bold collaborations, and unflinching conversations, this isn’t a season about sitting quietly in the dark. It’s about showing up, speaking out, and taking part.
From artists rewriting what theatre looks like to audiences stepping directly into the action, BAC’s new season feels like a rallying cry—to connect, to question, and to reimagine how we live together.
Here’s what we’re buzzing about:
🎭 Radical Stagecraft, Real Conversations
BAC’s new season brings together artists from Rwanda, Australia, Gaza, Belgium, Bosnia, and the UK, proving that theatre isn’t just a mirror—it’s a megaphone. Think less passive consumption, more collective reckoning.
Creative Director Pelin Başaran sums it up perfectly: “In times when we feel disoriented, how can we hold on to one another, support each other, and find our collective voice?”
This season tackles that question head-on.
🌍 From the Outback to Lavender Hill
In EXXY, Dan Daw—queer, disabled, unapologetic—transports us to the Australian outback, blending sharp vulnerability with spectacle. There are three other Dans onstage who look like him. There’s imposter syndrome. There’s power and doubt in equal measure. It’s raw, funny, and deeply necessary. (2–10 Oct)
If you’ve ever felt like a fraud and wanted to dance about it—this is for you.
🎙️ Radio Live: Stories You Don’t Hear on the News
Bosnia. Gaza. Ukraine. Rwanda.
Radio Live: A New Generation isn’t theatre that speaks for people—it hands them the mic. This UK premiere from French artists Aurélie Charon & Amélie Bonnin is part performance, part journalistic deep-dive, and entirely focused on young voices navigating the aftermath of conflict. Expect honesty, music, and moments that linger long after the curtain falls. (11–12 Oct)
✍️ Poetry, Memory, and Grandma’s Favourite Sonnet
If you think Shakespeare’s been done to death, wait till you see By Heart. Ten strangers onstage. One sonnet. And an intimate, mind-bending tribute to memory, poetry, and a grandmother who refused to forget. Directed and performed by Tiago Rodrigues, it’s a rare UK chance to see a global hit that’s toured for a decade. (14–15 Oct)
📦 Theatre in a Box (Literally)
No actors. No lights. Just you, a stage, and a box. Handle with Care by Belgian legends Ontroerend Goed strips theatre back to its bones, daring you to take part or simply witness. Each night’s show is totally different—and gone forever once it ends. (12–14 Nov)
One rule: open the box.
🌊 Dancing on the Brink with Amrita Hepi
Co-presented with The Place, Rinse is the dance-theatre hybrid we didn’t know we needed. Amrita Hepi (Bundjalung and Ngapuhi) joins forces with Mish Grigor to explore the seduction of nostalgia in a world where everything’s ending. (14 Oct at The Place)
🎄Chaos, Joy, and Festive Mischief
Family-friendly doesn’t mean tame. BAC and Wild Rumpus team up again this December for A Merry Misrule—a winter adventure that promises to be just as magical and unruly as it sounds. (29 Nov – 24 Dec)
🗣️ A Town Hall Takeover with Something to Say
2026 kicks off with A Public Address from Manchester-based theatre collective Quarantine. They’re not just staging a show—they’re staging a takeover. For two weeks, BAC becomes a space of protest, storytelling, and collective reflection. Who gets heard in public space? And who’s still waiting to speak?
Get involved. Or just show up and listen. (2–14 Mar)
🔥 Opening with Liberty, Powered by Community
The whole season launches with Liberty Festival, the Mayor of London’s flagship celebration of disabled artists—this year rooted right here in Wandsworth as part of its London Borough of Culture status. Expect wild ideas, genre-bending work, and stories that dismantle everything you thought you knew about disability and artistry. (24–28 Sept, at BAC 25–28)
TL;DR?
This isn’t theatre that sits quietly. It’s theatre that asks something of you—whether that’s learning a sonnet, stepping into someone else’s shoes, or simply showing up for a story that isn’t yours.
As BAC Artistic Director Tarek Iskander puts it:
“Great art can come from anywhere—across the globe, or just around the corner.”
In a season this bold, you might just find yourself changed. Or at the very least, seriously inspired.
📍 Battersea Arts Centre 2025/26
Follow @battersea_arts on socials for updates.
Bring a friend. Bring questions. Leave with more.