Cinderella runs 14 Nov to 3 Jan at the Lyric Hammersmith with Chrissie Bhima and Ashh Blackwood as Buttons. £10 to £48, family tickets £80, access dates.

The Lyric Hammersmith’s 2026 pantomime is Cinderella, running from 14 November 2026 to 3 January 2027. Tickets are £10 to £48 and the theatre recommends it for ages 6 and over. It is written by Joel Horwood and directed by Robin Belfield.

The Lyric is the only theatre in Hammersmith and Fulham staging a pantomime this year. Everything below was checked against the Lyric’s own show pages on 5 September 2026.

Cinderella: the practical details
Dates 14 November 2026 to 3 January 2027
Venue Lyric Hammersmith, main house, Lyric Square, King Street, W6 0QL
Prices £10 to £48
Age guidance 6+
Writer Joel Horwood
Director Robin Belfield
Booking fee £2 per basket on standard tickets

Horwood wrote the Lyric’s Aladdin, so this is a return rather than a debut. The show runs 120 minutes.

The 2026 cast

Updated 3 October: the Lyric has now published the cast. From the show page:

  • Chrissie Bhima as Cinderella
  • Ashh Blackwood as Buttons
  • Durone Stokes as Prince M. Charming
  • Donna Berlin as Suella, the villain
  • Lauryn Redding as Mikayla and Dandini
  • Colin Burnicle as Muruduth and the Fairy Kween
  • Sameer Dhanjee, Ellie Seaton and Liza Stevenson in the ensemble

The story is set in “Glamoursmith”, where Cinderella cleans for her captor Suella and the prince must find a wife by midnight. Set and costumes are by Janet Bird, choreography by Georgina Lamb, music by Corin Buckeridge.

Four discounts are worth knowing about. Family tickets are £80 for two adults and two children, or one adult and three children, in price bands B and C, in limited numbers per performance; add the combination to your basket and the discount applies. Under-16s pay £30 in band B and £20 in band C for main run shows, and £10 tickets are available during previews. Groups of eight or more get £5 off in bands B and C. School performances are £15 per student with complimentary teacher tickets. Young Lyric members get specially priced seats.

Access performances for Cinderella

The Lyric has already dated all four. Each access ticket includes one complimentary carer or companion seat.

  • Relaxed performance: Tuesday 1 December, 10am
  • Audio described: Thursday 10 December, 7pm
  • British Sign Language: Friday 11 December, 7pm
  • Open captioned: Wednesday 16 December, 7pm

Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas, in the Studio

The Lyric’s second festive show is Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas, back for its fifteenth year, co-produced with Pins and Needles Productions. It runs 18 November to 27 December 2026 in the Studio, not the main house. (The Lyric first listed the run as ending on 31 December; its show page gave 27 December when we checked again on 25 September.)

It is a different proposition from the panto: 50 minutes long, aimed at under-6s, tickets £15 to £22 plus a £2 restoration levy per basket. Seating is unreserved, and buggies cannot be taken into the Studio auditorium, which is the detail most likely to catch out a parent arriving with a toddler.

Its access performances are:

  • Relaxed: Tuesday 24 November, 10.30am, and Sunday 29 November, 9.30am
  • BSL: Monday 30 November, 11.30am
  • Audio described: Thursday 3 December, 9.45am

For access bookings the Lyric asks you to use the box office on 020 8741 6850, email access@lyric.co.uk, or come in person.

Which show for which child

The two overlap for six weeks, and the age guidance is the thing that separates them. Father Christmas is 50 minutes and pitched at under-6s. Cinderella is a full-length pantomime recommended for 6 and over. A four-year-old taken to the panto is likely to be sitting through more than they can manage, and the Lyric’s own guidance says so in the age rating rather than in a warning.

What else is on over Christmas here

The Bush Theatre in Shepherd’s Bush is not doing a pantomime. Its winter programme is straight drama: Global Majority by Chris Fung in the Studio from 19 November to 23 December, and Ripples by Tafadzwa Muchenje and Rosie MacPherson in the Holloway Theatre from 25 November to 16 January. Worth knowing if you are looking for an evening out that is not a panto, and worth knowing if you were expecting one.

At Fulham Palace, Santa’s Winter Garden runs from 20 November to 23 December 2026 in the walled gardens, an immersive Santa experience run in partnership with Intuitive Festive Events. Fulham Palace Trust says ticketing and access enquiries go to the operator, not to the Palace. The Palace’s own Christmas fair is covered on our North End Road Christmas Market page, along with a warning about the dates currently showing on its website.

Getting to the Lyric

The theatre sits on the north side of Lyric Square, a short walk from Hammersmith station on the Piccadilly, District, Circle and Hammersmith and City lines. It is Zone 2, like every station in the borough.

Evening performances finish after the shops shut, so parking is the awkward part. Several central zones control seven days a week and four of them run to 11pm: check parking in Fulham and Hammersmith before you assume an after-6pm bay is free. If you are driving in on a matinee day, also check roadworks and travel, because the Hammersmith Winter Festival closes King Street on Saturday 14 November, the panto’s opening day.

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