We are thrilled to announce the first show from our 2027 season!  

In 2027, leading Scottish playwright Kieran Hurley adapts Graeme Armstrong's best-selling and award-winning debut novel The Young Team, a searing exploration of masculinity and tribalism.  

The show is a co-production with the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and will be directed by Artistic Director Rachel O'Riordan. Rachel was previously AD of Perth Theatre, and this production marks her return to Scottish Stages.  

The Young Team will premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before a London opening at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and returning to Scotland, to the Citizen's Theatre, Glasgow in autumn 2027.  

The Young Team was published by Picador in 2020 and is inspired by Graeme Armstrong’s experiences in North Lanarkshire in the early 2000’s. The novel won a Betty Trask Award, a Somerset Maugham Award, and the Scots Book o the Year 2021.  

Kieran Hurley, playwright/adapter of The Young Team, said

“I'm thrilled to be working with Rachel O'Riordan to create the stage adaptation of The Young Team for the National Theatre of Scotland and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. Graeme’s brilliant novel is a powerful example of the epic stories that unfold in ordinary people’s lives, and it has been an honour to be allowed to spend time living in its world.  

As well as an uncompromising and brutally honest account of violence and gang life, it's really a wonderful story of young male friendship, its loyalty, rivalry, and surprising tenderness. I can't wait to see Azzy Williams take over the theatre, bringing these uniquely Scottish voices to the stage, and for audiences to feel the pull of the Young Team: the love and allegiances that bind these boys together, and the damage and hurt they inflict and endure.

I hope it will move and provoke and ultimately open a conversation about our young men and their vital, dangerous, and often unrequited search for recognition and belonging.”  

Graeme Armstrong, author of The Young Team novel, said,  

“I’m excited to see The Young Team adapted for stage and look forward to working with both Rachel and Kieran to bring the complex world of Scottish territorial violence to a new audience, particularly those who may have never seen their lives or communities depicted in a theatrical production before.”

Rachel O’Riordan – director of The Young Team  

“I am so proud to be directing Kieran Hurley’s stage version of The Young Team by Graeme Armstrong. The novel is a cultural phenomenon - heartbreaking, vital and hilarious.  

 Working in Scotland is a great privilege. I was the Artistic Director of Perth Theatre, during which time I loved working with Scottish artists, and engaging with the brilliant audiences. Partnering with National Theatre Scotland on the stage adaption of Graeme Armstrong’s blistering debut novel feels like a vital and exciting connection. Writer Kieran Hurley and I, with a tremendous creative team, will share this powerful story with audiences in both Scotland and London in a bold theatrical experience.”

More info here.