June was the hottest month of the year but things look set to be just as scorching at the theatre in July. What should be on your theatre radar this July? Check out our preview below.
Jesus Christ Superstar – London Palladium (20 Jun – 5 Sep)
The award-winning Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of Jesus Christ Superstar comes to the iconic London Palladium, starring Sam Ryder as Jesus and Tyrone Huntley as Judas, the production also features Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Richard Armitage, Boy George, Layton Williams and Julian Clary, who share the role of King Herod.
The Guilty – Donmar Warehouse (20 Jun – 15 Aug)
Russell Tovey is troubled police officer Joe, stuck on the night shift, who takes a desperate 999 call from Emily. As he scrambles to decode fragmented clues from a woman in danger, a real-time thriller unfolds. In a night filled with unsettling twists, Joe has a mounting sense that nothing is quite as it seems.
Directed by Felix Barrett, The Guilty is by award-winning writer Chloë Moss, based on the films Den Skyldige and The Guilty.
Wife to James Whelan – Jermyn Street Theatre (25 Jun – 25 Jul)
1937, a small Irish town. Nan Bowers and her friends are waiting to hear which local lad has won a life-changing job in Dublin. James Whelan shows up triumphant and ready to celebrate with his sweetheart, Nan, only to discover that she has plans of her own. Seven years later, James comes home, flush with success. His return will affect not only Nan but the whole town.
Teresa Deevy was at the height of her fame when the Abbey Theatre rejected Wife to James Whelan amid the growing conservative backlash of the 1940s. Now, in 2026, Mint Theater’s Jonathan Bank makes an overdue reintroduction to Ireland’s forgotten genius with this timeless ensemble play that pits love against pride.
The Oresteia – Bridge Theatre (2 Jul – 19 Sep)
Following his critically acclaimed adaptation of The Lady from the Sea, Simon Stone returns to the Bridge Theatre with The Oresteia starring David Morrissey.
love you long time (already) – Theatre503 (2 – 25 Jul)
Mai didn’t expect her heaven to be reliving an engagement to an unfaithful husband. He’s becoming a Buddhist monk. Mai’s daughter Tâm is desperate to understand her mother. As time slips away and dreams overlap with reality, Mai and Tâm must learn how to love each other before heaven comes for them again.
love you long time (already) by Katie Đỗ is a funny and moving intergenerational epic about mothers and daughters, migration and memory, the ties that bind us and the cost of breaking free from them.
Romeo & Juliet – Greenwich Theatre (3 Jul – 25 Jul)
Follow the star-crossed lovers, in this sparkling summer production of Romeo and Juliet, as they battle against the will of their families to be together – and see how “two houses, both alike in dignity” can bring about heart-breaking tragedy through intolerance and distrust.
This fresh summer staging forms part of the theatre’s long-term ambition to establish a recurring Shakespeare tradition in southeast London, bridging generations of audiences through reimagined classics.
Check out my interview with Artistic Director James Haddrell here: https://readaboutstuff.com/2026/06/26/interview-james-haddrell-artistic-director-at-greenwich-theatre-on-romeo-and-juliet/
Allegra – Harold Pinter Theatre (8 Jul – 8 Aug)
Allegra is a moving comedy with spectacular song and dance sequences, but is also a touching and emotional examination of how, sometimes, the most beautiful of minds can start to disappear. National treasure Dame Maureen Lipman stars in the title role of Allegra, in this heart-warming new comedy from Olivier and Tony Award-nominated playwright Peter Quilter, alongside John Middleton.
Firebird – Southwark Playhouse Borough (9 Jul – 1 Aug)
ia has been in care since she was three. She can’t stand her foster mum, and her friends keep letting her down. But when she meets AJ, a charismatic older man, he seems like the answer to all her problems. At first, he is. But AJ has done this before, and after the gifts and compliments come the threats and abuse. When fourteen-year-old Katie moves to town, a chink of light appears in the darkness that’s threatening to swallow Tia.
Firebird is a gripping, unflinching drama about grooming and exploitation, exposing the catastrophic failures of the systems designed to protect children in the UK.
The Jonathan Larson Project – Southwark Playhouse Borough (9 Jul – 22 Aug)
An electrifying celebration of the groundbreaking composer behind ‘Rent’ and ‘tick, tick… BOOM!’, it is being re-imagined for London by the original Off Broadway director John Simpkins, marking 30 years since Jonathan Larson’s death in January 1996 from an aortic dissection just one day before Rent’s first performance in New York.
Blue Mist – Stratford East (10 – 14 Jul)
Chunkyz Shisha Lounge is home away from home for Jihad, Rashid and Asif, a space where community whispers are heard, jokes are shared, and new hustles are born. When aspiring journalist Jihad wins the chance to make his own documentary, he sets out to give voice to his community and challenge the usual stereotypes that fill the airwaves. But in a media landscape that profits off fear, how far can one voice really go?
Olivier Award-nominated Blue Mist is a sharp, darkly funny story about truth, trust and ambition. Written by Mohamed-Zain Dada and directed by Milli Bhatia.
Monkeyface – Riverside Studios (6 – 21 Jul)
Monkeyface hits Riverside Studios this July. This debut play by Raphael Phillips dives into identity, Black British culture, and queer life.
Tilly No-Body: Catastrophes of Love – Arcola Theatre (7 – 25 Jul)
In a deserted circus, the true story of actress Tilly Wedekind unfolds in a heartrending performance of virtuosic storytelling.
When Tilly’s controlling husband, the playwright Frank Wedekind – writer of Spring Awakening, which became a hit Broadway musical – takes away Tilly’s acting roles, he reduces her to a nobody and she has a breakdown. Determined to recover, she escapes the relationship and reclaims her career. By writing her story, she asserts her own identity and transforms herself into a somebody, in a journey of personal triumph.
Hit Machine – Soho Theatre (8 Jul – 15 Aug)
Hit Machine is an emotionally charged collision between two estranged brothers whose reunion spirals into a wild fight over family, memory and who gets to control the narrative of their shared past. Bound by the same bruised childhood and divided by success, they’re dragged into a final, desperate collaboration – where the only way to tell the truth is to turn it into a song.
Featuring original music by three-time Grammy Award winner Ben Harper, Hit Machine is an intimate and explosive play about brotherhood, male violence, creative theft and the cost of turning pain into art. Stars Josh Radnor and Noah Galvin.
Tender – Bush Theatre (9 Jul – 1 Aug)
Ivy has life sorted; she’s got a flat, a boyfriend and she knows exactly where it’s all headed. Except there is this thing that she tries not to think about. The thing she left in her childhood bedroom. Ash should be having the time of her life. But, fresh out of a bad relationship, she’s full of things she can’t leave behind. And there’s something off about her new flat. The wallpaper pulses and sometimes it sounds like a heartbeat.
Two women. A chance encounter that tumbles into infatuation. And an undeniable force waiting just out of sight, ready to wreck it all.
Heathers The Musical – The Arts at Marble Arch (9 Jul – 22 Aug)
Welcome to Westerberg High, where popularity is a matter of life and death, and Veronica Sawyer is just another of the nobodies dreaming of a better day. But when she’s unexpectedly taken under the wings of the three beautiful and impossibly cruel Heathers, her dreams of popularity finally start to come true. That is until J.D., the mysterious teen rebel, teaches her that it might kill to be a nobody, but it’s murder being a somebody…
The Smile of Her – Marylebone Theatre (10 Jul – 29 Aug)
Academy Award, Golden Globe and Emmy winner Christine Lahti brings her acclaimed new play The Smile of Her to London for a strictly limited run at the Marylebone Theatre.
Funny, furious and achingly personal, this extraordinary autobiographical work traces a woman’s journey from 1950s suburban America to the heart of a changing world — confronting family mythology, misogyny, ambition, motherhood and the cost of being “a good girl.”
Midnight At The Never Get – Menier Chocolate Factory (11 Jul – 12 Sep)
1965, New York City. Trevor Copeland and Arthur Brightman’s love is against the law. In their secret nightclub act, “Midnight”, they perform love songs in an act of defiance of a world that demands they stay hidden. As tensions rise at the start of a historic movement, Trevor and Arthur are torn between their own surreptitious romance, and the oncoming storm of social revolution.
Starring Tony and Grammy Award-winner Ben Platt and written by Golden Globe, Grammy and Academy Award-winner Mark Sonnenblick.
Here Comes J Edgar – King’s Head Theatre (11 Jul – 16 Aug)
Written by Harry Shearer and Tom Leopold, with a musical score by legendary musician and composer Peter Matz, this world premiere exposes the private life of J. Edgar Hoover as a Broadway musical.
As Director of the FBI for almost 50 years, Hoover was the most powerful man in America. Yet behind all the machismo and homophobia was his concealed sexuality, his secret partying and his lifelong love affair with his deputy, Clyde Tolson. Here was a man who stopped at nothing to exert his control – yet underneath the petticoats of power lay his own secrets… Directed by Josh Seymour with choreography by Olivier Award Winner Bill Deamer, this raucous show stars Broadway musical icon Bryan Batt, best known for playing Salvatore Romano in the acclaimed television series Mad Men.
Ali in Wonder(Eng)land – Jackson’s Lane (14 – 15 Jul)
Ali is leaving. There is no other option.
Following a white rabbit’s promises of red buses, perfect queues and the sixth largest economy in the world, Ali falls down a very familiar hole and lands in Wonder(Eng)land, a place that looks welcoming but works against you.
Twice Offie nominees LegalAliens Theatre returns to Jacksons Lane with a re-imagining of their 2023 hit, Ali in Wonder(Eng)land, a riotous, politically sharp show performed by an ensemble of refugees and migrants, each bringing their own experience of the system Ali must navigate: the doors that are always the wrong size, the crowd that decides what you are before you speak, the interview with no right answers, the people who want to help and make everything worse.
Trainspotting The Musical – Theatre Royal Haymarket (15 Jul – 5 Sep)
Thirty years on from the film that changed everything, Trainspotting: The Musical has its world premiere. Written by Irvine Welsh with Music & Lyrics by Stephen McGuinness and Irvine Welsh and Directed and Developed by Caroline Jay Ranger.
Renton, Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud, Tommy, and Kelly, the industrial drug-crazed working-class heroes, are back.
Alice in Wonderland – Riverside Studios (16 Jul – 2 Aug)
Tumble down the rabbit hole this summer holidays into the fantastical world of Wonderland, where up is down, and nonsense reigns supreme. Join Alice on her unforgettable adventure as she shrinks and grows, meeting peculiar characters at every turn. Who will she encounter next? Will the mischievous Cheshire Cat guide her through the madness? Can the hurried White Rabbit help her uncover the secrets she’s searching for? And could the Queen of Hearts cause her to truly lose her head?
Love Labour’s Lost – Shakespeare’s Globe (17 Jul – 13 Sep)
See Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost as you’ve never experienced it before, in this blazing, flamenco-inspired new production. Passion, power, and poetry collide as four women arrive in Navarre on a diplomatic mission, testing the devotion of the King and his lords whose vows are undone by love, desire, and wit.
In her Globe Theatre directing debut, Associate Artist Indiana Lown-Collins channels the warmth and vibrancy of her rural Spanish roots into this celebrated comedy, igniting it with the feeling and artistry of flamenco.
The Hidden Dangers of Camping – Windsor Theatre Royal (17 Jul – 25 Jul)
One family. One weekend. Everything changes. When Casey’s life is shaken by her daughter’s choices, she’s pulled back to a childhood camping trip that wasn’t as perfect as it seemed. As past and present collide, long buried truths surface. Starring Charlie Brooks and Max Brown.
The Importance of Being Oscar – Park Theatre (22 Jul – 22 Aug)
Oscar Wilde became an icon after his death. But the life he lived was far more dramatic than anything he ever wrote.
This funny and fiercely moving show, starring Alastair Whatley, explores Oscar, his rise and fall, his glory and his devastation, through his own words and those of his fiercest champion, the fabled Irish writer Micheál Mac Liammóir.
Grease The Immersive Movie Musical – Battersea Park (22 Jul – 13 Sep)
Blur the lines between screen and reality as you step into Rydell High and watch Grease unfold all around you in this one-of-a-kind summer night experience. This show isn’t just something you watch, it’s something you live and feel.
Cleansed – Almeida Theatre (22 Jul – 29 Aug)
Two lovers and two siblings.
How far are they prepared to go to prove their devotion? And will their love survive when subjected to the most extreme violence?
Sarah Kane was one of the most original and controversial voices in British playwriting history. Rebecca Frecknall directs Kane’s masterpiece which explores the brutality of desire and asks what happens to love when there’s nothing else worth living for?
Cats – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre (25 Jul – 12 Sep)
From Euston Station to Victoria Grove, the strays and rebels of London gather under the Jellicle moon in the hope they’ll be the chosen one. And each of them asks, because each of them dares, who will it be?
Tao of Glass – @sohoplace (25 Jul – 12 Sep)
An exploration of life, loss and a single question: Where does true inspiration come from?
Composer Philip Glass and performer-director Phelim McDermott have worked together on acclaimed opera productions in London, New York and beyond, and Tao of Glass is their most personal collaboration yet. Inspired by a dream, this West End premiere marries ten meditations on life, death and Taoist wisdom with ten brand new pieces of music from Glass, presented by McDermott with an ensemble of musicians and puppeteers.
Space Dogs – The Other Palace Studio (28 Jul – 9 Aug)
SPACE DOGS is an epic new musical that tells the mind-blowing-yet-true story of Laika and the Chief Designer — a stray dog and the top-secret Russian scientist who sent her to the stars during the Cold War Space Race.
The rock musical docu-comedy is a two-hander written by Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire, who play and sing all the songs, as well as all of the characters: the Chief Designer, Laika, various high-level politicians and covert scientists, and 40 Russian dogs, using puppets, props and imagination.
Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures The Car Man – Sadler’s Wells (28 Jul – 29 Aug)
Matthew Bourne’s award-winning The Car Man is back! Loosely based on Bizet’s ever-popular opera, The Car Man has one of the most thrilling and instantly recognisable scores in New Adventures’ repertoire.
The familiar 19th Century Spanish cigarette factory becomes a greasy 1950s garage-diner in the American Mid-West where the dreams and passions of a small-town are shattered by the arrival of a handsome and enigmatic stranger. Fuelled by heat and desire, the inhabitants are driven into an unstoppable spiral of greed, lust, betrayal and revenge.
Matthew Bourne’s vivid storytelling combines with one of the most passionately dramatic scores ever written, with music by Terry Davies featuring Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite (after Bizet’s Carmen), to create a dance thriller like no other.
How The Other Half Loves – Old Vic (29 Jul – 19 Sep)
Three couples, two homes, one laugh-out-loud domestic farce. When Fiona Foster and Bob Phillips are each accused of having an affair by their spouses, they use the innocent and unsuspecting Featherstones as an alibi, dragging them into a web of chaos and confusion. As the lives of the three couples intertwine, the lies deepen and mayhem ensues in one of theatre’s most entertaining comedies.
The play that cemented Alan Ayckbourn as one of Britain’s greatest modern playwrights, How the Other Half Loves is a raucous take on sex, class and marital misunderstanding. This production, starring Roger Allam and Dorothy Atkinson and directed by Phillip Breen, returns Ayckbourn’s classic to the In The Round staging it was written for.
Dog Man: The Musical – Southbank Centre (29 Jul – 16 Aug)
Dog Man: The Musical is a hilarious new musical based on the worldwide bestselling book series from Dav Pilkey, the creator of Captain Underpants and Cat Kid Comic Club.
Best friends George and Harold have been creating comics for years, but now that they’re ten, they figure it’s time to level up and write a musical based on their favourite character, Dog Man, the crime-biting sensation who is part dog, part man and ALL HERO! How hard could it be? With the head of a dog and the body of a policeman, Dog Man loves to fight crime… and chew on the furniture.
Death Note – Barbican (30 Jul – 12 Sep)
If you had the power over life and death, what would you do?
This summer, the hotly anticipated world premiere of Death Note: The Musical arrives for 50 performances only. With over 30 million copies sold worldwide, the legendary manga by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata is reimagined for London in collaboration with original producers HoriPro, featuring an electrifying score by Tony, Grammy and Emmy nominee Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Jack Murphy and a book by Ivan Menchell.
When brilliant student Light Yagami discovers a notebook with the power over life and death, his quest to reshape the world sparks a relentless battle of wits with the elusive detective L, where every name carries consequences. Write a name. Change the world.
All The Things We Can’t Explain – Kiln Theatre (31 Jul – 1 Aug)
Kilburn is at a crossroads. Local institutions are being closed, The Suits are sniffing around, and there’s talk of ‘rejuvenation’. When out of nowhere, a mysterious object presents itself – the bloody, beating heart of Kilburn. As excitement around this unprecedented discovery spreads, the community is under threat, can the people of Kilburn come together and hold on to what’s theirs?
In this flagship community production, Kiln’s Intergenerational Company, made up of 80 cast members ranging from ages 6-88, take to the mainstage to kick off the new season.
