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London is hot right now. Literally. And it’s only going to get hotter. Next week, it’ll probably cool down a bit at the start and then get hot again. It’s basically unbearable, but at the same time it’s outdoor frickin’ theatre season, baby.
Where better to cool down than at an open air theatre with a gentle night breeze and glass of something cold, preferably watching something classy but not aggressively difficult. Here are five outdoor shows on right now or about to start that will take you outside the scorching concrete hellscape that is our beloved city.
1. The free outdoor musicals festival
Is it possible to simply show tune your way through 30-plus degree heat? They’ll be giving it their best try at West End Live this weekend, the two day festival at which the cast of pretty much every musical in town will be singing a song or two, for free, in Trafalgar Square. The catch? The best shows are early on the Saturday, and it’ll hit capacity rapidly. Plus it’ll be ‘el scorchio’. For a complete guide including full line up, head here.
Trafalgar Square, Sat Jul 21 and Sun Jul 22.
2. Shakespeare’s daftest play
The Globe has fine productions of Romeo and Juliet and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible currently in its rep. But if tragic deaths and people named Goody are a bit much for your heat fogged brain, get down to its new production of Shakespeare’s dumbest play. The Merry Wives of Windsor is a joyously silly romp in which his beloved character Falstaff – who dies offstage in Henry V, which is set in 1415 – is somehow not only alive but getting up to mischief with the womenfolk of Elizabethan England. It’s a hoot!
Shakespeare’s Globe, Jul 4-Sep 20. Buy tickets here.
3. A YA thriller
There’ll be nothing trashy about the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s stage adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s immortal dystopian race drama Noughts & Crosses. However, it’s not going to be arty, impenetrable theatre: it’s a thriller, a properly accessible, teen-orientated story that should get the pulse pounding enough to let you forget the heat.
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Jun 28-Jul 26. Buy tickets here.
4. Shakespeare’s darkest play (but fun!)
Okay that was a bit of a shout back to number two: The Taming of the Shrew probably isn’t really Shakespeare’s darkest play, but taken at face value its account of how boisterous Petruchio breaks the spirit of the feisty Katherina is pretty damn problematic. But you can massage it to make it a lot less grim, and I gather that’s the deal with this pop song-saturated production from the redoubtable Shakespeare in the Squares. They’re midway through their annual tour of London’s outdoor spaces – check out the schedule to see if they’re coming near to you soon.
Various venues, now until Jul 12.
5. Stand in the street and watch Rachel Zegler sing ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’
Jamie Lloyd’s Evita revival has made worldwide headlines this week for its typically ballsy showstopper moment, wherein US star Zegler sings the anthemic ‘Don’t Cry to Me Argentina’ from a balcony on Argyll Street. Nobody is suggesting that this constitutes an entire theatre show, but it’s a uniquely London theatrical moment that will probably never be repeated in our lifetimes, and you do get a pretty banging song sung by a celebrity for five minutes or so at a time of day (around 9pm) when the temperature is finally something approaching ‘pleasant’.
London Palladium, now until Sep 6. Buy tickets to see the full indoor show here.