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We may still be locked in the depths of winter, but the sun will shine on us again one day, as evidenced by Shakespeare’s Globe announcing its 2026 outdoor summer season, which we bring you here as an exclusive.
Without further ado (er, well actually there is some ado, but we’ll get to that later), the season starts – as is traditional – on April 23, AKA the date of Shakespeare’s birth and also death.
First up then is Emily Lim’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which runs April 23 to August 29. Keen-eyed observers may note that there is currently a production of the same play running at the Globe’s indoor Sam Wanamaker theatre. To put it bluntly, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is big bucks at the box office, and there’s an endless stream of things you can do to it. The bleak, claustrophobic Wanamaker production seems likely to stand in contrast for what’s being billed as an uplifting and communal show from Lim, who cut her teeth making large scale community work for the National Theatre.
Then it’s time for a somewhat unexpected Globe debut for Bertold Brecht, and one of the most influential playwrights to have ever lives bar Shakespeare himself. Elle While will direct Globe artistic director Michelle Terry in the title role of Mother Courage and Her Children (May 7-Jun 27), his great anti-war play about the eponymous hardbitten survivor, picking her way through a ruined world.
That’s your lot for non-Shakespeare, as the season then ploughs into the much loved ultimate romcom Much Ado About Nothing (Jun 11-Oct 24), which is directed by Chelsea Walker, who did a bang up job with the obscure All’s Well That Ends Well a couple of years back.
Speaking of obscure plays, something the Globe has been pushing a little of late is a populist summer season except with one proper Shakespeare obscurity given a proper big scale production. This year it’s Love’s Labour’s Lost (Jul 17-Sep 13), which definitely falls into the category of ‘play where the name is more famous than the story’. The play is traditionally about four Spanish nobles who swear vows of celibacy for three years, so that they can better concentrate on their studies. But things do not go to plan. Indiana Lown-Collins will direct what promises to be a dance-soaked production (the entire cast is being sent to flamenco bootcamp, apparently).
Wrapping the season up is another classic in the shape of As You Like It (Aug 14-Oct 25). Expect a fairly weird production of Shakespeare’s much-loved forest-set romance, as weird – or at least, very arch – is usually the vibe you get from Globe deputy Sean Holmes, who co-directs with Charlie Josephine, who has written a couple of shows for the theatre (I, Joan and Pinocchio) and now stars in one for the first time, playing the role of Orlando.
Finally, it’s become a summer tradition to have a family show in the indoor Sam Wanamaker Playhouse during the otherwise outdoor season, and this year it’s a new play from Kerry Frampton and Ben Hales called A World Elsewhere. Coming from the team behind previous summer shows Rough Magic and Midsummer Mechanicals, it follows Cass, a boy who has been raised on his grandfather’s love of Shakespeare’s stories – but now his enthusiasm is beginning to fade…
Beyond that it’s your usual Globe summer fun: there will be £5 standing tickets for each show, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It will all have a single midnight performance apiece.
Tickets to the Shakespeare’s Globe 2026 summer season will go on general sale Feb 10 at 10am.
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