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Shakespeare’s Globe, 2024
Photo: David Jensen

Open-air theatre in London

The best open-air and outdoor theatre shows in London this summer

Written by Time Out London theatre in association with FREE NOW
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There’s perhaps nothing more magical than seeing a play or musical in the open air, and London is absolutely the city for it. In defiance of the weather gods, our outdoor theatre season now stretches from March to late October: we’re are just that tough. Or at least, optimistic about the weather.

Substantially it revolves around a few key theatres, notably Shakespeare’s Globe – open March to October and generally boasting a cheeky outdoor Christmas production – and the delightful Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, which is open late spring to the end of summer. The former specialises in Shakespeare plays, while the latter has a musical theatre focus.

But there’s plenty of other stuff, especially as the summer reaches its height, from the ambitious street theatre of the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival to the musical theatre blowout of West End Live.

Not sure what you'll need for an open-air theatre trip? Then don’t miss our guide to practical open-air theatre info

If you’re interested in taking in some outdoor cinema this summer, head to our dedicated page.

Outdoor theatre in London this month

  • Theatre
  • Children's
  • Regent’s Park

Proving that it’s never too late to try something new, the Open Air Theatre kicks off its ninety-second season with something it’s never done before: staging a show in March. ‘Bear Snores On’ is a short play for children aged four-plus that will only run during the daytime and moves indoors after the first ten minutes. It follows a mouse as it looks for somewhere to hide from the cold… and hits upon a cave with a large, furry occupant.

  • Theatre
  • Shakespeare
  • South Bank

As is now traditional at Shakespeare’s Globe, its outdoor programming gets underway with a truncated pre-season Shakespeare play aimed at schoolkids, but very much open to members of the public up for open-air theatre in March. 

Outdoor theatre coming to London soon

  • Theatre
  • Shakespeare
  • South Bank

The Globe’s 2024 season proper kicks off with one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies, as the theatre's in-house director Sean Holmes helms ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. Ekow Quartey and Amalia Vitale star as tempestuous lovers Beatrice and Benedick in an Elizabethan. 

  • Theatre
  • Shakespeare
  • Regent’s Park

Timothy Sheader’s final Open Air Theatre season is quite a classic one in terms of programming, which means we’re getting the ever-delightful outdoor venue’s first Shakespeare play for adults since ‘Henry V’ in 2016 (when it opened 92 years ago the OAT was Shakespeare-only).

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  • Theatre
  • Shakespeare
  • South Bank

‘Richard III’ is a commonly staged play: the Globe last did it in 2019, and the last major London production before this one was Adjoa Andoh’s, which came to Richmond in 2023. However, this production from Elle While has already sparked considerable backlash for the casting of Globe boss Michelle Terry in the role of the villainous monarch, on the grounds that she’s an able-bodied actor and the character as written is disabled.

  • Theatre
  • Children's
  • Regent’s Park

This musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s picture book isn’t the big budget blowout that the NT’s recent ‘The Witches’ was. But it promises to be a lot of fun regardless, bringing Dahl’s tongue-in-cheek but ruthlessly uncosy story about the titular croc’s child-eating exploits to life with the aid of puppets by Toby Olié, who co-directs with Emily Lim. Ages four-plus.

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  • Theatre
  • Drama
  • Regent’s Park

The Open Air Theatre is going big on family-friendly shows this summer, with a major new adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s novel. For ages ten-plus.

  • Theatre
  • Musicals
  • Regent’s Park

The final show of Timothy Sheader’s Open Air Theatre reign is a revival of Bock and Stein’s immortal musical following the life of Teyve, a Jewish milkman living in the shtetl in the early twentieth century. You can be sure of a crowdpleaser, with much-loved songs like ‘If I Were A Rich Man’ and ‘Tradition’ all present and correct. 

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  • Theatre
  • Shakespeare
  • South Bank

The unexpected furor over Michelle Terry playing Richard III has somewhat overshadowed the fact that Shakespeare’s Globe has a disabled lead for one of its big productions this summer, in the form of Nadia Nadarajah. The deaf actor has been a regular on the Globe’s stage in recent years, and in 2024 she’ll take on the role of Egyptian queen Cleopatra in Blanche McIntyre’s bilingual English/BSL production of Shakespeare’s great Roman tragedy. 

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  • Theatre
  • Drama
  • South Bank

The first new play proper to run outdoors at the Globe since ‘Emilia’, actor Anne Odeke’s play tells the extraordinary story of Princess Dinubolu, the first woman of colour to enter a beauty pageant in the UK: way back in 1908, Southend-on-Sea. 

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