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Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, 2022
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 (and for 2023, a lot of family theatre).

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

  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Musicals
  • Regent’s Park

A sung-through musical fable about love and colourism on a Hispaniola-alike isle in the Antilles, ‘Once on This Island’ traces the doomed romance between Ti Moune – from the island’s ’black as night’ peasant population – and Daniel Beauxhomme, one of its aristocratic, light-skinned ‘grand hommes’ whose slave ancestors mingled with white French planters…

  • Theatre
  • Shakespeare
  • South Bank

Sean Holmes’s new revival of Shakespeare’s early comedy deliberately – and ironically – leans into the old-school ruffs and tights Elizabethan cliches that British theatre has almost totally abandoned in recent decades as he directs the madcap tale of identical twins loose on the streets of Ephesus. 

  • Theatre
  • Children's
  • Regent’s Park

This year’s Open Air Theatre season is unusally busy with kids’ shows – there are three throughout the season, a real treat for families, given the general lack of outdoor theatre options for kids. The first one is this stage adaptation of Ben Okri’s eco-kids’ novel, about a young girl who goes into the forest to look for a rare leaf, only to discover nature is dying. 

  • Theatre
  • Shakespeare
  • South Bank

The Globe’s fourth in-house production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in ten years is also the second to star Michelle Terry: for 2013’s mud-spattered affair the then fulltime actor starred in the traditional duel role of Hippolyta/Titania; in 2023 the now Globe artistic director will play capricious spirit Puck.

Outdoor theatre coming to London soon

  • Theatre
  • Outdoor theatres
  • South Bank

The National Theatre’s River Stage returns to the South Bank for a month of outdoor live music, dance, performance, workshops and family fun.

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  • Theatre
  • Musicals
  • Trafalgar Square

Musical theatre fans, get ready for outdoor dancing and sing-a-longs with some of the West End's biggest stars: West End Live is back! It's the initiative that turns some of the most expensive forms of entertainment in London into the cheapest fun going. Each year, casts of some of London's best West End musicals emerge blinking into the open-air for a weekend of free alfresco performances in Trafalgar Square, accompanied by fun photo ops, merch stalls, and bags of showbiz atmosphere.

  • Theatre
  • Comedy
  • Regent’s Park

Subtitled ‘the legend, rewritten’, the OAT’s only non-musical evening show this season is this pointedly fun, funny retelling of the Robin Hood legend from former Kneehigh regular Carl Grose. We’re promised ‘epic storytelling, stirring songs and absolutely no green tights’. Veteran director Melly Still directs in her Regent’s Park debut. For ages eight-plus.

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  • Theatre
  • Children's
  • Regent’s Park

With its lively characters, island setting and strong fantasy elements, ‘The Tempest’ is a popular choice of Shakespeare play for adaptation into kids’ versions. So it proves again with the second of the Open Air Theatre’s three summer 2023 children’s shows. 

  • Theatre
  • Shakespeare
  • South Bank

We don’t know a huge amount about Abigail Graham’s production of ‘Macbeth’ yet. But come of: it’s ‘Macbeth’! Globe boss Michelle Terry has been frank that the iconic venue is going for a bit of a bums on seats season this summer, and The Scottish Play has long been beloved for its snappy runtime, revenge thriller pacing and memorable supernatural elements. 

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  • Theatre
  • Musicals
  • Regent’s Park

Harvey Fierstein’s groundbreaking musical adaptation of Jean Poiret’s farce about a gay nightclub owner who introduces his ultraconservative parents to his fiance has a towering reputation. But it’s only really received two major London runs: the original, in 1986, and the Menier Chocolate Factory’s acclaimed 2008 revival. High time for a fresh production!

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  • Theatre
  • Shakespeare
  • South Bank

Shakespeare’s enduring pastoral comedy about gender confusion and romantic goings-on in the Forest of Arden get yet another revival, the Globe’s first in a little while. We don’t know a huge amount about this production, but it’ll be helmed by former Gate boss Ellen McDougall.

  • Theatre
  • Circuses
  • Greenwich

London’s spectacular free outdoor Greenwich + Docklands International Festival is back for 2023. The free line-up once again features the sort of spectacular installations that have become its hallmark since the pandemic moved the focus away from street theatre, notably ‘Cygnus’ by Denis Bivour and Florian Giefer, which will see illuminated animatronic swans fill the Thames at the Royal Docks.

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