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.
The Globe’s outdoor season now traditionally gets underway with a low key, truncated take on a classic Shakespeare play. This year it’s Macbeth – always one of The Bard’s most action packed and thrilling works, the gory supernatural tragedy is sliced down to a lean 90 minutes for this revival by Lucy Cuthbertson. Remember to wrap up warm as the run begins in mid-March, waaaay before ‘real’ outdoor theatre season.
Where is it? Shakespeare’s Globe.
Following his recent RSC hit Cowbois, Globe associate director Sean Holmes returns to the Wild West for a new take on Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy that apparently relocates the action to a world of gunslingers and desperadoes. It sounds like a lot of fun, and perfectly suited to the Globe’s expansive outdoor theatre, while presumably at least one of the fights will be replaced by a fast draw.
Where is it? Shakespeare’s Globe.
This feels modestly momentous: while Arthur Miller’s classic Salem witch trials drama-slash-McCarthyism allegory is revived relatively frequently, The Crucible has never been staged at the Globe’s oudoor theatre before. That’s because nobody has been staged here except Shakespeare and specially commissioned new writing – Ola Ince’s revival of The Crucible is the first outdoor Globe revival of another playwright at this address.
Where is it? Shakespeare’s Globe.
Shucked is a superb way for new Open Air Theatre artistic director Drew McOnie to kick off his tenure: it’s the UK premiere for Robert Horn, Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally’s multi Tony-nominated 2022 musical comedy about a comically isolated rural farming community which must send representatives to the big city after their corn crop starts to fail. US director Jack O’Brien will restage his smash show with a new, UK cast.
Where is it? Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.
The only straight up play this season at the Open Air Theatre is this revival of Dominic Cooke’s acclaimed 2007 adaptation of the Malorie Blackman dystopian smash. Here directed by OAT associate Tinuke Craig, the story concerns a future in which the darker-skinned Noughts rule over the lighter-skinned Crosses, and follows the complicated, clandestine friendship between Nought Sephy and Cross Callum, who has been allowed to attend her prestigious school.
Where is it? Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.
Michelle Terry becomes possibly the first artistic director of literally any theatre anywhere to programme Shakespeare’s comedy curio The Merry Wives of Windsor not once but twice. Following its 2019 outing, this time it’ll be directed by Globe associate director Sean Holmes, who has a great track record with the Bard’s zanier comedies – he’s able to inject enough sardonic weirdness into them to stop then floating away.
Where is it? Shakespeare’s Globe.
This 1947 musical from My Fair Lady writers Lerner & Loewe has faded out of fashion in recent years, presumably largely because its premise of a couple of American tourists stumbling across a magical Scottish village that only appears every couple of hundred years is actually pretty patronising to the Scottish. That’s presumably why top Scots playwright Rona Munro has been brought in to update the book of the first major UK revival since 1988.
Where is it? Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.
Make what you will of this, but for the biggest name Shakespeare play in the Globe’s summer 2025 season, director Robin Belfield has opted to go for the play’s rarely deployed full name. We don’t really have any as to what’s likely from this production beyond that, though the accompanying publicity image suggests an upbeat and vibrant take on the story of shipwreck and mistaken identity that is all the more glorious for its malleability.
Where is it? Shakespeare’s Globe.
The OAT’s beautiful looking but maybe a little light-on-the-peril Roald Dahl adaptation returns for a second summer run at the theatre.
Where is it? Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.
Perhaps one reason that there is no new writing in the 2025 Globe summer season is that there was actually a Shakespeare play lined up in the ‘we know you’re unfamiliar with this play but please hear us out’ category. Not seen in London for over a decade, Troilus and Cressida is Shakespeare’s extremely odd Trojan War drama that essentially combines a big chunk of the plot of the Illiad with a weirdy love story between the Trojan title characters that is basically just a subplot.
Where is it? Shakespeare’s Globe.
