London Shows Weekly: This Week in London
Week of 23 July 2026
This Week in London Theatre
Peak summer is now in full swing, and London’s stages reflect it: this is a week of bold reinventions,
dark reimaginings, and family-friendly spectacle jostling for space with long-running blockbusters.
The big story is genre remixing — Irvine Welsh’s grit gets a musical number, Aeschylus gets a glass
house and a modern timeline, and Elton John gets impersonated with live vocals. Meanwhile the
Open Air Theatre kicks off its summer season and puppetry-heavy family shows are lining up for the
school holidays. It’s a good week to book ahead — July is one of the busiest months of the year for
London theatre.
West End Openings & Highlights
Trainspotting: The Musical — Theatre Royal Haymarket. Running 15 July – 5 September 2026.
Tickets from around £16–£75+. Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting gets the full musical treatment, following
Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Franco through a soundtrack of original songs plus tracks lifted from the
films. Worth seeing for the novelty of hearing this world sung, and for its world-premiere status before
a UK tour.
The Oresteia — Bridge Theatre. Now running, through 19 September 2026. Tickets typically £25–
£90. Director Simon Stone resets Aeschylus’s trilogy between 2016 and the present day, following
the Middleton family (David Morrissey, Mary-Louise Parker, Tom Glynn-Carney, Rosie Sheehy) inside
Lizzie Clachan’s rotating glass house. Reviews are split — some critics call it the most electrifying
night on a London stage, others find it shallow — which makes it a genuinely interesting one to see
and judge yourself.
Hit Machine — Soho Theatre. Opened 9 July 2026. Tickets typically £20–£35. Josh Radnor (How I
Met Your Mother) and Noah Galvin (Dear Evan Hansen) headline this new work at one of London’s
sharpest mid-size venues — a good pick if you want West End-adjacent star power without the West
End prices.
Death Note: The Musical — Barbican Theatre. Returns summer 2026. Tickets typically £25–£65.
The manga-turned-anime phenomenon comes to the stage again at the Barbican; worth catching if
you want a fanbase-driven event with a genuinely different visual language from the usual West End
musical.
Cats (2026 staging) — Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Opens as the 2026 summer musical.
Tickets typically £30–£75. A brand new staging directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie,
performed outdoors under the stars — the setting alone makes this one of the more atmospheric
ways to see a Lloyd Webber classic this summer.
Off West End & Fringe
Cable Street — Southwark Playhouse. Check current listing for dates; tickets typically £20–£35. Tim
Gilvin and Alex Kanefsky’s musical dramatizes the 1936 Battle of Cable Street, when Jewish, Irish
and Communist east Londoners blocked a march by the British Union of Fascists. Critics have
praised it as entertaining, educational and polished for a new musical, with a score that fuses
klezmer, Irish folk, music hall and hip hop — genuinely ambitious for a fringe-scale show.
Garry Starr: Classic Penguins — The Other Palace, Main Theatre. Running in July 2026; tickets
typically £15–£25. Physical comedy and clowning built around classic literature, from an act with a
strong Edinburgh Fringe pedigree — a reliable pick if you want fringe theatre that’s genuinely funny
rather than earnest.
Redcliffe: A New Musical — Southwark Playhouse. Ran through 4 July 2026 (check for extension).
A four-star-reviewed new musical, a reminder that Southwark Playhouse continues to be one of
London’s best rooms for catching new musical writing before it potentially transfers.
The Jonathan Larson
Comedy & Live Entertainment
Comedy Freaks, Kings Cross — weekly Saturday (and some Wednesday) shows. Doors 7pm,
shows 7:30–9:30pm (Wednesdays run to 10pm); tickets typically £10–£20. A rotating line-up of
headline-level circuit acts and rising stars in an intimate Kings Cross room — good for a casual, low-
commitment comedy night.
ABBA Voyage — ABBA Arena, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Ongoing. Holographic ABBA
“ABBAtars” perform live with a 10-piece band; still one of London’s most technically impressive live
entertainment experiences, and popular with first-timers who want spectacle over traditional theatre.
Family Shows
My Neighbour Totoro — West End transfer, opening Thursday 30 July 2026. Tickets typically £25–
£95. The RSC/Studio Ghibli stage adaptation transfers to the West End with its acclaimed puppetry
and vivid visuals intact — an easy recommendation for families and a genuinely special first-theatre-
trip pick given its puppetry craft.
The Enormous Crocodile — Lyric Hammersmith. Running 28 July – 22 August 2026, recommended
age 3+. Tickets typically £15–£30. Roald Dahl’s story told through large-scale puppetry and songs —
short, lively, and well-suited to younger children new to theatre.
Dinosaurs Live — Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre. Opens 28 July, running through 6 September
2026, age 3+. Large-scale dinosaur puppetry with a post-show meet-and-greet — one to watch for
families planning summer holiday outings.
Heathers the Musical — The Arts at Marble Arch. Returning for a summer stint; exact dates via
West End Theatre listings. The cult 1980s film gets its now-familiar musical treatment back on a
London stage — reliable, high-energy fun for fans of the film or the show’s previous London runs.
