Very soon, the heat will break, our minds and imaginations will kick back into gear, and our souls will start craving nourishment (the horror!). No, seriously — summer is theatre time too, and London’s theatre scene doesn’t go quiet, despite all the holidays and seaside getaways. Here’s a list of must-see July productions.
Lyttelton Theatre
National Theatre, South Bank
Inter Alia is a Latin legal phrase used to suggest that what’s listed isn’t everything — “among other things.” A fitting title for Suzie Miller’s play: she’s not only a successful playwright but also a trained lawyer, and she clearly knows her subject. Her previous hit play Prima Facie also took its name from a legal term meaning “at first glance.”
But if you’re expecting another dry courtroom drama — think again. The legal setting here serves more as an authentic backdrop. Placing her heroine like a fish in familiar waters, Miller zooms in on her inner world. The director, Justin Martin, reunites with Miller after Prima Facie.
Jessica Parks is a high-flying London judge — brilliant, sharp, successful. But she’s also a mother, a wife, a friend, and a karaoke enthusiast. Suddenly, her world starts to collapse. Tenderness and rage, guilt and love, despair and hope begin to blur and clash.
Can this fragile bird in a wig and robes survive? Rosamund Pike, remembered for her role in Saltburn as the icy matriarch of a grand estate, takes to the stage as Jessica Parks. This marks Pike’s National Theatre debut.
Also worth noting: Inter Alia was recently a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the world’s oldest and most prestigious playwriting award honoring women+ in theatre.
The Old Vic, 103 The Cut
Yes, it’s named after the 1963 Bob Dylan song from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. So many women have claimed to be the girl in that song, but Dylan himself always insisted she was an archetype — a song about love, and its loss.
And yet, Girl from the North Country isn’t really about romance — though that, too, is part of the mix.
This acclaimed musical returns to The Old Vic, where it premiered in 2017 before enjoying an incredibly successful international run. Now it’s back, a reunion of sorts.
Of course, this is a jukebox musical, a beloved subgenre. And naturally, the more than 20 Dylan songs in the show are familiar from first note to last. But the story?
Set in Depression-era Duluth, Minnesota, in a rundown guesthouse owned by a man named Nick, whose life is falling apart. One daughter is pregnant by an unknown man. His son drinks and dreams of becoming a writer. Guests drift through, weighed down by griefs and ghosts too heavy to bear. Then comes a mysterious preacher named Marlowe.
It’s practically an American The Lower Depths — remember that line from Gorky’s Luka: “A man can do anything — if he wants to.” This roaming tale of human struggle, wrapped in Dylan’s genius songwriting, is masterfully woven by playwright Conor McPherson.
Girl from the North Country is the winner of both Tony and Olivier Awards.
Barbican, Silk Street
A rare treat — a guest production from across the Atlantic. A biographical play rooted in a real 1958 event. TV host Jack Paar invites pianist and provocateur Oscar Levant onto his NBC late-night talk show.
Who was Oscar Levant? Too little known today. A brilliant supporting actor whose performances often eclipsed the leads. A world-class pianist and composer who filled concert halls. A razor-sharp wit whose jokes offended celebrities — and eventually got his own show cancelled.
The play was written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Doug Wright, and premiered in Chicago in a production directed by Lisa Peterson. It transferred to Broadway in 2023, earning three Tony nominations, including Best Actor in a Play, which went to Sean Hayes.
Hayes — best known for his comedic role in Will & Grace — here reveals profound dramatic range. Of course, Good Night, Oscar is a tragicomedy. Audiences laugh first, and cry later. Hayes doesn’t impersonate Levant — he explores him: his genius, his pain, his spiraling mind. No judgment, no pity — just deep, human compassion.
Shakespeare’s Globe, New Globe Walk
“When night-dogs run, all sorts of deer are chased” — such is the epigraph to this summer’s new Shakespearean comedy at the Globe.
Yes, it’s high summer, and the Globe stage is alive again with raucous, unfiltered Shakespeare.
This is the real deal — raw, unrefined, full-bodied Shakespeare.
He wrote for everyone — for actors, for nobles, for commoners. That means half a pound of jokes for all tastes: witty, dirty, clever, chaotic.
So maybe don’t bring a first date (unless they’re a historian), or small children. Remember: Falstaff is a scoundrel and a lecher.
Falstaff is played by George Fouracres, a Globe regular known for his comic chops, mimicry skills, and uncanny ear for dialect. He’s been seen on radio, onstage (even as Hamlet), and in multiple productions directed by Sean Holmes.
Holmes returns to direct here, having proven his command of Shakespearean comedy in past productions like Measure for Measure, The Comedy of Errors, and Twelfth Night.
Charing Cross Theatre, Villiers Street
Josephine Tey’s genre-blending historical detective novel first appeared in 1951 and immediately captivated readers and critics alike.
The story follows Inspector Alan Grant, laid up in hospital, as he tries to solve a “cold case” from the 15th century — the alleged murder of the Princes in the Tower by Richard III.
It’s the third book in Tey’s Inspector Grant series, and arguably the most compelling. What starts out like a puzzle or a crossword becomes something rich, layered, and urgent.
Characters flood in: Shakespearean scholars, nurses, historians… The past merges with the present. And yes, Grant’s own life is changed in the process.
Playwright M. Kilburg Reedy, who also produced the adaptation, has reimagined the novel with an unexpected romantic undercurrent — without sacrificing the depth of its historical mystery or its myth-busting view of medieval England.
Directed by Jenny Eastop, known for her work with contemporary drama.
And no — there’s no “daughter” in the plot. The title comes from a quote by Francis Bacon: “Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority.”
P.S. Let’s not waste too many words — this show needs no introduction, but simply must be mentioned:
NYE returns to the National Theatre, starring Michael Sheen as Aneurin Bevan, the Labour politician and founder of the NHS.
Written by Tim Price and directed by Rufus Norris, the play is as powerful as it was last season.
If you’ve already seen Sheen in the role, go again. A monumental actor. A monumental production. Worth seeing live again and again.
