This Week in the West End: What to See, 27 July to 2 August 2026

This is the week the summer schedule turns over. A landmark revival opens at the London Palladium on Monday night, three more productions arrive on Thursday, one of the National Theatre's best loved shows plays its final performances, and the Globe's open-air season reaches full strength with three Shakespeares running side by side. Pulling our live booking data for the week, we can confirm 53 productions playing across London that we have checked against venue listings, with prices starting at £6.25 and a median of £30. Everything below has been checked against the venue's own listing rather than a secondhand round-up, and where we could not confirm a run we have left it out.

New on Monday: Jesus Christ Superstar at the London Palladium

The week's headline is the arrival of Jesus Christ Superstar at the London Palladium, opening Monday 27 July and booking through to 5 September. This is Tim Sheader's Regent's Park Open Air Theatre staging, the one that has been collecting awards and touring since its Olivier-winning debut, and it lands in the West End with a genuinely unusual casting idea. Sam Ryder plays Jesus, Tyrone Huntley returns to the role of Judas that made his name, and King Herod is shared across the run by Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Richard Armitage, Boy George, Layton Williams and Julian Clary. Herod gets one number. Booking a specific night now means choosing which of five very different performers you want singing it, which is the sort of detail that turns a revival into an event. It sits outside our bookable catalogue, so we flag it here rather than linking it.

Thursday's arrivals: the Barbican, the Apollo and the Globe

Thursday 30 July is the busiest day of the week. At the Barbican, Death Note The Musical begins a run through to 12 September, bringing the musical adaptation of the cult manga to a London main stage. At the Apollo, Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain starts its summer holiday season of daytime performances, running to 31 August alongside the Apollo's evening tenant. And on Bankside, A Midsummer Night's Dream returns to the Globe's schedule for its final month, closing on 29 August.

Saturday adds one more. The Comedy About Spies, the latest from the Mischief company behind The Play That Goes Wrong, opens at the Adelphi Theatre on 1 August and runs to 26 September. Worth noting because several listings still place this production at a different house: it is the Adelphi, confirmed on the venue operator's own pages.

Last chance: War Horse leaves the National

The most pressing deadline of the week belongs to the National Theatre, where War Horse plays its final performances in the Olivier until Thursday 30 July. Nearly two decades after it first galloped out of the same auditorium, the Handspring puppetry still does something no amount of stage technology has managed to replicate, and this run has been billed by the National as the last chance to see it there. It is not in our bookable catalogue, but if you have been putting it off, the week to stop putting it off is this one.

One more finishes within days. 1536 plays its last performance at the Ambassadors Theatre on Saturday 1 August, having spent its final stretch sold out. Slightly further out, Allegra at the Harold Pinter Theatre and Dark of the Moon at the Charing Cross both finish on 8 August, and Heathers The Musical at the Arts at Marble Arch closes on 22 August.

Who is actually on stage this week

Star casting is the category where listings age fastest, so we only name performances we could date-confirm. Cole Escola is playing Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary! at the Trafalgar Theatre for four weeks only, to 15 August, which is the rare chance to see a writer performing their own play in London. The production itself is booking at the Trafalgar to 2 January 2027, so the show will comfortably outlast this particular casting. Richard Coyle plays Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird at Wyndham's Theatre through to 12 September. Dame Maureen Lipman is in Allegra for its final fortnight. And at the Bridge, David Morrissey and Mary-Louise Parker continue in Simon Stone's The Oresteia to 19 September.

Outdoors, and three Shakespeares at once

Late July is the one point in the year when London's open-air theatre is at full tilt. Cats opened at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre on 25 July in a new production running to 19 September, so this is its first full week. At Shakespeare's Globe the season now has three plays in rotation: Much Ado About Nothing through to 24 October, Love's Labour's Lost, a flamenco-inflected staging by Indiana Lown-Collins that reaches its press night on Wednesday 29 July and runs to 13 September, and A Midsummer Night's Dream back from Thursday. Standing places in the yard are £6.25, which is not only the lowest price in our data this week but the lowest by a distance.

What it costs this week

Across the 51 productions we could confirm and price, the median is £30 and just over half sit at or under that line. Only two are above £50. The long-runners cluster tightly: Hamilton, Matilda, The Book of Mormon, Hadestown, Moulin Rouge! and Beetlejuice all start at £25 this week. We have broken the numbers down properly in this week's value guide, and ranked the week by audience score in the best-reviewed round-up. For everything happening outside London, see our UK-wide edition.

If you are choosing rather than browsing, our guide for first-timers and the summer overview are the two most useful places to start, and closing soon keeps track of what is running out of time.

Frequently asked questions

What is the biggest opening in the West End this week?

Jesus Christ Superstar at the London Palladium, opening Monday 27 July and running to 5 September. It is Tim Sheader's Regent's Park production, with Sam Ryder as Jesus, Tyrone Huntley as Judas and the role of King Herod rotating between Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Richard Armitage, Boy George, Layton Williams and Julian Clary.

Which West End shows close this week?

War Horse gives its final performances at the National Theatre's Olivier until 30 July, and 1536 finishes at the Ambassadors Theatre on 1 August. Allegra and Dark of the Moon both end the following week, on 8 August, and Heathers The Musical closes on 22 August.

How much do West End tickets cost in the week of 27 July 2026?

Across the 51 confirmed and priced productions in our live data this week, the median starting price is £30 and the lowest is £6.25 for a standing place in the yard at Shakespeare's Globe. Just over half of the week's productions start at or below £30, and only two start above £50.

Can I still see three Shakespeare plays at the Globe this summer?

Yes. Much Ado About Nothing runs to 24 October, Love's Labour's Lost to 13 September, and A Midsummer Night's Dream returns on 30 July for a final month, closing 29 August. As You Like It joins the season from 14 August.

Is Oh, Mary! still starring Cole Escola?

Yes, for a limited run at the Trafalgar Theatre until 15 August 2026. The production itself continues in London beyond that date with other casting.