This Week in the West End: What to See, 3 to 9 August 2026

This is the week London stops being the only story. Both Edinburgh festivals open on Friday, which every August pulls critics, performers and a good share of the audience four hundred miles north. What is left behind in London is not a quiet week so much as a strangely shaped one: a new Shakespeare arrives on Bankside, a major revival reaches its press night in a park, two productions play their final performances on Saturday, and the National Theatre spends the whole week running a single show. Pulling our live booking data, we can confirm 69 productions playing across London that we have checked against venue listings, with prices starting at £6.25 and a median of £31.25. Where we could not confirm a run against the venue's own pages, we have left it out.

New on Tuesday: A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe

The week's arrival is A Midsummer Night's Dream, which begins at Shakespeare's Globe on Tuesday 4 August and runs to 29 August. That is a short window by Globe standards, and this is the week the summer rotation on Bankside fills up. Much Ado About Nothing runs to 24 October, and Love's Labour's Lost, the flamenco-inflected staging by Indiana Lown-Collins, is dated by the Globe from Thursday 6 August to 13 September. By the weekend all three are in the schedule at once. A fourth, As You Like It, joins from 14 August, so anyone hoping to see the full set should note that this week is not yet the week to do it.

The Dream is the play the Globe's architecture was more or less built for. An open roof, an August evening and a comedy about people getting lost outdoors after dark is a combination that does not need much help. Standing places in the yard remain the lowest-priced way into any London theatre in our data, at £6.25.

Thursday in the park: Cats reaches its press night

Regent's Park Open Air Theatre has been playing Cats in previews since 25 July, and Thursday 6 August is the night the production formally opens and the critics file. The run continues to 19 September. One practical consequence worth knowing about: the Thursday matinee is not scheduled that day, because the afternoon belongs to the press performance. This is Regent's Park doing what it does better than anyone, which is taking a show that has been staged to death indoors and letting weather, dusk and an actual sky do some of the work. It sits outside our bookable catalogue, so we flag it here rather than linking it.

Last chance: two productions finish on Saturday

Two London runs end on Saturday 8 August. Allegra closes at the Harold Pinter Theatre after a summer season with Dame Maureen Lipman, playing a matinee and an evening on its final day. It has been the kind of star vehicle that arrives quietly and leaves having quietly sold out, and the Harold Pinter's other tenant, Abigail's Party, continues after it.

The other is Dark of the Moon at the Charing Cross Theatre, which finishes on 8 August after a run that began on 18 May. It picked up thirteen Fringe Theatre Award nominations along the way, which for a bluegrass and rock musical about Appalachian witchcraft in a 260-seat house under the arches is a decent haul. The Charing Cross keeps going with Jeeves Takes Charge.

Slightly further out, Heathers The Musical at the Arts at Marble Arch closes on 22 August, Brainiac Live at the Garrick finishes on 30 August, and the Globe's Dream ends on 29 August. Our closing soon page tracks the rest.

The National Theatre is running on one engine

Something unusual is happening on the South Bank. Pride continues in the Dorfman to 12 September, and it is the only production the National is playing this week. War Horse gave its final Olivier performance on 30 July and The Misanthrope closed in the Lyttelton on 1 August, while their replacements are both still weeks away: Electra / Persona reaches the Lyttelton from 19 August and The Story opens in the Olivier from 27 August. Two of the country's most important auditoriums sitting dark in the first full week of the school holidays is a scheduling quirk rather than a crisis, but it is the sort of thing that only shows up if you check all three houses instead of one listings page.

Who is actually on stage this week

Star casting is the category where listings age fastest, so we name only performances we could date-confirm. Cole Escola is playing Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary! at the Trafalgar Theatre until 15 August, which leaves under two weeks to see a writer performing their own play in the West End. The production itself continues at the Trafalgar well beyond that with other casting. Richard Coyle is scheduled as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird at Wyndham's Theatre to 12 September. At the Sondheim, Will Callan is the scheduled Marius in Les Miserables for the whole of this week, with the role passing to Thiago Phillip Felizardo from 13 August. And at the Bridge, David Morrissey and Mary-Louise Parker continue in Simon Stone's The Oresteia to 19 September.

What it costs this week

Across the 67 productions we could confirm and price, the median starting price is £31.25, the floor is £6.25 and the ceiling is £119.90. Just under half start at or below £30, twelve start at or below £20, and only four start above £50, which is a reminder that the eye-watering headline prices reported every summer describe a small and unrepresentative slice of the market. The long-runners cluster tightly again: Hamilton, Matilda, The Book of Mormon, Hadestown, Moulin Rouge! and The Play That Goes Wrong all start at £25. We have broken the numbers down properly in this week's value guide, ranked the week by audience score in the best-reviewed round-up, and covered everything happening outside London in 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 starting points, and how to choose the right show is worth ten minutes if the shortlist is still long. You can also browse everything by West End, musicals and plays.

Frequently asked questions

What is new in the West End this week?

A Midsummer Night's Dream begins at Shakespeare's Globe on Tuesday 4 August and runs to 29 August, and the Globe dates Love's Labour's Lost from Thursday 6 August to 13 September, so the summer rotation is at full strength by the weekend. Cats at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre reaches its press night on Thursday 6 August, having been in previews since 25 July.

Which London shows close this week?

Two. Allegra plays its final performances at the Harold Pinter Theatre on Saturday 8 August, and Dark of the Moon finishes at the Charing Cross Theatre on the same day. Heathers The Musical closes on 22 August and A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe on 29 August.

How much do West End tickets cost in the week of 3 August 2026?

Across the 67 confirmed and priced productions in our live data, the median starting price is £31.25 and the lowest is £6.25 for a standing place in the yard at Shakespeare's Globe. Twelve productions start at or below £20 and only four start above £50.

Why is the National Theatre only playing one show this week?

War Horse finished in the Olivier on 30 July and The Misanthrope closed in the Lyttelton on 1 August, while their successors do not arrive until later in the month. Only Pride, in the Dorfman until 12 September, plays across the week of 3 to 9 August.

Is Oh, Mary! still starring Cole Escola?

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