Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
With restrictions lifting, outdoor cultural events are springing up, albeit more quickly in some regions than others. One of the most well-established is Regent’s Park open air theatre, which is so atmospheric that it is practically a show in its own right. The popular venue is reviving its electric version of Jesus Christ Superstar as a concert staging in a reduced-capacity 390-seat auditorium.
NW1, 14 August to 27 September
Garden Fringe
A community-led pop-up theatre festival that is encouraging artists from all over the world to stage socially distanced performances in other people’s back gardens. Think boxes of wine and honesty bars, gazebos and camping stools, stages nestling side by side with trampolines, comedians lit by fairy lights – and cats.
Nationwide, summer
Chichester Festival Theatre
Giles Terera, Hugh Bonneville and Gina Beck will appear in this short run of outdoor theatrical events. Bonneville headlines the Family Fun in the Park event, including a puppet-animated reading of Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea. There’ll also be a musical theatre concert hosted by Omid Djalili.
28 to 31 August
Rambling Revellers
Theatrical troupe Rambling Revellers are providing socially distanced performances in people’s gardens, parks, village greens – or anywhere else you might fancy – throughout London. Culture-starved customers can choose West End performers to deliver speeches, sonnets and scenes from the comfort of their own backyards.
London, all summer
The Minack Theatre
This gorgeous theatre, which is essentially a rocky outcrop on the Cornish coast, is open again for business. Its summer season includes a mixture of music concerts, family shows and theatre and will feature Rabbit Theatre’s one-man-performance of Great Expectations, Bash Street Theatre’s The Strongman and a two-week revival of Marie Jones’s Stones in his Pockets.
Porthcurno, Penzance, to 7 September
Greenwich + Docklands international festival
One of the most eclectic outdoor arts festivals includes Luke Jerram’s memorial to those lost to Covid-19 (In Memoriam), a show in response to the murder of George Floyd, a new prose poem from Bernardine Evaristo and the world premiere of sci-fi dance-theatre epic Future Cargo.
London, 28 August to 12 September
Virgin Money Unity Arena Concerts
The arena at Gosforth Park races is billing itself as Europe’s first socially distanced music venue – and launches in August with a series of shows. There will be sets from Two Door Cinema Club, Supergrass, Tom Grennan and the Libertines, and comedians Jason Manford and Bill Bailey also headline.
Newcastle upon Tyne, 14 August to 5 September
ENO Drive & Live
Ally Pally is following up its Drive In Film Club with a world first: drive-in operas courtesy of English National Opera. The series will feature 16 performances of a 90-minute shortened and accessible version of Puccini’s La Bohème that the audience can watch from the comfort (and safety) of their cars.
Alexandra Palace, N22, 19 to 27 September
BarnFest outdoor theatre festival
Enjoy a family-friendly mixture of outdoor theatre in the grounds of Ingleside House from Barn Theatre. This mini-festival kicks off with a run of shows from Tweedy the Clown, followed by productions from outdoor theatre specialists Illyria theatre, and a new version of the Kander and Ebb musical revue show The World Goes ’Round.
Cirencester, Sat to 5 September
Glyndebourne Garden Concerts and Outdoor Opera
Glyndebourne is hosting a series of outdoor performances in its stunning grounds. The concerts will see the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment perform serenades, dances, overtures and arias by Beethoven, Mozart and Jonathan Dove. There will also be opera works by Wagner, Mahler and Offenbach with the London Philharmonic.
Nr Lewes, to 28 August
