what to watch on stage August 2026

Theatre highlights this month include The Story, written by Tracey Scott Wilson and directed by Clint Dyer, starring Letitia Wright, Ashley Thomas and Lorraine Toussaint.

You can also catch Sophie Okonedo and Amanda Wilkin in A Month in the Country at the Donmar Warehouse, or step into the world before Westeros in George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones: The Mad King at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

KÄTZCHEN by Joy Nesbitt

An afro-surrealist one-woman show unravelling the coming-of-age story of the black feminine. Beamed down from the stars and into a world governed by “Nature’s Law”, Daphne is an alien in a dress. She is here to learn what it means to be human, but the humans she encounters – a cynical policeman, a weary lover, a violent butcher – only teach her the languages of possession, race, gender, and power.

She is told to smile, but not too much. She is told to act “classy,” even when it hurts. She is told that to be a woman is to exist within a “consciousness of the oppressed.” She is told that she has an “exotic blackness”…Whatever that means. As she moves from the neon haze of a nightclub to the dim warmth of a shared apartment, Daphne realises that human communication is less about understanding and more about survival.

KÄTZCHEN runs from Tuesday 4th – Saturday 8th August @ Riverside Studios

They’re Just Small Town (Northern) Lads writer and performer Nathan Jonathan

A timely exploration of race, class and the pressures placed on young men to conform. Drawing on Jonathan’s lived experience, the show follows a mixed-race teenager growing up in a small Northern town in the early 2000s, navigating inherited ideas of masculinity, family expectations and the question of who he wants to become.

With Black and mixed-race stories from Northern communities still underrepresented, the show brings a fresh perspective on belonging, modern British identity and the men who shape us. Blending nostalgia, humour and sharp storytelling, it explores the influence of the Windrush generation, working-class roots and the lasting impact of the expectations we inherit.

Directed by Amanda Huxtable (Nine Night).

They’re Just Small Town (Northern) Lads runs from Thursday 6th – Sunday 16th August @ Summerhall (Anatomy Lecture Theatre)

Threads created by Joelthomas Coleallison

In the heart of a close-knit community, a small tailoring shop quietly hums with the rhythms of everyday life. At its centre is Mama, the steady hand who holds everything together. She’s a protector, organiser, and the glue of the community. But while she’s always looking out for everyone else, her own dreams have slowly been pushed to the side.

Her shop, Snip & Stitch, is more than a business. It’s a safe space, a meeting point, and a place where people connect. Through fabric, fittings and everyday chats, we get to know the people who come through its doors, their kindness, their conflicts, their love stories, and the small, quiet ways they keep going.

But as the textile industry shifts, Snip & Stitch starts to feel the pressure. What once felt permanent now feels fragile. The community is forced to face difficult questions: what are they holding on to, and what might need to change?

Threads will be created and performed by a company of over 50 of Hackney Empire’s next generation of young artists and creatives.

Behind the scenes: Nate Owusu-Ansah & Jamal Abdul (Drama Assistants), Khalif Shakeil Edwards (Movement Director).

Threads runs on 8th August @ Hackney Empire

Phantasia Written Afnaan Osman. Director Lauryn Perkins-Monney

Follows Ayaan, a young Somali woman who slips away into Phantasia, a fully realised inner world she builds for herself. For Ayaan, daydreaming is not a habit; it is a form of survival. In Phantasia, the audience are not passive observers – they are characters in Ayaan’s world. They are the ones she performs for, confides in and ultimately has to let go of. At its heart, Phantasia asks: what happens when the world in your head becomes the only place you feel seen, and what changes when someone else finally enters that world and truly witnesses it too? A love letter to dreamers, to young Somali women, Phantasia is a debut work about inherited imagination as survival, sisterhood and the cost of living in your head. Funny, tender and playful, it is a play that asks its audience to be present, because Ayaan never quite learned how.

Cast includes: Muna Abdulahi, Salma Muse, Afnaan Osman and Faduma Issa.

Phantasia runs from Tuesday 11th – Sunday 16th August @ Riverside Studios

To Be You Written by Esohe Uwadiae

Produced by Piece of Cake Productions, To Be You is a brand-new one-woman play from an all-Black creative team, bringing an important story about Black girlhood to the stage.

Directed and produced by Shakira Newton, and performed by Efe Agwele, the play explores identity, friendship and the cost of belonging through a funny, raw and deeply moving monologue.

The play was shortlisted for the inaugural Mustapha Matura Award and has been supported by the Mercury Theatreand Marlowe Theatre through the Catalyst for Culture Initiative.

To Be You runs from Wednesday 12th – Tuesday 25th August @ The Glitch, Waterloo

Anansi The Spider Writer Justin Audibert. Director Robin Belfield

People say that in a time long, long ago, animals walked on two feet and spoke with words, like we do. And back then, everyone knew that the cleverest of all the animals in the kingdom was a spider – the infamous Anansi – the original trickster and the master spinner of yarns.

But sometimes Anansi could be a little too clever for his own good…

Cast includes: Cynthia Emeagi, Mira Morrison, Elizabeth Peace and Beck Sanneh.

Anansi the Spider runs from Wednesday 15th August – Thursday 6th September @ Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Splintered Written and Produced by Emeka Diamond

A moving drama set during the Biafran War of the 1960s and post-war Nigeria of the 1970s, following childhood friends Ade and Tolu as they come of age in a world shaped by conflict. The play explores friendship, identity and the lasting impact of war, asking whether two people with opposing beliefs can remain connected as they grow into adulthood.

Cast includes: Gwent Odai and Daniel Abeshin.

Behind the camera: Isabel Steuble-Johnson, Michelle Aramidé, Atlanta Sonson-Chapman, Femi Olajugbagb & more.

Splintered runs from Tuesday 18th – Sunday 23rd August @ Riverside Studios

Before We Forget directed by Amber Ruby

On the brink of a data collapse, a group of friends has to decide how to keep hold of their memories. With new data centres taking over, and the whole system becoming increasingly monetised, they must decide what parts of their humanity are worth saving.

A celebration of what makes us human in an increasingly virtual world.

Before We Forget runs from Tuesday 18th – Saturday 22nd August @ Bush Theatre

The Rise Of Josephine Baker Written by Shani Gray. Directed by Jordi M. Carter

Follows the African American performer as she escapes segregation-era America to become an international sensation.

Arriving in 1920s Paris during the dazzling Jazz Age, she prepares for her breakthrough in La Revue Nègre, a sensational production which ignited controversy and propelled her to fame across Europe.

Marking 100 years since her iconic Banana Skirt Dance, the show revisits a performer both celebrated and contested, prompting reflections on race and desire.

With a colourful cast of characters shaping her image and career, from artist Paul Colin to lover Pepito Abatino and theatre producer André Daven, Josephine embarks on a journey to find success on her own terms.

The Rise Of Josephine Baker runs from Tuesday 25th -Saturday 29th August @ Riverside Studios

The Story by Tracey Scott Wilson. Directed by Clint Dyer

There’s the truth and then there’s the story

When a white teacher is killed in a black neighbourhood, four journalists race to get the headline – at any cost. But when shocking new evidence pulls them into the dark heart of the case, they are each forced to confront what they’re prepared to risk to tell their version of the truth.

Cast includes: Letitia Wright, Ashley Thomas, Lorraine Toussaint, Tee Arnold, Donna Augustin, Reanna Bleu, Arianne Carless, Linseigh Green, Aliyah Odoffin, Roland Royal III & Unique Spencer.

The Story runs from Thursday 27th August – Saturday 24th October @ National Theatre

Significant Other by Shireen Shaikh

Follows the parallel journeys of Malika, a teen social media influencer, and Victor, a travelling salesman in his fifties.

Malika is being stalked by an obsessive ex, though she is reluctant to face up to it. Victor has been carrying around a dummy for far too long, in place of his wife who left years ago.

A weekend of heading for the club is Malika’s answer to everything, whilst Victor day dreams of his long service award. But their weekend plans are about to be upended…

What will it take for each of them to live in the present and leave behind the dynamics of a past relationship?

Cast includes: Christie Fewry , Bryan Seisay and Leila McCalla.

Significant Other runs from Tuesday 18th – Saturday 29th August @ Brockley Jack Studio Theatre 

A Month In The Country @The Donamar warehouse

Hundreds of women would envy me, wouldn’t they?
A beautiful house in the Russian countryside.
A doting husband, a circle of admirers.
A life of order, tranquility and quiet restraint.
It’s enough to make you scream.

Natalya Petrovna looks to all the world like a contented woman, but the arrival of a penniless young tutor stirs a restless heart, igniting a spark of desire that sets the Summer ablaze.

Starring Sophie Okonedo, Amanda Wilkin, Jonathan Livingstone, Rachelle Diedricks

A Month In The Country runs from Saturday 22nd August – Saturday 3rd October @ The Donamar Warehouse

The Enormous Crocodile Book and Lyrics by Suhayla El-Bushra.

He’s Greedy, He’s Grumptious, He’s Horrid!

The Enormous Crocodile is weaving his way through the jungle in search of delicious little fingers and squidgy podgy knees… Only the other jungle creatures can foil his secret plans and clever tricks, but they’re going to have to find a large amount of courage to stop this greedy brute.

This mischievous musical based on Roald Dahl’s book has toe-tapping tunes by Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab.

Cast includes: Chelsea Da Silva, Precious Abimbola and Jordan Eskeisa.

The Enormous Crocodile runs from Wednesday 29th July – Saturday 22nd August @ Lyric Hammersmith

George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones: The Mad King @ the Royal Shakespeare Theatre

Enter the world before.

A long winter thaws in Harrenhal, and spring is promised. At a lavish banquet on the eve of a jousting tournament, lovers meet and revellers speculate about who will contend. But in the shadows, amid growing unease at the bloodthirsty actions of the realm’s merciless Mad King, dissenters from his inner circle anxiously advance a treasonous plot. Far away, the drums of battle sound.

Family bonds, ancient prophecies, and the sacred line of succession will be tested in a dangerous campaign for power. Who will survive? Who will rise?

‘Wars aren’t won by those with most cause, but whose story’s best told.’

Cast includes: Michael Abubakar, Elizabeth Ayodele, Miles Barrow, Edem-Ita Duke, Simi Egbejumi-David, April Nerissa Hudson, Kel Matsena, Alexander Newland, Harmony Rose-Bremner, Tanisha Spring, Tzarina-Nassor & more.

Game of Thrones: The Mad King runs from Tuesday 28th July – Saturday 5th September @ the Royal Shakespeare Theatre

Voyages Festival – This Is Where I Leave You by Nayib Jean Baptiste

Motivated by a prestigious and lucrative commission, two exes attempt to dramatise their relationship into a play. Shifting between past and present, the structure-loving panto writer Cole and the laid-back retired football star Neil narrate, interrupt, and debate their love story as their younger selves connect and unravel over the course of one night. What starts out as an awkward look back may even bring love back, but it can only end one way.

This Is Where I Leave You on Thursday 27 August @ The White Bear Theatre

Voyages Festival – Mighty Legacy Written and Directed by Darren Yeboah

A fast-paced comedy-drama set around a small East London street food stall run by three brothers honouring the culinary legacy left to them by their retired Ghanaian and Jamaican parents. When missing ingredients, a stolen showcase dish, and pressure from a food critic threaten the stall’s future, the brothers must confront what legacy truly means and whether they are ready to carry it forward together.

Cast includes: Mike Aina, Kahmal Sealey, Justin Enyan, Nicola McKenzie, Leonard Hundeyin, Oyeko Hanson & Shauna-Simone Yeboah