TOP PICKS JULY

for the good stuff,

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Perfect for a hot day - love in all its forms and lots of comedy coming your way this July. For more shows check out our What's On pages here

Solo Drama RIKA'S ROOMS by Gail Louw at Theatre at the Tabard, Chiswick 1st - 25th July 2026

A Oxia Theatre Production

A female solo show by the internationally acclaimed, award-winning, South African born, British-Jewish playwright Gail Louw. RIKA’S ROOMS – performed by award-winning actress (Best Actor London Pub Theatre Awards 2025), Emma Wilkinson Wright.

RIKA’S ROOMS. Gail Louw explores the experiences of an ordinary woman dealing with intense love and loss during extraordinary times. Moving from Nazi Germany to Palestine, to Apartheid South Africa, Rika becomes a victim of war and a freedom ﬁghter. But instead of committing herself to the cause, she decides to live the good life. Now aged 76 and living with dementia in England, Rika inhabits two worlds: the present which makes no sense any more, and the past, peopled by ghosts. Memory isn’t always a reliable narrator.

Intergenerational Epic LOVE YOU LONG TIME (ALREADY) by Katie Đỗ, Directed by Jennifer Tang, at Theatre503, Battersea 2 - 25 July

‘I’m really trying to be in love with you but I can’t stop remembering…’

Mai didn’t expect her heaven to be reliving an engagement to an unfaithful husband. He’s becoming a Buddhist monk. Mai’s daughter Tâm is desperate to understand her mother. As time slips away and dreams overlap with reality, Mai and Tâm must learn how to love each other before heaven comes for them again.

love you long time (already) by Katie Đỗ is a funny and moving intergenerational epic about mothers and daughters, migration and memory, the ties that bind us and the cost of breaking free from them.

Comedy thriller Mythology Workshop & Joy Of Drama Stageworks Presents: LIVE FROM THE WAREHOUSE at White Bear Theatre, Kennington 7 - 18 July

Live From The Warehouse is a gripping two-hander about boyhood, betrayal, and the algorithmic hunger for attention. Equal parts raw, funny, and haunting — it asks: What are we willing to lose to be seen? Two seventeen-year-old boys, classmates and dreamers, break into an abandoned warehouse after a prank reel involving a stolen gun spins out of control. Chased by the police, hunted by a school drug dealer, and suffocating under the pressure to be someone, they turn the camera on themselves.

Inside this decaying space, they confront fear, ambition, friendship, and failure — reimagining their future as actors, singers, podcasters... fugitives. As night deepens, so does their obsession: if they can’t escape their reality, maybe they can frame it. What begins as confession soon warps into performance. And when the line between content and consequence finally disappears, one of them does the unthinkable — for the perfect shot.

Sketch Comedy WILL & NOAH: DINNER DINNER CHICKEN WINNER at Canal Cafe Theatre, Maida Vale 11 July

Fresh from being crowned ‘Best Sketch Act’ at SketchFest 2026, Will & Noah invite crowds – losers welcome – to join them for an hour in which they will celebrate life’s unsung heroes and zeroes.

BEST SKETCH ACT – Sketchfest 2026 (Canal Café Theatre and Hen & Chickens)

Wanna feel like a winner for one hour of your miserable, worthless life? Join perennial losers Will and Noah for sketches, songs and a gazillion trophies in this award-winning show* (*show about winning awards)! Under our roof, all winners are created equal: U13s player of the season, app of the year, soup of the day, oldest man, Nobel pizza prize, Sunday best, Monday worst, longest time survived in lion cage (our money’s on the lion) and many more…

Trilogy That Four Letter Word produced by Landé Belo, at Bread & Roses Theatre, Clapham 14 - 18 July

What do we really mean when we talk about love?

The award-winning Ain’t I A Woman? returns with That Four Letter Word, three short plays that explore love in all its forms – tender and fierce, joyful and painful, complicated and hard‑won. Rooted in Black women’s experiences, these stories examine love not as a passive emotion, but as something we choose, practise and labour over. Love, here, is an action - and the consequences of acting (or failing to act) are deeply felt. From a museum of memories to a tech boardroom to a couple’s bedroom three stories unfold, each exploring the courage, complexity and beauty of loving and being loved.

Queer Comedy GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO DIG BOYS WHO LIKE GIRLS at The Hope Theatre 14th - 18th July

“I want to be with you. Forever, I guess, or… forever’s a long time, but…”

On a Friday night, EMMA, her boyfriend SAM, and his best friend ARCHIE come together in a well-known ritual around the kitchen table: pizza, beers, and heated debate. Emma and Archie are at loggerheads, and Sam once again finds himself stuck in the middle.
As new topics are broached, and revelations come to light, Emma makes a decision for what she believes is the greater good. But when things don’t go the way she planned, her newfound resolve starts to waver. A chance reunion months later creates further chaos, and uncovers buried secrets from the past. GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO DIG BOYS WHO LIKE GIRLS is a sharp, fast-paced comedy which poses questions surrounding queer identity, monogamy, and the pressure we put on ourselves (and each other) to explore in the modern day.

True life crime drama THE WOLF OF POYAIS at Old Red Lion Playhouse, Islington 21 - 25 July

Are you tired of struggling along with everyone else? Have you always secretly known you were meant to be rich? Are you ready to succeed?

For one week only Gregor MacGregor (Thom Tuck), hero of the Peninsular War, hero of the Venezuelan Revolution, Liberator of Florida and Cazique of Poyais, is here to teach you to unleash the greatness within you and achieve the success you deserve!

In 1820 Gregor MacGregor returned to London from fighting in the Spanish American Wars of Independence to announce he had been made ‘Cazique’ of a new nation, Poyais. A country that did not exist, but that didn’t stop him from selling it!

Elizabeth Holmes meets Flashman, The Wolf of Poyais is a dark comedy telling the true story of a swashbuckling confidence trickster and the Poyais scheme that made him (in)famous.

Features audience interaction, murder, suicide, strong language, racism, attitudes of the time, and colonialism.

Interactive show THE ROGUE SHAKESPEARE EXPERIENCE - LIVE! With Ryan J-W Smith at Barons Court Theatre 21 - 25 July, 7.30 pm

This brand new solo show, starring OFFIE Award-winning poet-playwright, Ryan J-W Smith (aka ‘Rogue Shakespeare’) is coming to Barons Court Theatre this summer. Based loosely on his new podcast, where Smith writes sonnets on the spot for his guests, the audience-interactive live show, hosted by Smith, will consist of various fun theatre games for the audience, and clever theatrical devices, to demonstrate Smith’s skill at instantly writing perfectly structured rhyming iambic sonnets at lightening speed.

Sneak peek at August faves