Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre has announced its 2026 season, marking Artistic Director Drew McOnie’s second year in post and featuring world premieres, returning favourites and large-scale musical theatre.
The season opens with the world premiere of Sherlock Holmes, a new mystery by Joel Horwood, directed by Sean Holmes and starring Joshua James in the title role, running from 2 May to 6 June 2026.
Vivaldi’s masterpiece is reimagined in A Life in Four Seasons, an electric new contemporary dance work created by Tinuke Craig with choreography by Alexzandra Sarmiento, playing from 11 to 14 June.
William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream returns to the Open Air Theatre from 20 June to 18 July in a new production directed by Atri Banerjee, with music composed by Maimuna Memon.
The season continues with the previously announced new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie, running from 25 July to 12 September.
The creative team for Cats includes Will Burton, Guy Common, Sami Fendall, Adam Fisher, Jessica Hung Han Yun and Alex Parker.
Family audiences are catered for with Anansi the Spider by Justin Audibert, directed by Robin Belfield, which plays on the Theatre Lawn from 15 August to 6 September in a co-production with Unicorn Theatre.
The theatre will also welcome back Live Music Week, Family Takeover Day and a series of one-off Sunday night events, with further details to be announced.
As part of its climate adaptation plans, midweek and Saturday matinees in June and July will move to an earlier 12.30pm start time to reduce exposure to peak afternoon temperatures.
Artist development programmes including Open Room, Theatre Dance Lab and the Treehouse Project will return for a second year, following their launch in 2025.
Drew McOnie said: “I’m hugely excited to announce the full 2026 season and to share the brilliant shows that will be joining our new production of Cats this summer. I can’t wait to work with these talented creative teams and see their visions come to life on our beautiful open air theatre stage. I’m also immensely proud of our inaugural season of artist development programmes and thrilled that these initiatives will continue for a second year, providing support and platforms for early-career creatives across a variety of disciplines.”
Executive Director James Pidgeon added: “Following the success of our 2025 season which played to just under 177,000 people, together with our record-breaking UK & Ireland tour of Fiddler on the Roof which closed earlier this month, we are so looking forward to welcoming both new and returning audiences to the Open Air Theatre this summer. I am particularly delighted that for the third year running we’re maintaining our accessibly priced Monday performances where tickets do not exceed £35, and that across this year’s season over 46,000 tickets – 24% of total available capacity – are priced at £25 or under.”
Members’ priority booking for the 2026 summer season opens at 12 noon today, with public booking opening at 12 noon on Thursday 5 February 2026.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
