Welcome to June’s edition of our What’s On Stage In London series, where we look at the month ahead to give you our pick of new openings. Organised by (very general) category and opening date, we hope this will allow you to browse and book ahead of time so you don’t miss out on seeing your favourite London shows. Useful? Missing something? Please let us know.
Festivals
Ticket alert: It doesn't start until July, but tickets for Camden Fringe go on sale on 1 June. Keep your eyes peeled on the website for line-up announcements
Ongoing: Udderbelly Festival at Southbank Centre — Continue to enjoy the fruits of Udderbelly Festival's labour: comedy, circus and family entertainment galore. Until 13 July
Ongoing: Edinburgh Previews at Pleasance Theatre — Not a festival as such, but comedy lovers should enjoy this season of Edinburgh previews as both new and established artists try out their funnies before their residences at Edinburgh Festival this summer
2 June - LIFT 2014 Festival at various venues — LIFT festival aims to celebrate the many individuals, cultures and communities that call London their home by bringing their stories to London stages. Some shows listed here are part of LIFT, but there is too much to cover in its entirety so do look at the website to see what takes your fancy. Until 29 June
3 June - ObamAmerica at Theatre503 — Over Here Theatre Company, Robert F Bradish and Theatre503 present ObamAmerica, a two week festival of new American plays about life in the US under the presidency of Barack Obama. Until 14 June
9 June - Orange Tree Theatre Festival at Orange Tree Theatre — Ten Orange Tree directors, nine plays, six world premieres, three separate programmes. Until 29 June
10 June - South African Season at Jermyn Street Theatre — A five week season featuring some of South Africa's most acclaimed playwrights and best-loved performers. Until 12 July
Musicals and Opera
1 June - Japanese Clarinet at The Space — The East London Clarinet Choir again perform at The Space with a programme of Japanese music. £10/£8, 7.30pm
2 June - Così fan tutte (Pop Up Opera) at various venues — Pop up Opera bring Mozart's famous comedy about two sisters, two fiancés and a sneaky plan to test their fidelity, into various venues around the capital. Prices vary, until 31 July
3 June - Zanna, Don’t! at Landor Theatre — Welcome to Heartsville High, an American high school set in a world where homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuality is a taboo. £17, until 29 June
3 June - Orpheus & Eurydice at Rose Playhouse — An opera by German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the myth of Orpheus who ventures to the underworld to bring back his beloved wife Eurydice. £16/£12, until 28 June
3 June - Jesus Christ Superstar at Bridewell Theatre — *THIS IS NOW SOLD OUT* Shame, it looks great. But might be worth ringing the Box Office in case there are returns. £15/£12.50, until 7 June
3 June - Alexander the Great: a folk operetta at Rosemary Branch — An audio-visual show channelling classic literature and mythology, with live music performed by Huck & The Xander Band. £13, 7.30pm
4 June - Patience at King’s Head Theatre — Charles Court Opera makes a return to the King's Head Theatre with a new production of WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's satire on artistic movements and meaningless fads. £16.50-£25, until 28 June
5 June - Benvenuto Cellini at London Coliseum — Terry Gilliam returns to bring his unique theatrical vision to Berlioz’s vibrant opera. £91-£125, until 27 June
8 June - Clive (and other stories) at Peckham Asylum — Made up of three operas, this performance takes place in an atmospheric ruin in Peckham. £10, until 9 June
11 June - I Need A Doctor: The Whosical at Pleasance — The Edinburgh Fringe hit returns to London, an entirely copyright-free musical about the time-travelling hero. £8/£6, 7.30pm
16 June - The Pearl Fishers at London Coliseum — An operatic tale of friendship tested by love, this production opens with an underwater sequence and continues with evocative choruses from Bizet. £84-£110, until 5 July
17 June - Cafe Society Swing at Leicester Square Theatre — A new production of this swinging show about the legendary New York nightclub which promoted racial equality back in the 1940s, launching the career of Billie Holiday and many others. £20, until 21 June
18 June - Bathhouse the Musical at Above The Stag Theatre — Join Billy as he visits the bathhouse for the first time. This musical comedy contains nudity, steam and bubbles, as Billy realises the other patrons are looking for something a little more temporary. £12, until 20 July
18 June - Carousel at Arcola Theatre — A reimagining of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic American musical Carousel, about a mill worker who falls for another, resulting in an unexpected chain of events that suggests their destiny is predetermined by the hand of fate. £15-£21, until 1 July
19 June - Forbidden Broadway at Menier Chocolate Factory — The updated version of the show that first opened in 1982, showcases some of the best productions from both Broadway and the West End, including The Book of Mormon, Once, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Miss Saigon. £27.50-£35, until 16 August
30 June - Bugle Boy - The Life Story of Glenn Miller at Leicester Square Theatre — Trace the life of music icon Glenn Miller from leaving college to play in various bands as he searches tirelessly for over 20 years to find a unique band sound. £20-£30, until 2 July
Dance
3 June - Internal Terrains at artsdepot — Performance artist Natasha Davis explores life as a choreography of decades, as film, installations, crows, cages and electric shocks come together to create this poetic one-woman show. £10/£5, 7.30pm
6 June - In Good Company at The Place — Six dancers from the Hofesh Shechter Company become choreographers in the third incarnation of In Good Company, where they have created five new and very different dance pieces, especially for this project. £15/£12, until 7 June
10 June - Rasta Thomas’ Bad Boys of Dance at Peacock Theatre — A fusion of classic ballet and musical theatre, hip hop, tap and acrobatics to the backing of animated scenery and a soundtrack including LMFAO, Robin Thicke, Kanye West and Coldplay. £12-£38, until 28 June
11 June - Romeo and Juliet at Royal Albert Hall — English National Ballet returns to the Royal Albert Hall, starring leading dancers Carlos Acosta and Tamara Rojo. £22.39-£73.90, until 22 June
25 June - Charleroi Danses: Kiss & Cry at Barbican — Human hands portray the characters of a tender film that is simultaneously made and projected onto a giant screen before the eyes of the audience. £16-£28, until 28 June
27 June - The Magic Word at Riverside Studios — In a secret, magical forest lives the beautiful Forest Queen, but she does not know The Magic Word. Let’s All Dance returns with a classical ballet with themes of kindness, good manners and friendship. £9/£7, until 29 June
Classic
3 June - Lear at Union Theatre — Phil Willmott's vibrant new production of Shakespeare's masterpiece puts a mother at the heart of the action, imagining that it is a queen who divides the kingdom amongst her daughters. £17/£15, until 28 June
3 June - The Cherry Orchard at The London Theatre — An English performance of Chekhov's Russian classic. £15/£13, until 15 June
10 June - The Corruption of Dorian Gray at Lion & Unicorn Theatre — A show based on Oscar Wilde's novel about an innocent soul who arrives fresh on the London social scene and quickly slips into a world of sin and criminality. £19/£15, until 5 July
10 June - The Last Days of Troy at Shakespeare’s Globe — The Last Days of Troy completes Homer’s Iliad, with award-winning poet and author Simon Armitage’s dramatisation bringing the war to a brutal conclusion. £5-£42, until 28 June
10 June - Chuckle with Chekhov at Barons Court Theatre — A show by Green Girl Productions that collects three of Chekhov’s comic pieces t showcase the writer's wittier side. £10, until 15 June
10 June - Tristram Shandy: Conception Cock and Bull at St James Theatre — Stephen Oxley plays 18th century raconteur Tristram Shandy in a 21st century stand-up adaptation of the famous novel, 250 years after it was first published. £22.50/£17.50, until 14 June
20 June - Julius Caesar at Shakespeare’s Globe — Opposing dictatorship and republicanism, private virtue and mob violence, Shakespeare’s drama of high politics reveals the emotional currents that flow between men in power. £5-£42, until 11 October
24 June - The Crucible at Old Vic — Yaёl Farber directs Richard Armitage in this new production of Arthur Miller’s modern American masterpiece about the Salem witch trials, drawing parallels with his experience of McCarthy’s anti-communist investigations in the 1950s. £10-£55, until 13 September
25 June - Richard III at Iris Theatre — After the success of 2013, Iris Theatre returns for a 6th summer season in the gardens of St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden with Willam Shakespeare’s Richard III. £17.99/£14, until 25 July
25 June - Betrayal at Compass Theatre — Follow the development of an affair in reverse in one Pinter’s most well-known pieces. £10, until 28 June
29 June - Merely: As You Like It at The Cockpit — The Merely Players' stripped-back summer season of Shakespeare continues today with As You Like It. £9, 6pm
Kids
1 June - Rock Pool at arts depot — A big storm leaves two very different creatures stranded in a rock pool far from the sea. As their pool starts to drain away, Prawn and Crab don't have long to find a way of getting on and getting home. £7, midday and 3pm
5 June - 1,001 Nights at Unicorn Theatre — 1001 Nights collects together some of the greatest folk tales ever told and tells them through the voice of Shahrazad – a young girl torn between her old home in the East and her new life in England. £10-£16, until 22 Jun
6 June - The Red Tree at Rosemary Branch — Featherweight present the London premiere of their adaptation of Shaun Tan's award-winning picture book where movement, visuals, puppetry and original music combine to tell a story of difficult feelings and extraordinary landscapes. £10/£8, 7pm and 8.45pm
7 June - The Summer Book at Unicorn Theatre — Set on a remote island in Finland, six year-old Sophia and her grandmother while away the summer months together, and gradually a fierce yet understated love emerges between the two. £10-£16, until 29 June
8 June - Meeting Mr Boom at artsdepot — A live music and dance show that will inflate before your eyes, taking you on a journey of discovery upon an inflatable set. £7, midday and 3pm
11 June - Moonminsummer Madness at Polka Theatre — Puppetry, live music and humour bring Tove Jansson’s much-loved Moomins to life on stage. £13.50/£9, until 16 August
15 June - A Teddy Bear’s Picnic at Rose Theatre Kingston — Children are invited to bring their teddies along for the show, which includes a sing-along, followed by a rendition of The Carnival of The Animals, and after the performance children can try out the instruments. £12/£10, 3pm
21 June - Twelfth Night: Reimagined at Regents Park Open Air Theatre — An introduction to Shakespeare's tragicomedy for anyone six years and older. £15, until 12 July
25 June - Skitterbang Island at Polka Theatre — Storm, shipwreck and adventure awaits and a brave little girl, lost on an island, meets a very curious creature and joins a tale of discovery and friendship. £11/£8.50, until 16 August
30 June - The Elephantom at New London Theatre — Following a sold-out run at National Theatre's pop-up performance space, The Elephantom stomps and wallops into the West End with a mix of puppetry, movement, dance, music. £15-£20, until 6 September
Drama
3 June - Deal With It at Barons Court Theatre — Bootleg Theatre Company presents the world premiere of two plays by two award winning writers: Cookie by Annie L. Cooper, and Torched by Roger Goldsmith. £8-£10, until 8 June
3 June - Heart at Ovalhouse — A political and sensual love story told through physical theatre and performance poetry. Taking place between Durham and Tehran as a British and American orchestrated coup d’état destabilises a nation, a love triangle unravels. £10/£6, until 7 June
3 June - An August Bank Holiday Lark at Rose Theatre Kingston — An idyllic summer in 1914 rural Lancashire, but war is looming. A moving and nostalgic drama set at the tipping point of war. £5-£25, until 7 June
5 June - Fathers and Sons at Donmar Warehouse — Lyndsey Turner returns to the Donmar to direct Brian Friel's dramatisation of Turgenev's piece about the heartbreak of being a parent and the compromise of growing up. £7.50-£35, until 26 June
5 June - The Love Project at artsdepot — Following on from a successful Edinburgh debut, award-winning company Every Day present their verbatim piece on the subject of love, created from interviews with everyday people. £12/£10, 7.30pm
6 June - Skylight at Wyndham’s Theatre — Starring Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy, this play about a schoolteacher who receives an unexpected visit from her former lover, is sure to be popular. £22.25-£64.75, until 23 August
8 June - House of Bernarda Alba at King’s Head Theatre — Ecclesia presents their debut London show about a household that lives in a joyless and bleak home following the death of its patriarch. £15/£12, until 29 June
9 June - Things We Do For Love at Churchill Theatre Bromley — Natalie Imbruglia stars in this Alan Ayckbourn play about three households full of friends, lovers and adversaries. £11.90-£36.90, until 14 June
10 June - Punching Jane at The Courtyard — Set in the seedy backstreets of 18th Century London, Punching Jane follows a group of prostitutes who, as the time dictated in working class Britain, settle their disagreements with an after-hour bare knuckle boxing match. £14/£11, until 29 June
10 June - The Devil & Stepashka at The Space — Russian landowner, Zhenya, sows wild oats with one of his peasant girls, but puts it all behind him when he marries - or so he believes. £13/£10, until 20 June
11 June - Enduring Song at Southwark Playhouse — It's 1096 and a young French Knight sets out on the First Crusade, leaving a broken family behind him. Enduring Song is a historical epic about love, hope and family, staged in the round and with traditional Corsican polyphonic songs. £10-£18, until 5 July
11 June - Khandan (Family) at Royal Court Theatre — A play about tradition and ambition, Khandan follows widowed matriarch Jeeto and her eldest son, Pal, who is struggling with his new role as head of the household. £20/£10, until 28 June
12 June - Red Forest at Young Vic — Belarus Free Theatre return with a new production, created from extraordinary true stories from around the world centring on man-made destruction and woven together with video and live music. £10-£19.50, until 5 July
13 June - Adler & Gibb at Royal Court Theatre — Adler & Gibb by Tim Crouch tells the story of a raid – on a house, a life, a reality and a legacy. £10-£32, until 5 July
18 June - East of Berlin at Southwark Playhouse — The past catches up with Rudi when he discovers his father was a Nazi SS doctor at Auschwitz. Then he meets Sarah, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, as he is forced to confront his father. £10-£18, until 12 July
18 June - Our Shadows Walk at Etcetera Theatre — Ben has been told he has committed high treason. He knows he didn’t do it - but they’ve got it on tape. Unfinished Business Theatre Company present Our Shadows Walk by Danny Pegg. £13.50/£10, until 28 June
20 June - Wonderland at Hampstead Theatre — Beth Steel’s drama takes a look at the clashing ideologies during the Miners’ Strike in 1984 and presents the turbulent events that transformed the country – from the corridors of Westminster to the coal faces of Nottinghamshire. £15-£32, until 26 July
24 June - The Intruder and Bald Prima Donna at Arcola Theatre — Arcola Ala-Turka presents a double bill of symbolist and absurd pieces of European Theatre. £9/£7, until 28 June
26 June - Let Me Stay at The Albany — A tender exploration of the impact of Alzheimer's on family relations. £12/£10, until 28 June
Contemporary
2 June - 100 Acts of Minor Dissent at National Theatre — Mark Thomas has set himself the task of committing 100 Acts of Minor Dissent in the space of a year. He catalogues everything from the smallest and silliest gesture to the grandest confrontations and the results are subversive, mainly legal and occasionally inspiring. £20/£15, 7.30pm
3 June - An Interview with Gaddafi at Waterloo East Theatre — The dramatic story, based on real life events, of the journalist who risked everything to try and expose the truth behind the change in the 2011 Libyan regime. £15/£13, until 29 June
3 June - Mugs Arrows at Old Red Lion Theatre — Third Man Theatre presents Mugs Arrows by Eddie Elks, a surreal black comedy set in very ordinary surroundings – the local pub. £10-£15, until 21 June
3 June - The Inner Life of Sophie Taylor at The Space - A fusion of physical expression and drama; this is a play for grown-ups about art, compromise and the bizarre, fraught, comic nature of life with small children. £10/£8, until 7 June
4 June - Dinner at Compass Theatre — At the dinner party from hell, Paige serves up a menu of Primordial Soup, Apocalypse of Lobster followed by Frozen Waste. In this dark satirical comedy, revenge is a dish best served icy cold. £12, until 7 June
5 June - Mr Burns at Almeida Theatre — Mr Burns asks how the stories we tell make us the people we are, explores the boundaries between pop and high culture and, when society has crumbled, imagines the future for America’s most famous family. £9-£36, until 26 July
10 June - Winky at Soho Theatre — "Neil Yaniky, a born loser, strongly suspects his yugly sister Winky to be his metaphorical oatmeal-crapper. Spurred along by self-help mantras, erotic fantasies and dreams of inner peace, Neil returns home to confront his sister." £12.50/£10, until 15 June
10 June - Cyrano of Brixton at Jack Studio Theatre — Cyrano De Bergerac, the long nosed legend is moving from 17th century France to modern day south London in this exciting adaptation by Kevin Lee. £14/£11, until 14 June
10 June - Super Premiums Soft Double Vanilla Rich at arts depot — A new work by Japan's most exciting director Toshiki Okada. Set in a supermarket, this show explores Japanese consumerism using dark humour, movement and a soundscape of J-pop and JS Bach. £15, until 11 June
11 June - Klook’s Last Stand at Park Theatre — Written and directed by the critically acclaimed Ché Walker, this production combines soulful music with a moving story about two drifters who make a tentative stab at love. £12-£19.50, until 6 July
11 June - Our Fathers at Battersea Arts Centre — A journey through fatherhood past and present, full of comedy and emotion. £12/£9, until 14 June
11 June - Travesty at Ovalhouse — A punked-up, broken-down drag show about patriarchy and man's inhumanity to woman. £5, until 14 June
12 June - Hobson’s Choice at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre — A comedy from the cobbles of Lancashire, set to the sights and sounds of the sixties, Mark Benton plays bombastic boot-shop owner Henry Horatio Hobson. £25-£45, until 12 July
18 June - The Forensics of a Flat at Camden People’s Theatre — A dissection of a building and its surrounding area, Francesca Millican-Slater tells stories about her beloved flat, the area it stands in, what it used to be, what it will become and the people that have populated it. £12/£10, until 19 June
20 June - The Valley of Astonishment at Young Vic — Imagine a world where every sound has a colour, where every colour has a taste, where the number 8 is a fat lady. This new play explores the fascinating experiences of real people who see the world in a very different light. £10-£35, until 12 July
24 June - Marriage at Jack Studio Theatre — Marriage is Gogol’s absurd farce about desire, matchmakers, Imperial Russian speed dating and much else besides. £14/£11, until 12 July
24 June - Dead … But Happy at Barons Court Theatre — Marc Ermisch's play is a challenging philosophical piece which ponders the concept of an afterlife and whether it is relevant in the pursuit of living a fulfilled life. £12/£10, until 29 June
24 June - Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at Gielgud Theatre — This brilliant production returns to the West End, this time at Gielgud Theatre following Apollo Theatre's ceiling collapse last year We highly recommend it if you haven't seen it already. £15-£85, until 14 February 2015
25 June - Transforming Stories at Ovalhouse — A triple bill of three new Queer commissions, presented in-development. £5, until 28 June
27 June - Long Story Short at Pleasance — Long Story Short sheds new light on the ever-increasing speed of our digital lives and illuminates the implications of such a climate asking, “what’s next?”. 312/£10, until 28 June
30 June - How To Make Your Soul Grow at Arcola Theatre — Arcola Youth Theatre present three new pieces devised by the company, and inspired by the short stories of Kurt Vonnegut. £9/£7, until 2 July
Alternative
2 June - Killing Roger at Pleasance Theatre — Could you kill someone? Using life-sized puppetry and original live music, this new play raises one of the most important questions of our generation in a moving tale of an old man and a boy at opposite end of their lives. £12/£10, until 5 June
3 June - The Flying Roast Goose at Blue Elephant Theatre — A story about food, survival and hope, told through the eyes of a Cantonese chef and her, um, pet goose and set in war-torn Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in the 1940s. £8.50-£12, until 21 June
4 June - Opus No 7 at Barbican — Considered one of Russia’s most influential directorial voices, Dmitry Krymov presents a personal world where objects, sounds and people can change in the blink of an eye. £30, until 14 June
20 June - Macbeth by RIFT at a secret east London location — Overnight Macbeth in a secret east London location? Unsurprisingly, many tickets for this event have already sold out but if you're willing to splash out on a deluxe ticket you can still head along - for the price you'll get your own food, drink and the "softest bed in all of Borduria". £40, until 16 August
What are you planning on seeing on stage in London this June? Seeing something not listed here? Tell us in the comments.
