The best new theatre shows opening in London August 2022

The new immersive show from Colab Theatre – makes of the long-running ‘Crooks 1926’ – is a western, in which you must describe if you want to be an outlaw or a marshal in the Wild West of old as you gamble, prospect for gold and face down bandits. 

Edinburgh isn't the only place with a bursting, brilliant fringe, and indeed as the Scottish capital’s iconic event becomes ever more expensive, the once scrappy outsider Camden Fringe looks ever more like a serious contender. It’s smaller than Edinburgh by a long shot, but still boasts hundreds of events all over Camden, taking in everything from the expected stand-up sets and experimental theatre to kids’ shows, dance, and even magic. 

This award-winning Australian play is a docu-drama from writer and performer Julia Hales, that combines sharing her – and others’ – experiences of living with Down’s syndrome, combined with a strand about her love of beloved Aussie soap opera 'Home and Away' (we're promised a cameo from Ray Meagher (Alf Stewart).

This one-man musical from Jack Holden was one of the first shows to grace the West End after it reopened last year. After bagging an Olivier nod for best new play, it returns for a short run in a bigger theatre. Set in ’80s Soho, with a retro electropop songbook, it’s a tribute to the generation decimated by the Aids crisis.

As the title says, just a few months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Finborough has programmed a double-bill of by Ukrainian playwrights Neda Nezhdana and Natal’ya Vorozhbitthat explore the country’s wartorn east, invaded in 2014.

Staged in the indoor Sam Wanmaker Playhouse, the Globe’s first-ever summer kids’ show is a sequel (of sorts) to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. It follows the continuing misadventures of the Rude Mechanicals as they attempt to write a follow-up to their unexpected hit play ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’. It’s aimed at ages five-to-12.

Dawn King’s dystopian drama is set in the near future, where the climate emergency is in full swing and our generation is being put on trial for this by children. But do they really want justice? Or just revenge? The cast of ‘child’ jurors will be headed up by ‘Heartstopper’ stars Will Gao and Joe Locke, while the adult defendants will be played by Nigel Lindsay and Sharon Small.

Francesca Martinez has made a name for herself as an actor, a comedian, and an outspoken campaigner on disabled rights. Now after an almighty pandemic delay she's adding another string to her bow by writing her debut play ‘All of Us’. She'll star in it as a woman whose life is on the brink of being dismantled by austerity politics. 

Chichester Festival Theatre’s revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s all-time classic 1949 musical opened to rapturous reviews last year, and will now spend the summer in London as part of a UK tour. 

London’s spectacular free outdoor Greenwich + Docklands International Festival is back for 2022 with a line-up dominated by more of the spectacular installations that have been its hallmark since the pandemic took the focus away from straight-up theatre – though there’s plenty of straight-up theatre besides.