London Datebook: Play Mind Games with Stephen Merchant, Hold Court with Richard II & More

Summertime and the livin’ is full of theater in London, a capital whose cultural calendar remains full whatever the season. Highlights this month include the UK premiere of an off-Broadway long-runner, several beloved Broadway musical theater mainstays and some notable stars turning their attentions toward the classics. For more on these and other titles, read on.

JULY 5-11
The Shadow Knows: The 2005 off-Broadway hit Orson’s Shadow, an early New York triumph for director David Cromer, crosses the Atlantic opening July 6 in a separate production at south London’s Southwark Playhouse, with John Hodgkinson as Orson Welles, Adrian Lukis as Laurence Olivier, and Gina Bellman as Vivien Leigh; Alice Hamilton directs.

ALSO: Gary Owen's extraordinary play Violence and Son plays its final performance July 11 in the Royal Court’s 100-seat Theatre Upstairs, with Jason Hughes as the explosive father of a verbally precocious teenager played by newcomer David Moorst. Sally Ann Triplett, whose UK and Broadway credits include The Last Ship, Anything Goes, and the recent Rob Ashford-directed A Damsel in Distress, brings her cabaret act to the Crazy Coqs off Piccadilly Circus, July 7 through 11.

JULY 12-18
Beantown: Playwright Richard Bean hit paydirt with his sensationally funny One Man, Two Guvnors in London and New York, and now his 2002 National Theatre two-hander The Mentalists gets a West End run opening July 13 at Wyndham’s, with Emmy and Golden Globe winner Stephen Merchant (The Office) and Steffan Rhodri.

ALSO: Recent Stephen Ward star Alexander Hanson takes to the bijou Park Theatre in north London in the premiere of Andrew Keatley’s The Gathered Leaves, opening July 16. The cast includes Hanson’s real-life son Tom as well as veteran actress Jane Asher and her real-life daughter, Katie Scarfe. The National Theatre production of Everyman hits cinemas July 16 via NT Live, with the mighty Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) in the title role and Rufus Norris at the helm.

JULY 19-25
A Regal Return: The 39 Steps’ original leading man Charles Edwards, last seen touring America opposite Dame Angela Lansbury in Blithe Spirit, returns home to play the title role in Richard II at Shakespeare’s Globe, directed by the busy Simon Godwin (Man and Superman, The Beaux' Stratagem). Opening night is July 22.

ALSO: July 25 marks the final performance of Steve Waters play Temple at the Donmar, with Simon Russell Beale giving among his finest performances as a clergyman caught up in the Occupy movement that swept London in 2011. The same night finds legendary bass-baritone Bryn Terfel taking his recent Grange Park Opera starring role as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof to the Royal Albert Hall’s summertime Proms concerts for a one-night concert staging, with David Charles Abell conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra.

JULY 26-AUGUST 2
Ben is Back(ai): The great Ben Whishaw is back on the London stage for the first time since his superlative turn in Jez Butterworth's Mojo—now, he's heading the tantalizing cast of director James Macdonald’s production of the Greek tragedy Bakkhai, by Euripides, opening July 30. His co-star in the Almeida staging is Olivier winner and Tony nominee Bertie Carvel, in what promises to be a distinct change of pace from playing Miss Trunchbull in Matilda.

ALSO: It's the full post-opening week for director Rachel Kavanaugh’s production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park: Laura Pitt-Pulford plays Milly and Alex Gaumond (the West End's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) is Adam. London’s Royal Festival Hall hosts a one-night concert July 30 of George and Ira Gershwin’s Pulitzer prize-winning 1932 musical Of Thee I Sing: the impressive cast is headed by recent City of Angels co-star Hadley Fraser, Hannah Waddingham, and 2012 Tony nominee Tom Edden.