Midnight Matinees at Shakespeare's Globe are officially back for summer – and there are still £5 tickets up for grabs
Much ado about summermaxing
London is a pretty spectacular place in summer, with plenty of lidos for cooling off, green spaces for some urban tanning, and of course the obligatory pub gardens and rooftops for spritzes aplenty. Perhaps one of London’s best kept theatrical secrets is returning for another year, and it will serve up plenty of romcom magic with a dose of Tudor verse.
The Globe Theatre’s Midnight Matinees are back for 2026, with three performances running across June, July, and September. For one night per performance, the actors will be dosing up on the Redbull as they get ready to bring their shows to the witching hour. Gathering under a starlit evening sky, you can watch RSC actors take on A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, and As You Like It. The best part? You can attend for a fiver.
In keeping with the Globe’s commitment to its roots, the tickets for the Yard – thesp speech for the standing areas as opposed to the seats – are only £5. Even once the early bird £5 standing tickets have been snapped up, there are plenty of £10 tickets. If your legs just aren’t up to a couple of hours of standing around, tickets for seated spots start at just £25.
For A Midsummer Night’s Dream you’ll be joining the world of a royal wedding, as night deepens on the eve of the wedding, a company of amateur performers prepares a play for the big day and invites you to step into their story. Follow the players, lovers and fairies into the forest where hearts open, spells go awry and surprising transformations unfold. By dawn, everyone has changed. Whether that includes you or not we’re not 100% sure.
For Much Ado, the synopsis reads: "The war is over, but the battle for love is just beginning. Beatrice has sworn off men, but there’s something about Benedick she just can’t leave alone.
Meanwhile, beneath Messina’s polished surface, secrets slip, gossip runs wild and reputations hang by a thread. Everyone’s saving face – and nobody’s doing it very well."
As You Like It will be rounding off the trio, with the Globe being transformed into a magical forest full of party vibes. If you're not au fait with the story, it follows Rosalind, Celia, and their friends who escape into the Forest of Arden when the Duke’s court proves cold and cruel – and the group discover it's a tplace alive with joy, music, and unexpected possibilities...
The whole evening officially starts at 11.59pm (presumably to stop people turning up on the wrong day with the whole midnight confusion) but the entire play basically takes place in the early hours of the morning.
As per, each performance has a stellar cast of creatives behind it, a string of seasoned pros who have got numerous performances under their collective belt from previous Globe runs, stints at the RSC, and a smattering of National Theatre productions too, so all in all you'll be in safe (jazz) hands.
You can book tickets at The Globe's website, and if you're not so much of a nocturnal dweller, you can catch the performances at regular hours during the rest of their runs. And if your legs aren't quite up to two and a half hours of standing, then you can check out the seated options too.
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