Things to do in London this week

The Irish are experts when it comes to partying. They’re so good, in fact, they even have a special untranslatable term – the craic – to describe their unique brand of conviviality. With Trafalgar Square as the setting for London’s official bash in celebration of their patron saint, a blast is pretty much guaranteed. This year, the extravaganza is taking place the day before the official St Patrick’s Day celebrations, on Sunday March 16. It’s set to see more than 50,000 turning out for Irish food, dancing and a huge parade featuring pageantry, floats and music that will wend its way from Hyde Park Corner along Piccadilly, St James’s Street, Pall Mall, Cockspur Street and Whitehall.

This luxury celebrity revival of Chekhov’s The Seagull is not your baboushka’s Chekhov: it begins with Zachary Hart’s luxuriantly Brummie accented Simon driving onto the stage on a quad bike, plugging in an electric guitar and launching into a heartfelt rendition of Billy Bragg’s The Milkman of Human Kindness. The show is directed by the great German Thomas Ostermeier and it has a stacked cast: Cate Blanchett, Emma Corrin, Tom Burke, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Tanya Reynolds all star. If you want to see Blanchett and some other world-class actors have a ball in an alternately irreverent and emotional three-hour production of The Seagull, directed by a genius who has clearly directed the play a few too many times… then you’re in for a treat. 

The Seagull is sold out, however a daily lottery via TodayTix distributes £35 tickets on the day of each show.

We all know Edvard Munch’s masterpiece ‘The Scream’, but there was a lot more to him: this show at the National Portrait Gallery catalogues the great Norwegian expressionist through his portraits of family, friends, fellow artists, writers, art collectors and others in his lifetime. Intimate, energetic and deeply human, this exhibit is set to remind us why Munch had such influence in his sphere and far beyond.  

Prince Durairaj and Glen Leeson are good at this by now. The pair have put together a small chain of top Indian eateries; Islington’s Tamil Prince and Tamil Crown, and the first Tamila in Clapham. Fourth time around with Tamila King’s Cross, the experience is more refined than ever. The drinks are a bold harbinger of the strong, spiced flavours to come: the gunpowder margarita boasting masala dust for salt and earthy smokiness. Centrepiece dishes are of the tandoori and curry persuasion. Paneer tikka is cooked to an affectionate level of tenderness, with a dusty heat and a sharp pineapple chutney. The dhal flashed all sorts of vegetables across your tongue, while paneer butter masala was creamy and mightily generous in size. And the roti? Supremely fluffy, a mighty signature dish.

Punch is the perfect example of what playwright James Graham does best. It tells the poignant story of Jacob (David Shields), a lad from Nottingham who got into a totally pointless fight with James, a (never-seen) paramedic just a few years older than him. Jacob punched James precisely once. James went down, and a couple of weeks later he died. Graham’s script delves into this with typical deftness. Shields’ performance is a modulated study in the ferocity but also the innocence and vulnerability of a young offender. Punch is on the smaller side for a Graham play, but its climax will have you blubbing. 

This Welsh producer’s brand of dance music is the perfect soundtrack to those early hours when you step out of the club, first thing, as the sun rises above a cold and empty city. Produced by dh2’s George Daniels, KLO’s latest record features hazy repeated vocal lines and glittering chord changes, eschewing big choruses in favour of euphoric instrumentals. Just listen to Sunshine for an idea of the dancefloor euphoria you’ll experience at the show. 

Troxy, E1 0HX. Thur Mar 13, 7pm. From £35.81. 

Peruse 1000s of handpicked paintings, sculpture, photography and prints from 200 galleries at this springtime edition of the Affordable Art Fair. With a mission to democratise art, works are priced between £50 and £7,500 and galleries from all over the world will be showing their collections, including spaces from UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Japan, Korea, Peru, and more. This year, highlights include a new installation by London-based artist Margaux Carpentier celebrating Women’s History Month, an art for kids space, drop-in stitching workshops and Art After Dark Lates with DJs, workshops and plenty of booze. 

The Cinema Made In Italy festival will be celebrating the best new Italian cinema and filmmakers at its new home at BFI Southbank. Over five days, the festival will screen 10 of the best contemporary Italian films, including biopics, period drama, historical epics, noir thrillers and documentaries. This year look out for Francesca Comencini’s The Time It Takes charting her relationship with her famous filmmaker father, Anywhere Anytime from Milad Tangshir portraying Issa, an African migrant scratching out a living in Turin and a special archive screening of the classic Italian comedy Bread, Love and Dreams. 

A pint-sized homage to 70s punk has popped up in Soho. Tying in with the launch of the first RRPL magazine, Mick Jones’ Rock & Roll Public Library offers a glimpse into the mind of one of punk music’s great minds. The display showcases previously unseen material and artefacts from The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite frontman (diaries, figurines, magazine clippings, AAA passes, a guitar, a complete stage outfit, you know the sorts), while celebrating over-the-counter-culture. 

Think of the Italian Mafia as a man’s world? Think again. ‘Donne di Mafia, having a voice’ returns to highlight the lives and experiences of women in both the Calabrian and Sicilian mafias. Head to Covent Garden’s beautiful Garden Cinema to watch The Judge And The Mafia Boss (3.30pm)– the story of Cesare Terranova, the first magistrate to instruct trials against Mafia bosses – and Sicilian Letters (6.30pm)– following imprisoned politician Catello as he’s tasked with helping to capture the last major Mafia boss still on the run. Look out for post-screening Q&As. The organisers say that this will be “the last edition for some time”, so don’t miss out. 

Director Bong Joon Ho’s post-Parasite return is a spectacular if uneven sci-fi romp offering two stellar Robert Pattinson performances for the price of one. It’s 2054 when the eponymous Mickey (Pattinson) wakes up stuck in a frozen crevice on far-off Planet Niflheim. He’s been ‘reprinted’ – or cloned – 16 times. We learn in flashback that Mickey escaped from earth on a four-year journey to Niflheim after volunteering to become an expendable: an astronaut willing to die, memories intact and be reprinted forever more. Everything unspools into disarray after an extra Mickey is erroneously reprinted. Pattinson is terrific in his dual role. This is tremendous fun: a big, strange spectacle that’s unlike most blockbuster cinema out there.

In cinemas worldwide Mar 7.

Leigh Bowery was a convention-shunning icon of 1980s London nightlife, taking on many different roles in the city’s scene, from artist, performer and model, to club promoter, fashion designer and musician. His artistry also took many shapes, from reimagining clothes and makeup to experimenting with painting and sculpture. A new Tate Modern exhibition will celebrate his life and work, displaying some of his looks and collaborations with the likes of Charles Atlas, Lucian Freud, Nicola Rainbird and more.

Pioneering Black playwright Michael Abbensetts’ play Alterations originally ran for a few weeks in 1978. There was a BBC radio adaptation too, but that looked to be it for his drama about Walker, a Windrush immigrant grappling with his dream of opening his own tailor shop in London. And yet its first-ever revival is at the National Theatre. Walker (Arinzé Kene) is an ambitious tailor struggling to get his business off the ground. But a potential jackpot has come along: Mr Nat (Colin Mace), an older German Jewish immigrant has offered him a warehouse’s worth of trouser alterations. But before that there are emotional crises to be surmounted. Abbensetts provides a window into a specific time in his characters’ lives. They’re immigrants on the cusp of middle age, who are now grappling with the idea of putting permanent roots down in Britain. It's a play about a generation now looking for meaning in the journey they made in their youths.

‘Vogue: Inventing the Runway’ takes you on a journey through the evolution of fashion shows, from intimate salons to today’s epic, celebrity-filled spectacles. Step into the front row and backstage at some of fashion’s most iconic moments, all projected on Lightroom’s massive 360-degree walls. With immersive animations, a killer soundtrack, and jaw-dropping visuals, this exhibit celebrates the creativity and drama that turned runway shows into cultural milestones. Save up to 33% with student tickets at £10 and adult tickets at £19.

Get adult tickets for £19 (down from £25), or student tickets for just £10, only through Time Out Offers.

Seemingly set somewhere between heaven, Ibiza and a novelty Instagram backdrop, Jamie Lloyd’s remarkable production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing eschews a conventional set in favour of a drift of candy-pink confetti that blankets the Drury Lane stage. The vibe is that of an endless, hedonistic holiday, its wild romantic currents mirroring the internal melodrama of a week away with a group of friends. Tom Hiddleston is clearly having the time of his life as man-child Benedick, while Hayley Atwell is bolshy and passionate as Beatrice. It’s very funny and looks incredible – an immaculate and hilarious synthesis of naffness and cool.

For 23 editions, Kinoteka has been highlighting the creativity and magic of Polish cinema in London, taking over some of the most-respected cinema locations with offerings from the country. This year will be no different so get down to the likes of BFI Southbank, the ICA and more to discover some new cinematic treasures. The opening gala on March 6 will spotlight Damian Kocur’s ‘Under The Volcano’, which looks at the impact of war on a Ukrainian family’s lives as they holiday in Tenerife. Things will wrap up on April 26 with the closing gala, centred around Wojciech Has’ 1973 movie ‘The Hourglass Sanatorium’, while a retrospective of Has’ work will see his entire filmography screened across the festival.

Step into the grandeur of 17th and 18th-century France with Versailles: Science & Splendour, an enthralling exhibition now open at the Science Museum until April 2025. Discover how science played a pivotal role in shaping the magnificence of the Palace of Versailles, with stunning artefacts on display, many of which have never been seen in the UK before. Marvel at the intricate moon map by Jean-Dominique Cassini, a watch made for Marie Antoinette and learn about pioneering figures like Madame du Coudray, who transformed midwifery across France. 

Book Versailles: Science & Splendour at the Science Museum now for just £5.40, only with Time Out Offers.

During the freezing cold, pitch black days of January, any sign of the warmer weather to come is a welcome one, so it’s always a happy occasion when Chelsea Physic Garden’s annual Heralding Spring season rolls around. London’s oldest botanical garden has its very own unique microclimate, which means that come late January the ancient spot is home to over 120 species of snowdrops that bloom unusually early each year there. As the gardens to reopen for visitors, guests are invited to embark on the Heralding Spring trail to check out the dainty white flowers and other early spring plants including a 70-year-old grapefruit tree and the fragrant wintersweet. There are also a variety of gardener tours, talks and botanical workshops throughout the season.