London events in March

Surely the most successful British playwright of our time, unstoppable hit machine James Graham scored a hit in his near hometown of Nottingham early in 2024 with ‘Punch’, a shocking true tale of violence and redemption. It concerns Jacob Dunne, a young man from Nottingham who got into a senseless confrontation with trainee paramedic James Hodgkinson and unwittingly killed him with a single punch. He was subsequently forgiven by te victim’s parents, who made an effort to help him turn his life around. Technically an addition to Kwame Kwei-Armah’s tenure at the Young Vic rather than the debut of the new regime, the Adam Penford-directed production transfers to London with its original lead cast of Julie Hesmondhalgh, Tony Hirst and David Shields returning.

Mums deserve high praise all year round, but Mothering Sunday is the ultimate excuse to treat your darling ma and any other matriarchs in your life to a lovely time. Here’s our guide to help you get organised and plan a proper celebration of mumsy on Sunday March 10, whether you want to take her for a cheeky Mumtini, treat her to a relaxing trip to one of London’s exquisite spas, or send her a stunning bunch of flowers. 

Interested in dance music and club culture? AVA London, the mammoth electronic music and arts conference, is back in town for another jam-packed long weekend of masterclasses, talks, interviews, and workshops with some key figures from the nightlife industry. This year, you've got FKA Twigs, Jarvis Cocker, Munroe Bergdorf, Marcel Dettman, Annie Mac, Jayda G, Tony Andrews, Nonotak and the No Tags Podcast making up the bill. It’ll be staged across some of London’s most iconic venues, including KOKO, Here at Outernet, The Standard and The British Library, and as usual, include a host of night-time club performances to get your body dancing just as much as your mind, with top selectors including Erika de Casier, LSDXOXO and Mechatok featured on the line-up. Check out the full roster here. 

The UK’s largest queer film event returns to the BFI Southbank (and to the BFI Player online) for its 39th edition from March 19-30. The line-up for the 2025 edition won’t be announced until February, but cinephiles can expect the usual showcase of shorts, documentaries and feature films from across the globe tackling all manner of LGBTQ+ themes, alongside a programme of expanded-reality works, panels, Q&As and after-hours events. 

Spring in London is always a knockout. We might live in a sprawling capital city, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t tons of amazing green spaces to enjoy the season’s pops of colour. From London's bright pink cherry blossoms to seas of daffodils, take a look at our list of the best places to see flowers in London.

There’s a new festival in town and it’s highlighting one of the more unsung parts of our favourite movies – the soundtracks. London Soundtrack Festival puts the scores front and centre in March 2025, with a series of screenings, talks and performances celebrating the musicians who make Hollywood sound so exciting, tense and emotional. Highlights include Hildur Guðnadóttir introducing the first and second Joker movies and, later in the programme, holding her own concert, David Cronenberg and Howard Shore in conversation, screenings of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, The Silence of the Lambs and Eighth Grade with live scores, a day-long celebration of video game music at The Roundhouse ‘Great Movie Songs with Anne Dudley & Friends’ featuring guest appearances from the likes of the Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant and Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters. Tickets are on sale now!

It’s been almost a decade since Red Bull Culture Clash last took place in London, but finally, it’s making its return in 2025, The epic music battle, inspired by Jamaican sound clash culture, will see four crews armed with their finest dubplates go head-to-head, delivering the best of the electronic, UK rap, Afro, and Caribbean music scenes. Only one can be crowned the winner, though, and take home the Red Bull Culture Clash trophy, with the victor. The likes of Boy Better Know, A$AP Mob and Rebel Sound have previously competed at the legendary competition, as well as special guests like J Hus, Stormzy, and Ice Kid, so crowds can expect some pretty special things from its return, which takes place at Drumsheds in March. 

If it’s still a little early to get a clear handle on David Byrne’s programming at the Royal Court – because new plays take years from commissioning to programing – then he’s certainly brought in a few big names you doubt would have found a berth under his predecessor Vicky Featherstone. If the headline grabber in his first year was Nicholas Hytner directing the excellent Giant, then the biggie from year two is clearly Robert Icke. The acclaimed writer-director’s Court debut sees him pen an original piece for the first time. Manhunt is a drama based upon the life and death of Raoul Moat, the Newcastle man who went on the run after murdering his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend in 2010, culminating in a manhunt with morbid and unexpected consequences.

Up-and-coming playwright Ryan Calais Cameron laboured for aeons on his breakout play For Black Boys Who Feel Suicidal When the Hue Gets Too Heavy, but it paid off in spades: after premiering at the tiny New Diorama and graduating to the prestigious Royal Court, it was a smash hit on the West End. Now he has a second West End transfer on his hands with Retrograde, a snappy three-hander period drama about trailblazing Black Hollywood actor Sidney Poitier on the cusp of signing his first major studio contract. The play is essentially based upon a true incident, wherein Poitier – who was friends with a lot of prominent Black civil rights figures – was asked to sign a pledge of loyalty and denounce the prominent Black activist Paul Robeson, a man he admired intensely, ahead of the making of the 1956 TV film A Man is Ten Feet Tall. Cameron revels in flexing his writing muscles in a totally different direction. The dialogue has a perfectly pitched, screwballish Mad Men snap. It may well end up being a stonking hit, and effortlessly seal Cameron’s reputation as a major talent. 

Now onto its fifty-ninth year of hurt, the capacity of the English men’s football team to be the focal point of ruinous national self-mythologization is well documented. As such, a play about the squad’s resurrection under recently departed manager Gareth Southgate felt like a potentially hubristic idea – dangerously overhyping a gifted man who never managed to take home any actual silverware. But having written classic work on such esoteric subjects as Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and the Labour whips office during the 1970s, it’s no surprise that James Graham hit the back of the net with the Olivier-winning Dear England. The play essentially works because Graham and Southgate are interested in the same thing: why is the England men’s team burdened with such high expectations? And what do those expectations do to the psychology of both the team and the nation? Importantly, it’s also an extremely fun show, and essentially up for a laugh, celebrating the foibles of our national sport rather than getting self-important about them. Don’t miss it when it returns to the National Theatre’s Olivier Theatre after a stint on the West End.

Wannabe adventurers and cinephiles alike should enjoy this festival dedicated to the most daredevil short films. Spectators will be able to take in impressive feats of human endurance and athleticism, stunning cinematography, and some of the most breathtaking and remote locations on earth. As usual, the programme is split into two strands, each comprising of six shorts of varying lengths. This year’s selection will take you sailing through Antarctica’s notorious Drake Passage, rock-climbing in the Peruvian Andes, trail-running on Mont Blanc, kayaking around Norway’s most remote archipelago and mountain-biking in the Dolomites, all from the comfort of your seat at Islington’s atmospheric Union Chapel. It’s a night of 1,000 gasps.

Your landlord might disagree, but there really is no excuse for boring white walls. Pick up original work from local artists to brighten up your bedroom for as little as £100 at this accessible alternative to (the many) stuffier and more expensive fairs on the London art circuit. Over 150 independent artists will be exhibiting work at the annual event presented by Saatchi Art, and there’ll also be immersive installations, performances, DJs, a fully stocked bar to entertain you. Think of it as art served with a side of party.