Things to do in London this weekend

No matter what your thoughts on Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton’s beloved BBC horror anthology series Inside No 9, Stage/Fright is a delight, with the duo at the peak of their powers. It dips into the TV show – the first half heavily revolves around the episode Bernie Clifford’s Dressing Room – but it is a rare spinoff that feels totally a thing of the theatre. That’s partly a result of the pair’s long-standing fascination with Grand Guignol, music hall, stand-up and other forms of stage entertainment. It’s a tribute to theatre and stage life in a broader sense. It’s a parting gift, a celebration of Inside No. 9 and its influences, the real wrap party.

London’s beautiful Brutalist masterpiece The Barbican Centre is welcoming in the new season with ‘Concrete Garden’, a cross-arts programme of workshops, talks, screenings and events all celebrating those happy Spring feelings of renewal, growth and wellness. The whole series is inspired by the Barbican’s new major exhibition focussing on the work of American artist Noah Davis whose figurative paintings elevate the everyday and Citra Sasmita’s Curve commission Into Eternal Land explore ancestral memory, ritual and migration. Look out for performances and other special events. 

Anyone who has been to San Sebastian knows that butch slabs of charred, rugged steak are its lifeblood. Ibai, a new Basque grill house appropriately close to Smithfield Market, fulfils its brief with immaculate poise. Situated inside a roomy old factory building, it serves three kinds of steak; black angus, Galician blond and full-blood Wagyu. The names of the men who have raised the cows are on the menu. We tuck into an hilariously large 1kg t-bone steak – a velvet blush on the inside, and alongside an indulgent Ossau-Iraty cheese-and-black-pepper sauce, a mountain of fries and a zingy tomato-and-shallot salad. If you take your meat seriously (and have the cash to spare), you’ll be booking a table now. 

In the month Elon Musk joined the White House staff and US tech giants unveiled a new $500bn AI initiative, director Drew Hancock releases his debut film, Companion. Talk about timely. His feminist comedy-horror dives headfirst into a world involving a sentient sexbot going violently rogue. Which, right now, feels like next Tuesday. The film successfully leans into absurdity, offering a cathartic and darkly funny exploration of gender dynamics and control. It doesn’t delve deeply into the moral quandaries of AI and sentience, but it does deliver the undeniable satisfaction of watching a controlling, entitled man get his ass handed to him by a sexbot.

In cinemas worldwide Jan 31.

There’s something very old-school goth to yuné pinku, as she channelled her love of gothic fables and her Catholic schooling into her latest EP Sacrificial Lamb. The mixtape blends brooding garage and trip-hop with folklore lyrics to create something that sounds ecstatically haunting. She’s invited burgeoning talents Sassy 009 and Oscar Farrell to join her at Phonox for one heck of a moody night out on Brixton.

Phonox, SW9 7AY. Sat Feb 8, 10pm. From £5.

This smart satire from Kelly Jones follows Abigail (Nicole Sawyerr), a struggling young working class playwright whose mum has just died. The cost of the funeral her mum wanted is £4,000 – which Abigail can in no way afford, not least because the Royal Court-coded theatre she was under commission for to write a play about gay termites in space (!) has decided to back out. My Mother’s Funeral isn’t so much about funerals as it is working class dignity and Sawyerr’s performance as the dazed Abigail is heartbreakingly proud. There’s something truly special bubbling under the surface.

The long shadow of a tragic accident looms over the story of two feuding farming families in this gripping debut from director Christopher Andrews. What unfolds in Andrews’ screenplay, co-written with Jonathan Hourigan, has the grim inevitability of a Greek tragedy, no less violent than the feud at the centre of The Banshees of Inisherin, albeit without that film’s Irish black humour. Set in rural Ireland, it feels like a Gaelic version of a Kurosawa film, enhanced by the cut-up storytelling and a sparse, dread-inducing skin-drum score. It’s as bleak and chilly as a winter’s night in the Irish hinterland, and every bit as bracing.

In UK cinemas Fri Feb 7.

Imagine indulging in all the dumplings, rolls, and buns you can handle, crafted by a Chinatown favourite with over a decade of culinary excellence. Savour Taiwanese pork buns, savoury pork and prawn soup dumplings, and luxurious crab meat xiao long bao. To top it off, enjoy a chilled glass of prosecco to elevate your feast. Cheers to a truly delightful dining experience at Leong’s Legend!

A highlight of Kew Gardens’ annual orchid festival, this series of late openings invites visitors into the vibrant tropical environs of the Princess of Wales Conservatory after dark for a special evening of entertainment celebrating Peru, the subject country of the 2025 festival. Guests will be able to sample snacks and cocktails crafted by Peruvian chef Ángel Chávez as they take in a series of live music and dance acts hailing from the Latin American country. There’ll also be an opportunity to hear from some of Kew’s resident scientists about the Gardens’ pioneering scientific research projects in Peru, and of course, a chance to get up close to the colourful orchid displays. 

Hackney Council has teamed up with Hackney Bridge and Jun Mo Generation (a non-profit cultural arts organisation that promotes East Asian arts) to put on a stunning Lunar New Year party in Hackney Wick this year. Taking over the venue in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will be dance and music performances, Southern Lions, Chinese Dragons and family-friendly workshops. 

Get cosy this Valentine’s Day at the Prince Charles and explore their rotating programme of cult, arthouse and classic films, alongside recent Hollywood blockbusters. Veering away from the typical romcoms, the Prince Charles Cinema is offering a line-up of more obscure Valentine’s friendly films, from Wong Kar Wai’s paean to the agony’n’ecstasy of buttoned-up emotions ‘In the Mood for Love’, romantic classics ‘True Romance’ and ‘Casablanca’, Céline Sciamma’s glorious period romance ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’, the wonderful ‘Before’ trilogy and rom-com faves like ‘When Harry Met Sally’. 

In the early twentieth century Brazil was a country shackled by artistic conservatism but bursting at the seams with vibrant indigenous and immigrant cultures, so the modernists decided to create something new and totally Brazilian. That new Brazilian cud is on display here, and it’s gorgeous. The 10 artists in this show mash together indigenous aesthetics, art history and influences from the new European avant garde with a social consciousness and desire to address the challenges of life in Brazil. Poverty, racism, immigration, radicalism and more colour than your eyes can handle.

Kyoto, by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, is so indecently entertaining it almost feels like the result of a bet to choose the dullest, worthiest subject imaginable and make it as fun as humanly possible. The play is about the Kyoto UN climate change conference of 1997, at which every country on the planet eventually agreed to curb its greenhouse emissions. The secret is that Kyoto is actually a play about a total bastard. Don Pearlman was a real oil lobbyist whose fingerprints were all over climate conferences in the ‘90s. US actor Stephen Kunken is terrific as Pearlman with boundless cynicism and endless lawyer’s tricks. It’s a total thrill ride. 

The Princess of Wales Conservatory at Kew Gardens is getting a Peruvian makeover this February, courtesy of the latest annual mind-bending orchid display that takes over the iconic glasshouse each year. As ever, the exotic display will celebrate the natural beauty and biodiversity of its subject country: Peru is home to over 3,000 varieties of orchids, plus vast amounts of other flora and fauna. Look out for sculptures of native animals carved out of plants, plus a cornucopia designed to resemble the iconic Lake Titicaca. 

In The Lonely Londoners, Roy Williams lifts the words from the pages of Sam Selvon’s seminal 1956 novel about the Windrush generation in London and sears them onto the stage. Moses (Solomon Israel) is our eyes and ears into the city as he greets – and quickly shows the ropes to – other immigrants from the Caribbean seeking a new life. From the novel’s picaresque shape, Williams crafts a story that touches on Black immigrant experiences without patronising his characters. We feel their rage in a postwar UK that has exploited their citizenship for gain but treats them like dirt. 

In the short, dark days of midwinter, it’s pretty rare you get a chance to bask in the sun’s warm glow. That is, unless you pay a visit to Greenwich’s Painted Hall over the next couple of months to catch Luke Jerram’s latest installation. A to-scale sculpture of our sun, complete with sunspots and filaments, Helios is the most recent addition to the British artist’s ongoing series of large-scale celestial installations. Accompanied by a soundscape created by acclaimed composers Duncan Speakman and Sarah Anderson, the seven-metre-tall sculpture is suspended from the ceiling of the Old Royal Naval College’s magnificent Baroque dining hall. 

Ditch the usual pub pint and get hands-on with clay at Token Studio near Tower Bridge! For just £32, enjoy a 90-minute session crafting pottery, from spinning the wheel to painting your own design. Prefer painting? Choose from already-fired mugs, plates, or bowls to customise for £23. The best part? You can BYOB! And if you love your masterpiece, come back in two weeks to pick it up for just £10.

Get the ultimate pottery experience from £23 at Token Studio, only with Time Out Offers.

Some of the most potent symbols of queerness come from the natural world: like pansies, fruits, and especially, lavender. This fragrant herb is getting a moment in the spotlight at ‘A Dash of Lavender’, Chelsea Physic Garden’s collaboration with Queer Botany in honour of LGBTQ+ history month. Visitors to the garden can pick up a printed map which shares stories about plants from a queer perspective, and get stuck into various activities across February all exploring queer ecology. Look out for botanical drawing workshops, poetry evenings, folklore circles and more. 

A citywide mega-exhibition involving dozens of galleries from around the world, Condo is the best thing that happens in the London art world every January. The idea is that commercial galleries from over here invite galleries from over there to share their spaces for a month. This year’s edition sees 49 galleries showing across 22 spaces, including Sadie Coles HQ hosting Jahmek Contemporary Art from Luanda, The Sunday Painter hosting Proyectos Ultravioleta from Guatemala, Project Native Informant hosting Nova Contemporary from Bangkok and loads more. And look out for special events ranging at participating galleries. This weekend we particularly like the sound of Currency magazine’s issue six launch event at Ginny on Frederick, hosted by Queer Street Press and featuring a performance from French counter-cultural figure Hermine Demoriane.

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. 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. You can also learn more about snowdrops, including their unique place in folklore, at a variety of workshops. 

London has a ‘fully reconceived’ take from two old Oliver! hands: Cameron Mackintosh and director Matthew Bourne. Bourne is best known for sexy gothic dance pieces, and he certainly brings his full gothic sexiness to bear here: a cumulonimbus-worth of dry ice seeps through the inky recesses of Lez Brotherston’s brooding multilevel Victorian London sets. It’s solid. The songs remain a remarkable achievement and Bart does an impressive job of telescoping the sprawling plot of Oliver Twist into two-and-a-half hours.

★★★★ 'Frameless has managed to create something genuinely exciting' - Time Out

Escape reality through maximum immersion and experience 42 masterpieces from 29 of the world’s most iconic artists, each reimagined beyond belief, through cutting-edge technology. Situated in Marble Arch, Frameless plays host to four unique galleries with hypnotic visuals and a dazzling score. Enjoy 90 minutes of surreal artwork from Bosch, Dalí and more for just £24!

Get £24.80 tickets (originally £31) to Frameless, only with Time Out Offers.

Soil – it’s not something you really think about, unless you’re doing the gardening. But this new exhibition at Somerset House will change all that, shining a light on its important role in our world, including the part it plays in our planet’s future. Top artists, writers and scientists from across the globe are all involved in the thought-provoking exploration, which aims to stop you thinking of soil as mere dirt and start considering it as something far more powerful instead.

Find out what the UK's most promising fine art graduates have been up to in this annual showcase of up-and-coming talent from across the UK, which is now in its 75th year. Featuring 33 exhibitors selected by renowned artists Liz Johnson Artur, Permindar Kaur and Amalia Pica, the exhibition launched in Plymouth in autumn 2024, before arriving at the Institute of Contemporary Art in January 2025.

Designed by the legendary Tom Dixon, Sea Containers Restaurant offers an all-day dining experience along the Thames, blending the elegance of transatlantic travel with fresh, local ingredients. The three-course menu celebrates seasonal flavours, with dishes like Butternut Squash Soup, Atlantic Prawn Cocktail, Flat Iron Steak, and Seabass with celeriac. Finish with indulgent ice cream, sorbet, or a rich chocolate brownie, paired with a glass of prosecco. Perfect for any occasion!

Get a three course menu & a glass of Prosecco for an exclusive price of £30, only with Time Out Offers.

American ecologist David Abram, whose 1996 book ‘The Spell of the Sensuous’ is the inspiration for this group show at Edel Assanti, had a theory that the codification of language into written form was a turning point for humanity that saw us sever our ties with nature. Mirtha Dermisache’s indecipherable, invented alphabets open the show, before we see Kat Lyons’ swirling, psychedelic painting, Marguerite Humeau’s twisting sculpture and aboriginal Australian artist Yukultji Napangati’s stunning abstract landscapes. It brings together artists who think in similar ways about nature and time and the speculative future of humanity and it’s hard to argue that they’re wrong.

You’ve probably heard all about Versailles’ dazzling Hall of Mirrors and its gorgeous, well-manicured gardens – maybe you’ve even seen them IRL. But do you know about the role the French royal court played in not just spreading scientific knowledge, but making it fashionable, too? The Science Museum’s latest exhibition, ‘Versailles: Science And Splendour’, will uncover that lesser-talked-about side of the palace’s history, diving into the royal family’s relationship with science, women’s impact on medicine, philosophy and botany at the royal court, and showcasing more than 100 items that reinforce those stories – many of which have never been displayed in the UK before.