Things to do in London this weekend

Every year, the EFG London Jazz Festival brings together the best and brightest of the genre in venues across the city, from jazz staples like Ronnie Scott’s to the capital’s arts venues like Southbank Centre and new spots like Soul Mama. This year is no different. The 2024 line-up promises a bounty of bops, whether you’re looking to discover new artists on the scene (LCCM Presents Emerging Sounds Of London, Nov 15), want to celebrate past masterpieces (Hejira Duo Celebrate The Jazz Side Of Joni Mitchell, Nov 16), or want to witness some legends in action (Robert Glaser, Nov 18 and 21). As well as tons of concerts every day, there’s also sessions, workshops, talks and more to take part in and enjoy.

At it’s Best Jethro Compton’s ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ is an extraordinary thing, a soaring folk opera that overwhelms you with a cascade of song and feeling. Writer/director/designer Compton’s interpretation is very different to both F Scott Fitzgerald’s original short story and the 2008 David Fincher film starring Brad Pitt. For starters it’s a love letter to Compton’s native Cornwall, its story spanning much of the twentieth century. It has a joy, romance and big-hearted elan that stands in stark contrast to Fitzgerald’s cynicism and the dolefulness of Fincher’s sloggy film. It’s very good, but the last ten minutes or so are actively sublime. It’s full of charm, heart and magic.

Nigerian-born artist Rotimi Fani-Kayode lived in Brixton until his early death in his 30s in 1989. In the privacy of his studio, he was able to use the camera to explore ideas of difference, identity and a whole lot of desire. The first images here are full of African masks and twisted, nude anguish: naked bodies contorted and writhing in a cold, bare, unhomely South London flat. They’re images that express the reality of being an outsider in western society, of his Africanness, his queerness, his everythingness rubbing up awkwardly against the strictures of 1980s English life.

Savage baboons. Killer sharks. Opium hits. Panto villains. Ridley Scott’s brawny, bloodthirsty, and occasionally wildly camp sequel is not your dad’s Gladiator movie – or your history teacher’s. But for all its flaws, it’s a colossally entertaining ride that never stints on its efforts to wow you with its scale and spectacle. Where Gladiator deftly intercut its battle scenes with subtly plotted political manoeuvrings, this one works best when it’s just winding up one of its ballistas and launching a fireball at your head. There’s a brutal extravagance to the action, a dedication to the film’s theme of violence as a portent of social collapse that manifests in an extra slather of chopped limbs and slashing wounds. Paul Mescal proves that his charisma upscales to a monster blockbuster, without losing that rare sensitivity that powered his Aftersun and Normal People breakthroughs. 

They’ve played Glasto, they’ve won a Mercury Prize and, most importantly, been on the cover of our mag. Now the jubilant five-piece Ezra Collective are taking on Wembley Arena. The group’s latest album Where I’m Meant To Be celebrates life’s brilliant complexities through a winding hybrid sound, tying together jazz, pop and hip-hop to explore themes of resilience and resistance. Their shows always have a community feel, with band members hopping off stage and into the audience, and a relentless commitment to getting everyone to dance. So prepare to get a wiggle on. 

OVO Arena Wembley, HA9 0AA. Fri Nov 15, 6.30pm. From £42. 

Getting a table at Singburi is a task so epic that even Hercules would sack it off, yet despite this, it is worth persevering. This small, family-run high street Thai canteen in deepest east London, is truly one of London’s greatest restaurants. Once you finally make it inside, splendour, and a beautifully relentless full-throttle flavour fest awaits. There’s a standard menu of classic Thai dishes, but nobody ever orders those. Instead, the move is to ask for everything off the blackboard listing the daily specials. No dish misses. 

Christmas at Kew has become a key date in London’s festive calendar, with a humongous light trail taking over the 300-acre botanic garden. See the space lit up with larger-than-life illuminations, with both the venue’s glass houses and the trees that cover its grounds drenched in different hues. The whole thing is stunning, but don’t miss the lake, where you’ll catch reflections of the vibrant bulbs dancing on the water, taking the magical feeling to another level.  Keep yourself toasty along the way with warming winter snacks and make sure you pop by the grotto to say hi to Father Christmas himself.

How to get Christmas at Kew tickets 

As the UK’s original light trail, this illuminated adventure sells out fast. So you’ll have to look sharp to secure your place. Keep an eye on Kew Garden’s booking page, which tells you what dates and times at each of the different entrances are available. If your desired dates are booked up, keep refreshing the page to track returns. Keep refreshing the page to track returns. 

What are the prices and opening times?

Tickets for non-members start at £25.50 for off-peak slots and £32 at peak times. Members can get discounted tickets with prices starting at £21.50 and going to £26 for peak times. Family and child tickets are also available.

Christmas at Kew is open from 4.20pm to 10pm. Each visitor is given a specific time slot, with the last entry at 8pm. 

How long does it take to walk around Christmas at Kew?

That’s really down to you. The glittering trail is 3km long so, depending on your speed and how long you spend taking in refreshments, visiting the fairground, toasting marshmallows and stopping by to see Father C, it can take up to two hours to walk around.

The third major projection-based show to play at King’s Cross’ Lightroom venue is this immersive exhibition that will dip into the storied archives of Vogue magazine to explore the history of the fashion runway show. As ever at Lightroom, expect it to look ravishing, the footage blown up to gargantuan scale and definition by the venue’s high tech projection systems. Initially it will run in rep with long-running Tom Hanks hit Moonwalkers.

London Palestine Film Festival’s programme features films that both reflect on Palestine and share the political realities and experiences of Palestinian people both in their homeland and around the world. Many of the screenings are accompanied by talks, so you can get deeper context and understanding on the visuals, too. Look out for the likes of ‘The Fifth War’, a document of Israel’s 1978 invasion of Lebanon, ‘Familiar Phantoms’’ personal storytelling from Larissa Sansour, and ‘To A Land Unknown’, which follows a Palestinian refugee on the hunt for revenge in Athens.

‘No Other Land’ follows the life of Basel Adra, a young Palestinian man living in a small village in the West Bank. Since childhood, Basel has filmed life in the village, predominantly recording the destruction of his home and those around it. This is not an objective documentary. There’s no voice of the Israeli military or government position. The only Israeli voice in the film is that of Yuval Abraham, a journalist who says upfront that he believes the destruction of the houses is a crime. There is no attempt to view things from both positions. And that is entirely valid, because it’s not presenting itself as anything else. It’s a moving, challenging watch. 

Somerset House’s iconic ice rink has become a Christmas tradition for Londoners and visitors heading to the capital for some festive cheer. There’s good reason – gliding (or, at least, attempting to) around the rink, gazing upon the Georgian architecture and 40ft Christmas tree feels like you’ve skated onto a movie set, ready to be watched by families settling in for their post-turkey food coma. There’s more to this rink than just skating, though. This year, pop-up gourmet dining spot The Chalet and rosé brand Whispering Angel’s skate lounge will return to keep you fuelled up. Skate Lates are also back, with DJ takeovers from Rinse FM, Daytimers’ Rohan Rakhit, Dankie Sounds, and Jay Jay Revlon. 

Find more places to go ice skating in London

We all spend too much time on the internet, but most people don’t turn that filthy habit into art. Parker Ito does. Walking into the American artist’s show is like stumbling upon a long lost shrine. Two scanners on the floor strobe and flash in the darkness, attempting to scan a plastic statuette of some manga knight. A siren blares and suddenly a spotlight shines on a huge dipthych of paintings in the corner. Half-digital, half-physical, it’s an attempt to root this heavily internet-coded work in art history. Ito is mixes art historical symbols with modern technology and feeds it all through a crippling internet addiction. It’s a way of making sense of the overwhelming tsunami of digital stuff we’re all drowning under.

Japan House’s latest exhibition is a tasty exploration of one of Japan’s centuries-old traditions, Shokuhin Sampuru – Japanese food replicas. Food replicas locked in glass cabinets outside restaurants, or displayed proudly at the entrance are common in the country, showing classic Japanese cuisine – razor-sharp sushi, perfect little bento boxes, or Western food – spaghetti alfredo and beef burgers. Visitors are treated to some tasty little morsels of Japanese culinary history and facts about the art of food replicas. There’s a hands-on section where you can create your own bento boxes from hyper-realistic ingredients and a video series showing the craftsmanship involved. We suggest you head straight to Marugame Udon down the road afterwards – you’re definitely going to leave hungry.

Get ready for a Rock n' Roll revival at 100 Wardour St’s new Friday night cabaret, launching on 27th September. Powered by Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, this lively event brings together drag performers, vocalists, and rock musicians to recreate the iconic days of the Marquee Club, where legends like Bowie and Hendrix once played. Enjoy a three-course meal featuring tantalising starters like scallop ceviche and burrata, mains like baked cod and BBQ lamb cutlets, and decadent desserts such as vanilla panna cotta and apple tarte tatin, all paired with a glass of fizz. Join every Friday in the heart of Soho for an unforgettable night!

Get three-courses, a glass of prosecco and a show at 100 Wardour Street £39.95 (down from £49), only through Time Out Offers.

What’s more Christmassy than visiting Santa’s grotto? Going for a pint or two with the man in red in his favourite boozer, of course. Humbug, an immersive Christmas dive bar, allows you to do just that – and join Mr Claus in rounds of games, sing-a-longs, live performances, storytelling and more. It’s all threaded together with a mission to cheer a weary Santa up and help him rekindle his Christmas spirit. Humbug’s 2024 return will include a shrine to the queen of Christmas Mariah Carey, a beer can bowling alley, a grotto and cabaret from the venue’s regular cast. Saving the festive season never sounded so fun.

Dreaming of a kitsch Christmas? New York’s famous Miracle on Ninth Street bar is popping up in London for its seventh year, ‘50s Christmas decorations, nostalgic accessories and creative new spins on beloved cocktail favourites in tow. This year’s menu is still a work in progress, but past years have seen the bar slinging the likes of a Snowball Old Fashioned or a Christmapoliton, which includes cranberry sauce and absinthe mist – a take on Christmas trimmings that’s not for the faint-hearted. If you’re failing to find the Christmas spirit, this is one great place to come find it.

With its legend tied up in that of its director Stanley Kubrick, its star Peter Sellers, its magnificent monochrome cinematography and moreover its release against the backdrop of the actual Cold War, Dr Strangelove is a film comedy that gets treated with arthouse reverence. And for that reason, there are nagging doubts about the idea of a stage version. Is director Sean Foley in the same league as Kubrick? Is Coogan in the same league as Sellers? At its heart Armando Iannucci and Foley‘s stage adaptation is just very aware that Dr Strangelove is fun, funny and possessed of a play-like structure. Rather than try and out-auteur Kubrick, it’s an accomplished, funny West End comedy, and even if the Cold War is over it still has some topical bite. 

Oxford Street is one of the most iconic areas for London’s Christmas lights and for good reason – the ultimate combination of festive illuminations lighting your way as you do battle for Yuletide gifts. As is now tradition, the lights this year will be once again made with cost-friendly materials, including 300,000 LED light bulbs and recycled plastic. The big switch took place mid-week, but get your weekend off to a good start with the ‘Big Day Of Joy’ on December 7 full of shopping deals and offers. 

The reputation of the Lyric Hammersmith panto is as the spikey satirical bad boy of the London pantomime scene. Last year’s ‘Cinderella’ was distinctly cuddlier – however the 2024 show reunites the 2022 team of director Nicholai La Barrie and writer Sonia Jalaly. Specific details of their production are thin on the ground at the moment, but rest assured it’s not going to be one of those iffy yellowface productions you still hear about. Andre Antonio stars as Aladdin, with the redoubtable Emmanuel Akwafa returning on daming duties as Widow Twerkey.

Kanishka has launched a brand-new brunch menu focussing on PanIndian food, with a menu embracing the flavours of India’s various regions, from Punjab to Kerala, Kolkata to Delhi and everywhere in between. Kanishka’s skilled kitchen team, led by chef Atul Kochhar, have curated a symphony of new dishes, including Khari paneer tikka, Palak paneer and Chicken tikka pie. And the best bit? You’ll be greeted with a seasonal welcome Kanishka punch cocktail and two hours of bottomless wine or beer. 

Enjoy eight dishes, main and dessert from £40 at Atul Kochhar's Kanishka, only through Time Out Offers.

Richard Bean sails into familiar, yet new waters with his second play about the Hull distant water trawling fleet. Reykjavík very much takes place on dry land. Set in 1975, its protagonist is the trawler fleet owner Donald Claxton (John Hollingworth), the Cambridge-educated son to the fleet’s retired founder who is largely disliked by his employees. It begins with the company reeling from a recent sinking off the coast of Iceland. Ultimately, it’s an elegy for the Hull deep sea fleets and a way of life that went with them, a version of Bean’s hometown that no longer exists. It’s a heartfelt play.

It’s that time of year when circles of ice start popping up thick and fast across the city. The latest slippy surface is Glide at Battersea Power Station. With magnificent views, a fairground and 30ft Christmas tree twinkling right in the middle of the rink it’s sickeningly festive and the perfect place for a date night or to get you into the Christmas spirit. 

Just like the ever-expanding TfL map, interest in the history of London’s transport network is bigger than ever these days. Now, The Map House, a historic antique dealer in Knightsbridge has curated a wonderful selection of printed maps, adverts and drawings that detail the complex, evolving design we all know so well. Vistors are greeted with a large gilded rendition of Harry Bec’s 1933 masterpiece of topographic design, which is not only the foundation of our current TfL map but the progenitor to all non-geographic transport maps around the world. Look out for Beck’s pencil sketches from the 1960s; showing how the Victoria line could bisect through Euston and Kings Cross. You don’t have to be an anorak or cartographer to appreciate what’s on sale here. 

Where there’s pleasure, there’s shame; at least there is in American artist Sarah Slappey’s work. She paints female bodies naked and writhing, reclining in baths, legs and arms intertwined. At first it’s plainly, obviously erotic. But then you notice little cuts and dribbles of blood. Is this an orgy or a crime scene? It’s the erotic as a spectacle, femininity as something constructed, something built to constrict women. It’s a vortex of symbols, art historical allusions and terror. And damn, Slappey can paint. This is precise, expert stuff - super-real, super-sumptuous. It’s a hugely erotic, nasty, tense, beautiful ‘fuck you’.

Every winter the Southbank Centre turns the banks of the Thames into a frosty wonderland, full of little wooden Alpine-style cabins selling gifts, warming drinks, and snacks. This year, you can cosy up at Fire And Fromage with its heated riverside igloos where you can snaffle down cheese fondue. Further down, you’ll find huts serving up truffle burgers, duck wraps, and many more tasty morsels to keep you full and warm. Or grab a glass of mulled wine while you look through gifts, jewellery and decorations made by independent craft traders and take in those sparking riverside views. 

No object is just an object: everything is a symbol. And in Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke’s excellent exhibition of items from the British Museum’s endless archives and stores, every object is a symbol of power, dominance and exploitation. Locke spent two years digging through the stores, finding artefacts that tell countless clashing stories of empire, countless narrative threads. The show comes right in the middle of a long debate about the purpose of the British Museum and the restitution of its many looted treasures. The show doesn’t resolve that debate, it just adds fuel to the fire. It’s about the evils of empire and power. There’s so much shocking, harrowing death and violence here, so much greed and exploitation. It’s horribly, deeply uncomfortable. 

Kick off your weekend plans with a Frameless Lates sessions. Get your after-dark culture fix every Friday and Saturday night in Marble Arch. With over-18s-only sessions, you’ll be able to enjoy four galleries to a specially curated soundtrack from Soho Radio. Whether you want to impress a date or simply enjoy a fun night out with friends, you will be able to take your time exploring the galleries with a drink in hand from the Café Bar.

Exclusive: enjoy £5 off tickets to Frameless Lates, only through Time Out Offers.

Letizia Battaglia saw the mafia tearing Italy apart in the 1970s, murdering its sons, raping its daughters, and she documented all of it with her camera. She captured the bloody reality of life under the oppressive rule of the mafia. There are images in the opening room of parties, dances, kids, lovers. But they’re overpowered by the endless photos of death on display. Battaglia was first on the scene after judges were assassinated, politicians killed, henchmen murdered. There’s no Godfather-esque glamourisation of mafia life here and there are some incredible photos. Excellently composed, shockingly confrontational, but tender despite the grimness.

The first ice rink of the season is here. Canary Wharf shakes off its business image a little with the return of its long-running slice of ice. From October through to late February, you’ll be able to spin and drift around the 1,200-square-metre arena, so whether you’re looking for a pre-Christmas activity or a fun way to kick off the New Year, this bad boy’s got you covered. Talking of covered, the whole thing is under a canopy that means not even the unpredictable British weather can spoil a sesh here. There’ll also be a ringside bar and themed DJ nights to ramp the good vibes up even higher. 

Adrien Brody hasn’t performed on stage since 2003. So it’s unexpected but very cool that he’s popped up as the star attraction in the first play in Timothy Sheader’s first season in charge of the Donmar Warehouse. The Fear of 13 is US playwright Lindsay Ferrentino’s stage version of a 2015 documentary by British filmmaker David Singleton, which tells the story of Nick Yarris, a Pennsylvania man who spent 22 years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit. It puts Brody’s incorrigible protagonist at the heart of a mostly male ensemble who take on the role of various wardens, cops, prisoners and miscellaneous others. And they sing, too! It’s a beautifully theatrical production and a charismatic turn from Brody. 

The TJ Boulting gallery doesn’t smell great. A gross, acrid odour greets you as you walk in; the stench of eggs. This health and safety nightmare is Sarah Lucas’s fault: the megastar British artist came into the gallery and smashed a thousand eggs against the wall to inaugurate this show. It’s left a vast yellow, dripping stain down the main wall of the space, shell and albumen crumbled against the plaster. It’s a brilliant, joyful, funny work, riffing snarkily on the masculinity of ‘action painting’, the history of abstraction, all while protesting against the way women’s bodies are used and reduced down to nothing but fertility and procreation. 

Robert Icke’s take on ‘Oedipus’ benefits from a lethal but compassionate decluttering, a singularity of purpose that distils a famously lurid story into something empathetic, lucid and quite, quite devastating. Mark Strong is Oedipus, a passionate, self-serious politician whose upstart party is on the verge of securing a landslide victory in a sort-of-British version of Thebes and Lesley Manville plays his wife Jocasta, who gets a lot of meat to her character’s bones. It’s really bloody good, with two astonishing leads. Even if you’re aware of every twist and turn of the story, this ‘Oedipus’ glints with a deadly sharpness. 

A vast engine spins, spilling noxious, viscous liquid onto the floor of the Turbine Hall. Mire Lee’s machine is draped in tentacles which ooze and flop around, drenching the cavernous space. The Korean artist’s machine isn’t useless, it produces, it makes products. Hung from the ceiling of the Turbine Hall, stretched taut on metal frames, are countless ‘skins’; ripped, clay-coloured fabrics which look like leather made from some unknown creature…maybe even made from humans. And that’s the point. By dragging the Turbine Hall’s industrial past back into the present, reanimating the corpse of Britain’s power, she’s talking about the human cost of industry. It’s the best Turbine Hall installation for years. 

Indulge your senses with a Japanese Tapas-style Afternoon Tea at La Bibliothèque. Savour a unique blend of Japanese and Mediterranean flavours, from cured salmon bao buns to sweet potato mochi and chocolate crémeux brownies. Pair it with premium teas, sakes, or cocktails, and enjoy a glass of sparkling wine or a non-alcoholic alternative. Treat yourself to a uniquely delicious afternoon!

Was £80, now £56: Enjoy a Japanese tapas style afternoon tea with bottomless cocktailes at La Bibliothèque, only through Time Out Offers.

Francis Bacon (1909-1992) was a giant of modern art, maybe the twentieth century’s greatest painter. He’s been analysed and over-analysed for decades. It makes you walk into this exhibition of his portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery (coming only two years after the Royal Academy’s Bacon show) and think ‘oh god, more Bacon?’ I'm already full. But then you see the paintings – the writhing bodies, the contorted grimaces, the screaming faces – and damn it, call your cardiologist, you’re ready for another helping. It's full of viscerality, the anguish of existence, the torment of love, etc etc etc, over and over. It’s great.