Things to do in London this weekend (13-14 September)

Ever wanted to have a nosy around some of London’s coolest private buildings? Open House London gives guests free access to architectural wonders that are not normally open to the public – from schools and offices to places of worship. It’s an often rare chance to explore iconic or just interesting buildings that make up the capital’s storied history, while the programme usually includes tons of workshops, exhibitions and more, as well as the usual tours.

The V&A East Storehouse opened in May this year. Spoiler: it’s amazing. But visitors have had to wait a bit longer for the arrival of the massive David Bowie archive containing more than 80,000 items and spanning six decades of the life of Ziggy Stardust. Now, the David Bowie Centre will officially open on Thursday September 13, with opening exhibits curated by BRIT-winning indie band The Last Dinner Party and living musical legend Nile Rodgers. Rodgers, who produced Bowie’s albums Let’s Dance and Black Tie White Noise has selected items including personal correspondence between himself and Bowie, a bespoke Peter Hall suit worn by Bowie during the Serious Moonlight tour and Chuck Pulin photographs of Bowie, Rodgers and guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan recording Let's Dance in New York. The free-to-enter gallery will have nine displays showing everything from photographs to clothing, and drawings, and will include insights into unrealised projects.

It’s been 25 years since Somerset House transformed from a government office into a cultural powerhouse. Celebrate it’s big quarter century at this birthday weekend extravaganza, which free, open-to-all invitation for people to explore and get to know the entire building. Guests will be able to discover the lesser-known spaces including the Deadhouse and Maker Street where you can meet Somerset House’s resident creatives. There’ll also be dance, music, performance, exhibition viewings, film showings, workshops, tours, family activities, retail and more. Phew. 

Kima is a Greek fish restaurant in Marylebone, sister restaurant to the more omnivorous Opso, which is across the road. Kima operates a ‘fin-to-gill’ philosophy of zero wastage, on our visit there’s a whole gilt head bream, prepared in a multitude of ways. We try toasted bread topped with bottarga (cured roe), lemon curd and white chocolate. There’s kakavia, an ancient fish soup, adorned with cubes of bream gently poaching in the broth and bream fillet is served sashimi-style in a puddle of olive oil. Next to a simple Greek salad and some warm bread, you can almost feel the gentle mist of Santorini seawater speckling your face. 

Dublin’s Dead Centre is a true marvel, a theatre company that makes intensely visceral works that feel like they’ve been wrenched from a beautiful dream and a screaming nightmare simultaneously. Written and directed by the company’s Ben Kidd and Bush Moukarzel in collaboration with BSL poet Zoë McWhinney, Deaf Republic is an adaptation of Ukrainian writer Ilya Kaminsky’s 2019 poetry collection of the same name, which concerns a town occupied by a hostile power in which the locals all go deaf after a soldier shoots a young deaf boy. The result is a ravishing and unnerving play about deafness, occupation, resistance, puppets and things that hover outside the edge of comprehension.

Created by the minds behind Brainchild Festival, Colour Factory, Orii Community and Voices Radio, Jazz on Wick is a new festival for 2025. Taking place across multiple venues in Hackney Wick, the day-to-night celebration of jazz and adjacent astral sounds features neo-soul singer BINA, genre-blending quartet oreglo, multi-instrumentalist Allexa Nava and a special edition of the Orii Jam (complete with special guests TBA). 

London is widely recognised as one of the design capitals of the world. Cementing this title is the annual Design Festival, a colourful and thought-provoking celebration of some of the world's best designers, who interrogate the boundaries of design through events, exhibitions and installations. This year, the fest will showcase how contemporary design intersects with technology, sustainability, and our shared cultural heritage. Phew. Look out for landmark projects including What Nelson Sees by Paul Cocksedge, which will let you see London from Nelson’s vantage point on top of his Trafalgar Square column and Beacon by Lee Broom, a site-specific sculpture at the entrance of the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, inspired by the area’s Brutalist architecture that will illuminate when Big Ben strikes. 

Looking to get your fix of Irish culture in the city? Irish pub Nancy Spains is hosting a massive shindig this September to celebrate the halfway point to St Paddy’s Day, promising live trad music, flowing pints of Murphy’s (split the M, anyone?) and spice bags. Irish snacks will be provided by Emerald Eats, sustaining the masses with the salty bags of chips and fried chicken, as well as chicken fillet rolls, and chips with curry sauce. Booze will be in abundance, with Beamish stout, more than 100 irish whiskies and signature cocktails on offer. Throughout the day 12 live bands will perform, including folk rock outfit The Peppered Aces, and the licence runs ‘till 5am. Tickets are only a tenner, so snap one up before they’re gone. It’s gonna be great craic. 

There’ll be burgers on burgers on burgers at Walthamstow’s Signature Brew, which is hosting the first-ever Burger Fest UK this weekend – London’s first burger festival in more than five years. Arrive ravenous. Each ticket holder will be summoned to vote for which burger they think should be named the People’s Champion, so it’s only right that you taste test as many as you possibly can. Each trader will serve up an OG classic burger and a more creative (read: absolutely filthy) chef’s special. Contenders include Strip Club Street Food, 7Bone and Baggio Burger. There’ll be an array of craft beers and cocktails to help you wash things down. 

Love sushi, dumplings or noodles? Inamo’s got you covered. This high-tech spot in Soho or Covent Garden lets you order from interactive tabletops, play over 20 games while you wait and even doodle on your table. Then it’s all you can eat pan-Asian dishes like Sichuan chicken, red dragon rolls and Korean wings with bottomless drinks. Usually £113.35, now just £33 or £26 if you're in early at the weekend!

Get Inamo’s best ever bottomless food & drink brunch from only £26 with Time Out Offers.

If you think a two-hander drama about Elizabethan legends Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare having a sexy, dangerous time while trying to write a play together sounds a bit slash fiction-y then you would have the number of Born with Teeth, a new drama by US playwright Liz Duffy Evans. There is more to it than that, though. For much of its running time Daniel Evans’s RSC production comes across like an outlandish workplace comedy. It stars a Ncuti Gatwa who makes a case for Marlowe as quite possibly history’s most annoying person. Hyper horny, hyper bawdy, and with the attention span of a gnat. His unfortunate colleague is Edward Bluemel’s mild-mannered William Shakespeare, who has been summoned by his (then) more famous peer to co-write the play Henry VI. It’s a lot of fun: two charismatic actors having a ball pinging off each other while chomping down on a script that spikes the trashiness with some genuine wit.

Organised by the people behind Percolate and Love International festival in Croatia, mid-September’s electronic music one-dayer Waterworks is a final chance to squeeze every last drop of festival fun out of the summer. Returning to west London’s Gunnersbury Park for its fifth edition, the festival’s line-up features DJs playing just about every genre of dance music, including the likes of Two Shell, Yung Singh, Special Request, Palms Trax, Skee Mask, Lukas Wigflex, Octo Octa, Eris Drew, Tash LC, DJ Stingray and Djrum. You’ll struggle to find a festival line-up more packed with world-class selectors than this. 

The late Peter Jones’ labyrinth of polychromatic tunnels is returning for another UK tour, stopping in Clapham Common this September for a 36th year. Never been to Colourscape? Self-described as ‘Europe’s most unusual festival’, you wander around its big inflatable neon maze to see what musicians you can find inside. You might happen upon a flautist, a classical guitarist or, new this year, a Balinese gamelan accompanied by a troupe of Indonesean dancers. Who knows!? Those kaleidoscopic innards are designed to surprise. 

Video games are the medium for Danielle Braithwaite-Shirley. The young artist uses them to ‘imaginatively archive and empower Black Trans stories’ - this isn’t just point-and-shoot, slack-jawed gaming for the sake of it, this is one of contemporary society’s most important cultural forms being used to give voice to marginalised identities. 

★★★★ '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), only through Time Out Offers.

The fourth and (supposedly) final Conjuring film promises ‘the case that ended it all’. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return as paranormal investigator couple Ed and Lorraine Warren in this recreation of the Smurl Haunting, a series of demonic possessions at a Pennsylvania home between 1974 and 1989. Last Rites promises to conclude the Warrens’ exploits, but don’t be fooled by the title: The Conjuring universe continues, with a Max series already in development.

Out Sep 5

London’s dogs tend to be rather spoiled enough already, but adoring owners can take the mollycoddling to the next level at The Big Woof. Returning to King’s Cross this September, the canine wellness festival involves a wide spectrum of dog-centric activities, from a programme of talks covering nutrition, gut health and travel tips to cooking demos, ‘nose-to-tail’ health checks, two giant ball pits and a wellness centre where pups and their humans can relax with soothing sound baths and doggie massages. The Canopy Market will be hosting a pooch-themed takeover featuring 35 of London’s best dog apparel, treats and accessories traders. Look out for a fun dog show with categories including ‘waggiest tail’ and ‘golden oldies’ and even a tarot reader offering ‘insight into how your dog is feeling’ – yes we will judge you if you post it on Insta. 

From the Institute of Contemporary Arts comes the brand new GLUE Book Fair. Aiming to showcase emerging indie and DIY bookmakers, there will be 70 publishers there, with special exhibitions and a packed programme of talks, workshops and parties. Hot Potato – the ‘newspaper for people who don’t read the news’ – is putting on an exhibition for the occasion, as is photographer Sana Badri. While you’re there, drop into a bookbinding workshop, have a go at self-portraiture or sit down for a talk from radical publishers Verso Books. All the events are free to attend but the ICA encourages anyone interested to book in advance.

Do you ever miss the adrenaline of playing tag or ‘Stuck in the Mud’ in the school playground? A new sports weekender in north west London is bring back that rush. Assemble a team of your fittest, nimblest friends and enter The Play-Offs, two days of ‘competitive socialising’ in Brent Cross. There’ll be a bungee run, a high ropes course, baseball and a ‘last one standing’ challenge, but the Play-Offs’ big headline event is World Chase Tag, which is basically tag with some hardcore parkour thrown in. Anyone up for the challenge is invited to go head-to-head with the world’s leading chase tag athletes and there’ll be free coaching sessions in the five weeks leading up to the event to help amateur entrants prepare. There’ll be a leaderboard tracking all the participants and yes, there will be prizes. 

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!

This summer has already taken in a winning Naked Gun sequel and news of a Spaceballs II, and now spoof fans get to welcome back those loveable rockers Spinal Tap. Four decades on from Rob Reiner’s mockumentary masterpiece, he’s back to detail the loud and silly world of a heavy metal band (Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer) on the comeback trail. With cameos from Elton John, Paul McCartney and Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, we may just get more of the original’s high-decibel magic.   

Out Sep 12

Tired of merely listening to your favourite podcast hosts yabbering away? Now you can watch them at it IRL at London Podcast Festival, which is hosting some of the best podcasting talents from the UK and US live at Kings Place. This year get a front seat at plenty of big shows in the audio world, including No Such Thing As A Fish, Wrong Turns with Jameela Jamil, The Empire Film Podcast and History Hit.

This new comedy drama from state-of-the-nation playwright Mike Bartlett is an amusing but bleak satire about middle-aged couple Ruth (Hattie Morahan) and Lip (Sam Troughton), who have left behind the Big Smoke to plough Ruth’s inheritance into setting up an organic, regenerative farm. Farming requires dedication and an understanding of the land, Juniper Blood tells us. And most of us are slaves to capitalism and too reliant on technology to be able to go back to basics anyway. It’s not one big lecture, though. Directed by Barlett’s regular collaborator James Macdonald, it’s really very funny while holding a mirror up to the gaping chasm between idealism and pragmatism.   

Every year, London’s famous river gets a whole festival of art installations, performances, and talks devoted to her watery charms, many of which are free to check out. This year’s Totally Thames Festival has scores of events throughout September, all dotted along riverside locations from Richmond to Barking & Dagenham. This week, look out for St Katharine Docks Classic Boat Festival (Sep 6) which lets you clamber aboard ancient vessels. You can also visit a mudlarking exhibition, walk and masterclass, take boat tours and listen to special lectures. 

It’s one of those Fringe successes people dream of mimicking. Since debuting in Edinburgh in 2014, Duncan Macmillan Every Brilliant Thing – co-written with its original star Jonny Donahoe – has earned rave reviews and performed all across the globe. Now it’s on the West End. Over the course of its three-month stint, Donahoe, Ambika Mod, Sue Perkins and Minnie Driver will all take the lead role, but we see Lenny Henry. Dressed in a colourful patterned shirt, he sends smiles soaring across the crowd from the outset. The conversation about mental health has moved on since 2014. Nevertheless, the play’s message still lands today. For all its sorrow, the play gleams with hope. It is a truly brilliant thing.

This new play by American writer Doug Wright comes to the Barbican from Broadway heralded by a 2023 Tony Award for star Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) and is about someone you’ve likely never heard of. Oscar Levant was a pianist – best known for playing George Gershwin’s music – and a humourist, who popped up in a handful of films including An American in Paris. This play re-imagines the events surrounding his chaotic appearance as a guest on The Tonight Show in 1958. It's fragmentary and frantic – culminating in a truly virtuosic piano performance by a spotlit Hayes, who looks agonisingly at his own hands as if they belong to a stranger. It’s hauntingly powerful and the apex of this funny and devastating play.  

Part of an ongoing exhibition series of group exhibitions featuring artists not represented by the gallery, this show will see three painters – Koak, Ding Shilun and Cece Philips – fill Hauser & Wirth’s vast Savile Row space with windows into imagined interiors. All taking domestic architectures as their starting point, each artist’s work becomes a meditation on the psychology of space.

You’ve probably heard of ‘Instagram face’. This summer, Somerset House is dedicating a whole exhibition to things like the internet’s inclination for everyone to look exactly the same. In Virtural Beauty, Somerset House will explore the impact of digital technologies on how we define beauty today. The show will display more than 20 artworks from the 'Post-Internet' era, an art movement concerned with the influence of the internet on art and culture. It will feature sculpture, photography, installation, video and performance art, with highlights including ORLAN’s Omniprésence (1993), a groundbreaking performance in which the artist live-streamed her own facial aesthetic surgery, and AI-generated portraits by Minnie Atairu, Ben Cullen Williams, and Isamaya Ffrench. 

Emily Kam Kngwarray, an Anmatyerr artist from the Sandover region in the Northern Territory of Australia, didn’t start making art until she was 70. Her prolific and vibrant output during the ensuing decade paved the way for Aboriginal artists, women artists and Australian artists – and is the subject of this, her first major solo exhibition in Europe. Expect monumental canvases adorned with batik and acrylic patterns whose networks of dots and lines are almost immersive.