Things to do in London this weekend

Mohamed-Zain Dada’s new drama about a speed awareness course in Birmingham starts off in wilfully mundane Britcom territory, but ends up somewhere far more thrilling. Harleen, Samir and Faiza are a mismatched trio of British Asians who’ve each acquired nine points on their driving licences. This course is their last chance. Unfortunately, they have to contend with Nikesh Patel’s stupendously annoying Abz, the course leader. Despite the fact we never leave Tomás Palmer’s magnificently mundane hotel function room set, Dada takes us on quite a journey over 80 minutes. Things get tense. Then they get weird. It’s a thrill. 

Car boot, but make it classy. Unlike your usual boot sale, there’s no tat being flogged out of the back of a Ford Fiesta here. Instead, Granary Square and Coal Drops Yard at King’s Cross is being dotted with rare classic vehicles for the 10th year, from which vendors will be selling vintage fashion, homewares and collectables. Mobile eateries will be dotted between the old-school cars and campervans, while DJs will be impressing purists and pop lovers with vintage vinyl. 

If you’re after sushi, but don’t want the ice-cold bento offerings from chains, you’ll have to fork out heart-breaking sums of cash somewhere in Mayfair and there really isn’t that much in-between. Sushi Kyu in Soho aims to fill this gap, and it does so with aplomb. There’s an la carte menu maki rolls, chirashi don rice bowls, sashimi and nigiri, but the wallet-friendly omakase is what makes this place special. Said set menu starts with a sashimi appetizer, hamachi with a yuzu ponzu, shiso flower and jalapeño. The nigiri sushi section of the menu contains eight pieces and the rice is seasoned with Akazu vinegar, giving it a reddish hue. There’s also a great selection of sake and karaoke in the basement. 

Warfare is a forensic, immersive act of remembrance that catapults you into the heat of battle. On November 19, 2006 in Ramadi, Iraq, a squad of US Navy SEALs steal into a residential area controlled by Al-Qaeda forces to clear a safe passage for the ground forces arriving the following day. Warfare leaves in the bits most war films cut out. We watch a squad going through their routines and protocols. There is boredom, a struggle to get a signal, and weeing in a bottle. Even when the inciting incident comes – a grenade tossed through a sniper’s hole – it is dealt with matter-of-factly: what actually happens in the aftermath of explosion? Warfare is a granular, clear-eyed dispatch from a fucked-up front line. It’s intense, brutal, visceral, horrific, a powerful gut punch.

Antony Gormley has become one of the UK’s most popular artists, largely thanks to his sculptures of metal men standing on city roofs and remote beaches and the mighty ‘The Angel of the North’. This White Cube Mason’s Yard explores where his artistry began with this collection of Gormley’s early lead sculptures. Originating from the mid-1970s and produced up until the ’90s, the figures are among the most important of his career and fans of his work can chart how Gormley’s initial experimentations with lead laid the foundations for many subsequent bodies of work.

It’s been a good few years for Squid. The boys from Bristol independently released their debut album, Bright Green Field, on Warp Records in May 2021 to widespread critical acclaim and their sophomore, O Monolith, in 2023 to similar praise. The band’s set to play its third full-length album in full at the Roundhouse this week. Lead singer and drummer Ollie Judge described the album as a ‘book of dark fairy tales’, utilising post-rock and art-rock influences with a dash of electronica and folk music to really hammer in its whimsicality. 

Roundhouse, NW1 8EH. Sat Apr 26, 7pm. From £26.

Every year, Somerset House hosts the Sony World Photography Awards, a mammoth showcase of more than 300 thought-provoking global images from over 60 photographers. Head here while you can to see a collection of striking images capturing everything from wildlife and nature to documentary storytelling, architecture and portraiture.

A brand new arts festival is taking over the Southbank Centre, bringing together world-class orchestras and some of the most ambitious and exciting artists currently working in their fields. Highlights this week include a night of spoken word and music as Chineke! Orchestra collaborate with George the Poet, a response to Mickalene Thomas’s exhibition All About Love from the Multi-Story Orchestra, and the UK premiere of William Kentridge’s film Oh To Believe in Another World with a live score played by the Philharmonia Orchestra. 

Keep your fingers crossed for good weather. This wholesome-sounding book festival is back for its second year, foregoing the venues where literature events are usually held and putting on a big ol’ book bash in the park instead. ‘Books in the Park’ will fill Lewisham’s beautiful Beckenham Place Park with author talks, guided walks, writing workshops and an interactive children’s programme. Authors appearing this year include Jules Acton, Helen Bowell, Kaliane Bradley, Chloe Dalton, Anita Goveas, Janice Hallett, Annie Lyons and Ned Parlmer. There’s a range of free and ticketed events, head to the website for full programme information.  

Enjoy bottomless sushi at Inamo for £27.95 and add on an adorable seasonal special Easter Sushi Chick, only with Time Out Offers.

This annual two-day film festival at the Barbican is programmed entirely by young people aged 16 to 24. This year’s programme theme is ‘Against All Odds’. The young curators have selected films including the UK premiere of José María Cabral’s Tiger, a double-bill screening of East African films, Apostles of Cinema and Talking About Trees; and director Neo Sora’s sci-fi drama Happyend. The festival culminates with a screening of Seeking Mavis Beacon, a Jazim Jones cyber documentary that looks for the woman who fronted a popular ‘90s typing video course, with surprising results.  

Queer East Festival returns to London this spring with its biggest programme ever. This year, it’s expanding beyond cinema and into art and performance, showcasing theatre and dance, as well as film, from East and Southeast Asian makers. A vast programme of features, documentaries and shorts from 10 countries will be screened at venues including the Rio Cinema, BFI Southbank and ICA. Highlights include Crazy Love (Michio Okabe, 1968), an avant-garde cult classic, and We Are Here, (Zhao Jing, Shi Tou, 2015), a heartfelt documentary on lesbian advocacy. Look out for live and multisensory performances. 

Ceremony is a new five-day festival celebrating performance art, choreography and ritual action, and will feature some top creators in their fields. Seasoned dance artist Emilyn Claid will join forces with performance artist Martin O’Brien for ‘The Trembling Forest’, alive art ballet created in collaboration with a troupe of queer artists, while the award-winning Anne Bean will give a performance lecture specially commisioned for the festival. There’ll also be a host of emerging artists showcasing their talents, plus free screenings, discursive events and workshops. 

The Institute of Contemporary Arts hosts the first UK solo exhibition of Croatia-born, Amsterdam-based installation and performance artist Nora Torato this spring. Known for her text ‘pools’, created at yearly intervals using found language gathered from media, conversations, online content and overheard speech, the artist’s UK debut will feature site-specific new work that spans video, performance, graphic design, writing and sound. 

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!

All that glitters isn’t gold – sometimes it’s silver, amethyst, ruby, sapphire or emerald. All the colours of the jewel rainbow will be on display at the V&A as part of its huge Cartier exhibition opening in spring 2025. The UK’s first major display dedicated to the Maison in nearly 30 years will boast more than 350 tiaras, watches, clocks, brooches and other precious objects – some of which have been worn by Queen Elizabeth II and pop princess Rihanna – and trace Cartier’s evolution since the turn of the 20th century. A limited initial ticket sale has already sold out, but keep your eyes peeled for more tickets going on sale. Members can still gain access to the exhibition, so if you’re desperate to gawp at the glamour, consider signing up.

Robert Icke made his name directing boldly reimagined takes on some of the greatest plays ever written, but Manhunt, his play about Raoul Moat, is all him, and it’s compellingly weird as an examination of toxic masculinity. The early stages see Samuel Edward-Cook’s triple-jacked double-stacked Moat in the dock for a variety of changes. Edward-Cook’s vulnerability and direct pleading to the audience aggressively underscores the point that Moat’s traumatic childhood informed his adult actions. Flitting between the courtroom and flashbacks to Moat’s fateful few days after leaving prison, Edward-Cook’s pleading, panic-attack delivery and Tom Gibbon’s naggingly loud, organ-based score give a real sense of Moat’s fraying grip on reality. It’s an emotionally vivid and compelling play, blessed with great performances and an unnerving grandeur as Moat’s odyssey takes him towards his own heart of darkness.

Henry VIII’s former gaff is already one of the most splendid-looking buildings in London, but fill it with 10,000 tulips and you’ve got something mighty special to look at. Hampton Court Palace’s Tulip Festival is one of the biggest planted displays of the colouful flowers in the UK and is a good excuse to celebrate the start of spring. See the buds pouring out of the Tudor wine fountain and in floating tulip vases, and spot rare, historic and specialist varieties. There are also expert talks on the flowers and craft activities themed around them. The palace’s expert gardeners predict the displays will look at their best in mid-April, so don’t wait around to visit. 

You’ll get several movies for the price of a single ticket in Ryan Coogler’s period drama-thriller-romance-musical Sinners. The combination is audacious enough to leave you simultaneously awed and overwhelmed. All of this is packed into a single day in 1932 Mississippi: Maverick twins Smoke and Stack (both played skilfully by Coogler muse Michael B Jordan) have finally returned home after a law-eliding sojourn in Chicago. They’ve got money, liquor, and a dream: to open a juke joint for their friends and family. It all takes a sharp turn when the night is interrupted by… vampires. Coogler is making an epic here – and everyone is up to the task.

In cinemas worldwide Apr 18.

Regarded as one of the UK’s most influential contemporary artists, this new exhibition at Tate Britain surveys Ed Atkins’ career to date, showcasing 15 years of work spanning computer-generated videos, animations, sculpture, installation, sound, painting and drawing. At the heart of it is a series of 700 drawings on Post-It notes. The intimate sketches range from messages of devotion (‘I love you x’) to surreal images. Atkins describes the on-going Post-It drawings as ‘the best things I’ve ever made’, and you can sense the deep affection and care that went into making them. This survey exhibition at Tate Britain is vast, charting Atkins’ artistic development, blending emotion and personal reflection with existential inquiry. The result is something urgent and deeply human. 

Ryan Calais Cameron’s fifties-set three-hander about a potentially commie actor has sharp suits, big pours of scotch and a haze of cigarette smoke. But to assume the play is a pastiche of a fast-patter period piece – is to underestimate Calais Cameron who smashed the West End with his beautiful play For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy. Because in walks Sidney Poitier, the guy who’d go on to become the first Black man to win an Oscar. He’s about to be cast in a big breakout role, but NBC’s lawyers want him to sign an oath that he’s not a communist. 

The Yard Theatre’s artistic director Jay Miller is not a man afraid to throw out a lot of ideas and see what sticks, and this revival of Tennessee Williams’ masterpiece eschews period detail in favour of a dreamy no-place chased by contemporary music. The ’30s-set 1944 drama tends to depict ageing Southern belle Amanda Wingfield as a suffocating force of nature whose overbearing love has ruined the lives of her children, Tom (probably gay) and Laura (probably disabled). Miller upends this. Sharon Small’s Amanda is ultimately a decent sort and the engine of the play is her relationship with her troubled son. It’s a beautifully humane read on this classic. 

Time Out and W London are rolling out the red carpet for film lovers with the W London Film Club – a one-of-a-kind private screening experience in an intimate, 38-seater cinema. Nestled in London’s iconic West End, tickets start at £24 and include your screening, a handcrafted cocktail, and popcorn. For those looking to indulge further, upgrade to the £44 ticket, which adds a two-course meal and a glass of prosecco. Whether you're planning a date night, a stylish Sunday screening, or a special night out, get ready to sit back, sip on a cocktail, and escape into the magic of the big screen.

Leeds is another planet in this exhibition from veteran British photographer Peter Mitchell. A Londoner who moved to Leeds in 1972 and never left, Mitchell’s photos in this small but transporting exhibition take us on a tour of the backstreets and alleys of his adopted city, mainly during the 1970s, giving us proud shopkeepers and aproned artisans standing in front of crumbling premises, many of which look more Victorian or Edwardian than late-twentieth-century. It’s odd to imagine now, but when Mitchell was taking these photos, colour photography was barely respected, Mitchell was breaking new ground. Now a retro appeal – a chance to transport yourself to a long gone time and place – but to his contemporaries, this was strange and radical work, strikingly modern and engaging.

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.  

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. 

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.

Noah Davis, the Los Angeles painter known for his figurative works depicting dreamlike visions of everyday Black life, was not one to be pigeonholed: each canvas here is technically unique, yet they still work as a set, each brushstroke deliberate, considered. In this retrospective, we are taken into his personal life – ‘Painting for My Dad’ was created when he lost his father  – we discover his deep, well-referenced knowledge of art history and learn about his hopes and dreams, where vast canvases show scenes of his crime-striken neighbourhood transformed into a utopia where Black ballerinas dance in the street. Davis was an artist that played with paint, commanded it. The result? Quietly, yet urgently political art. 

★★★★ '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.