Things to do in London this weekend (18-19 April)

Finally, just shy of a decade after it was first announced as part of the £1.1 billion development of Stratford’s East Bank cultural quarter, the long-awaited V&A East is due to open to the public on Saturday. The 7,000-square-metre museum will bring together exhibits that speak to both east London’s creative heritage and the voices that are shaping contemporary culture across the globe today. Early visitors will be able to check out its Why We Make Galleries, a permanent display spread across two of the museum’s five floors and featuring 500 objects from the V&A’s collection, arranged into ten key themes addressing the most pressing issues in contemporary society. And its inaugural temporary exhibition The Music is Black: A British Story. 

Saltburn and Gone Girl star Rosamund Pike plays Jess Parks, a pioneering feminist judge, in Suzie Miller's three-hand play that feels more like a 100-minute monologue. Like its companion legal drama Prima Facie, which was a massive hit starring Jodie Comer, Inter Alia is a spectacularly demanding showcase for a female star, and Pike delivers the goods with stadium-level charisma, intelligence and flair. Miller’s play is based on interviews with female judges who juggle demanding careers with caring responsibilities and social lives: ‘inter alia’ means ‘among other things’. Punchy, thought-provoking drama, it has brought Jess and real women like her into the limelight.

Chongqing, a city in China that is the size of Austria and home to 36 million people, is the epicentre of málà numbing spice, and the place where you can find it at its most extreme. However, Jiāonest on Kingsland Road takes this spice and transforms it into something delicate but potent, homely yet stirring. The spiced house salad comes with a warning about it being ‘a little dramatic’, and was the first málà dish to get the blood pumping. Seasonal leaves were dressed in a numbing sauce, with crispy pig’s ear julienned alongside strips of tofu skin.  Mapo tofu had the rich blast of umami. The málà short ribs are a showstopper: gigantic, cretaceous hunks of meat, soft, drenched in cinnamon-y clove-y glaze, tendrils of crunchy bamboo. 

Anya Reiss’s new adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House smartly amplifies the debt-related anxieties that underpin the 1879 original into something extremely modern and extremely nerve-wracking. Nora (Romola Garai) is an anxious, impulsive woman, who we first meet in her bougie rental house surrounded by obscene amounts of Christmas shopping. Her workaholic husband Torvald (Tom Mothersdale) is taken aback by the sprawl of purchases, but Nora remains brittly giddy. They are on the cusp of being rich. However, it’s all built on a lie. Reiss is a former Royal Court prodigy and this is her first stage play in almost a decade. And it’s really good! The best thing she’s done in theatre. Reiss’s updates aren’t just a modish reskinning but an impressively incisive, white-knuckle engagement with contemporary anxieties. 

Unlike your usual boot sale, there’s no tat being flogged out of the back of a Ford Fiesta at this oh-so-classy car boot. Instead, more than 75 rare classic vehicles will be parking up in Granary Square and Coal Drops Yard, out of which vendors will be selling vintage fashion, homewares and collectables. Mobile eateries will be dotted between the old-school cars and campervans, while an old Routemaster bus bar will be serving up craft bevvies, with DJs impressing purists and pop lovers with vintage vinyl. Stay tuned for more details in due course!

Filmmaker François Ozon definitely extracts all the juice from Albert Camus’ famous 1942 novella L'Étranger. The existential tale has been a holy text for angsty teenagers and Gitane-puffing sophisticates for generations. None of them will remember it being quite this horny. Ozon amplifies the sensuality of Camus’ great antihero Meursault (Benjamin Voisin) in dazzling ways, with Manu Dacosse’s gorgeous monochrome lighting finding light and shade in colonial Algiers. If there’s a better-looking film this year, it’ll be a thing to behold. It’s a beautiful-ugly parable of colonialism; this is one of Ozon’s best.

A landmark exhibition exploring how Black British music has shaped culture in Britain and beyond. Items on display will include Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar, looks worn by Little Simz and newly acquired photography by Dennis Morris and Jennie Baptiste. The exhibition’s opening will also feature a sound experience by Sennheiser, and will mark the launch of a the inaugural edition of a new festival that will take place annually each spring, bringing together the East Bank’s neighbouring cultural institutions, which include the London College of Fashion, the BBC Music Studios, Sadler’s Wells East and UCL East.

Lambeth’s lovely Garden Museum has been hosting this springtime fair for over 40 years, bringing together a whole bunch of great plant nurseries from across the UK under one roof for urban gardeners looking to give their green spaces some love. The fair takes place both outside and inside the museum and this year has been curated by Susanna Grant, garden designer and founder of Hackney’s Hello There Linda, alongside the museum’s Head of Public Programmes, Ollie Whitehead.Nab plants and garden ephemera for your urban space, balcony or allotment, pick the brains of pro growers and attend talks and workshops from the likes of NTS Radio’s Flo Dill and Fiona Packe, the Head Gardener at the Regent’s Park. 

Returning with another provocative, penetrating array of non-fiction films, The Open City Documentary Festival is setting up camp at London cinemas this spring. Barbican, Bertha DocHouse, BFI, Close-Up Film Centre, Institute of Contemporary Arts, and Rich Mix are all hosting the best in documentary filmmaking from around the world. This year’s edition will show 125 films and 16 Expanded Realities projects, from 31 different countries. The teeming line-up opens with two films by Armenian cinematic pioneer Artavazd Pelechian, which make richly poetic use of archival footage. The lineup also includes a roundtable on family cinema, a party, and free exhibition, A Sense of Space.

Jim Jarmusch, that beat poet of mellow angst, is back on familiar turf with this triptych of stories about grown-up children and the parents they don’t really want to visit. Devotees will be happy to hear that the Ohioan’s stocks-in-trade – wry insights into the human condition, laconic vibes, a growly Tom Waits – come augmented with deeper heart here. It’s divided into three roughly equal-length chapters: ‘Father’, ‘Mother’, ‘Sister Brother’. In the first, Adam Driver’s divorcee Jeff and his equally buttoned-up sister Emily (Mayim Bialik) take a long-overdue visit to see their dad (Waits). The second chapter has a faint Mike Leigh quality in which two wildly contrasting sisters, Cate Blanchett’s nervy Timothea and Vicky Krieps’s half-tamed wildchild Lilith, head to their mother’s (Charlotte Rampling) immaculate Dublin home for tea. The vignettes work with a series of very specific common ingredients and serve as neat motifs for family connections and dysfunction. In third chapter Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat tight-knit twins cross Paris for a final visit to their dead parents’ apartment. But here, the tone switches to something rueful and melancholy. It’s a funny, soulful anthology worth seeking out.

This is the first London revival of Michael Frayn’s 1998 megahit Copenhagen. The first time around this hyper-dense show, substantially concerned with theoretical physics, ran in the West End for two years, following a year at the National. In Michael Longhurst’s revival, we are in an abstract, lightly sketched version of the afterlife. Joanna Scotcher’s set is a revolving black disc of a stage surrounded by black water. On it are three people: Danish theoretical physicist Nils Bohr (Richard Schiff), his wife Margrethe (Alex Kingston) and his German former protégé Werner Heisenberg (Damien Molony). In a dizzyingly clever structure designed to reflect Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, the very act of remembering – and all the emotions and feeling and politics that come with it. It’s dense and ideas-heavy and remains an impressive play. 

London’s citywide celebration of video games is back for another week of talks, workshops, live performances, markets and networking events celebrating video games and the people who make them. Highlights include the first-ever London edition of the Games For Change Summit (Apr 15), the return of Screen Play (Apr 15), the BFI Southbank’s one-day festival exploring the crossover between games, film, and television, and New Game Plus (Apr 16-17) to discover more than 70 exciting new and unreleased games from around the world in a huge showcase at Exhibition White City. 

Faking it ‘til you make it is all well and good, but what happens when you actually make it? James McAvoy’s likeable directorial debut explores the dark side of that story as charted in the 2013 documentary The Great Hip Hop Hoax which follows Gavin Bain (Seamus McLean Ross) and Billy Boyd (Samuel Bottomley), a couple of Dundee wannabe B-boys who reinvented themselves as a Californian rap double act called Silibil N' Brains and hoped no one would ask too many questions. The two charismatic leads bring a nice mix of wide-eyed naivety and posturing charm, and there’s plenty of insurgent, up-yours Scottish spirit as the two Celts go full Kneecap on the London music scene. 

Robert Icke’s take on Romeo & Juliet has Sliding Doors scenes, wherein we see pivotal moments play out differently to Shakespeare’s plot, before a blinding flash of light resets the scene and we see the story take its inexorable turn for the tragic. At best, they’re an effective way of countering the fact that the bleak end of Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy is only arrived at by a series of mind-boggling coincidences and mishaps. Stranger Things star Sadie Sink’s gawky Juliet is very good, and when she and Noah Jupe’s puppyish Romeo set eyes on each other for the first time, it is electric. Toss in a gorgeous, drone-heavy electronic score from Giles Thomas, and you have something special. 

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 between April 11 and 26, though ‘Mother Nature always has the final say.’

Serving up an eclectic mix of live music, visual arts, spoken word, podcasts and club nights, Roundhouse Three Sixty is a springtime festival at Chalk Farm’s famous circular arts venue. After its first edition last year, it's back for a second run that coincides with the 20th anniversary of Roundhouse's big relaunch as a youth-centric arts space. The month is headlined by some massive names. Imogen Heap will drop in for an evening of songs and conversations, Kae Tempest will introduce his new novel, and Amaarae's ‘Black Star Experience’ (Apr 23) is a live show based on her acclaimed latest album. But elsewhere on the line-up you'll find loads of opportunities for rising voices to make their mark. 

This Tony and Olivier Award-winning musical – adapted by Harvey Fierstein with songs by Cyndi Lauper from the 2005 Britflick – was first seen in the West End a decade ago. And now it struts back into town with energy to spare. Charlie Price (Matt Cardle) has reluctantly inherited his recently deceased dad’s Northampton shoe factory, which will be forced to close in a matter of weeks due to dwindling sales. But a chance encounter with cabaret and drag performer Lola (Johannes Radebe) and the broken heel of a boot she used to whack a couple of bigots sparks an idea. Together, can they meet a market need for durable, fabulous footwear while saving the factory by making boots not brogues? Even before the appearance of the inclusion Pride flag, there’s something joyfully subversive about keeping business local – a trope so often co-opted by the far right – by manufacturing high-heeled boots for drag queens. This production is a blaze of colour at a dismally grey time.    

Yes, it's the weekend after Easter. But the Horniman Museum and Gardens’ Spring Fair is maybe the most efficient way to cram as much spring fun into a single day as possible. The gardens will be taken over by kid-friendly fun galore: in previous years, that's meant Easter bonnet parades, animal walks, craft tables, bubbles, and plenty of street food from stalls on the terrace. This is an outdoor event that'll take place whatever the weather, so bring a brolly if it looks like rain. 

The ingredients to this 2012 play by Moonlight screenwriter Tarell Alvin McCraney feel familiar. Elite American high school, scholarship choir boys, one gay and bullied. A floppy-haired ‘think-outside-the-box’ teacher in the vein of The History Boys’ Hector or Dead Poets’ Society’s Keating. But in unfolding vignettes, arguments, sung spirituals and choral scenes – directed tenderly by Nancy Medina and Tatenda Shamiso – it becomes clear how McCraney is lulling us into familiar territory in order to then drift in his own direction. McCraney is skilful in showing us a group of Black teens under constant pressure. All of them are fighting to justify their place, proving themselves to family, to teachers, to themselves and - the torrid undercurrent here - to society.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses is a classic play. Starting life in 1782 as an epistolary novel, Christopher Hampton’s 1985 stage adaptation was a sensation, adapted into a hit 1988 film and clearly responsible for the ‘90s teen remake Cruel Intentions. This is a pretty good production of it, as you’d expect from the great Marianne Elliott’s first show at the NT in over a decade, with a to die for cast headed by Lesley Manville and Aiden Turner. The duo play callous, capricious, above all very sexy French toffs Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil and Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont, ex-lovers whose relationship has degenerated into callous game playing. It’s a really good production with two sensational leads, of a play that has long stopped being a sexy novelty and now kind of sits as a guilty pleasure. 

It’s been 75 years since the Festival of Britain, an era-defining cultural event designed to boost national morale post-WW2, took place on London’s Southbank. There’s a whole host of events lined up throughout 2026 to commemorate the anniversary. To honour the thousands of pioneers in dance, music, literature and art that have graced the Southbank Centre’s hallowed halls since 1951, legendary illustrator Quentin Blake has created thirty life-size characters who will be dotted around the venue between now and November. Look out for dancers, skaters, parkour athletes, opera singers, a violinist and more. 

John Proctor is the Villain is a period drama about 2018, and what Kimberly Belflower’s play does brilliantly is nail the intersection between the relatively brief apex of the #MeToo movement and a generation of smart, naive school girls who would have been the right age to absorb its rhetoric at the precise moment they’re discovering what it was a reaction to. Plus, it has a banging soundtrack, with Lorde’s 2017 hit ‘Green Light’ embedded deep in its bones. Danya Taymor’s production is an absolute blast, the many serious issues raised all of a piece with its breathless ebullience and Belflower’s endlessly witty text. As much as anything else, it’s a wholehearted celebration of teen girl dorkiness and a rebuttal to the idea their lives should be viewed through a sexual lens, even in sympathy.

In 2022 66-year-old Veronica Ryan was the oldest artist to ever win the Turner Prize. Four years later Whitechapel Gallery is staging one of the biggest presentations of her work to date. Known for her prize-winning exhibition at Spike Island in Bristol, Ryan has also created comissions dedicated to the Windrush generation, which included giant marble and bronze sculptures of fruit. Through more than 100 works, Multiple Conversations will span Ryan’s multifaceted practice, which includes work with sculpture, textiles and on paper. As well as displaying her most recent creations, the exhibit will include rediscovered works from the 1980s – large-scale sculptures made from plaster and beaten lead, as well as vivid drawings.

Rebecca Lucy Taylor, the artist also known as Self Esteem, is a hugely versatile character actor, and here she plays the theatrical, theatre-literate singer Maggie Frisby – a minor rock singer, angry, amused and very drunk as her band disintegrates at a 1969 Oxford student ball. David Hare’s 1975 play Teeth ’n’ Smiles is a vehicle to fire Taylor up as she pours her heart and soul and cynicism at the music industry into the role of Maggie, combusting spectacularly – and at one point, almost literally – at the tail-end of the ’60s. 

Ghanaian-American playwright Jocelyn Bioh returns with director Monique Touko to bring the play that earned her five Tony Award nominations in 2024 – and it’s easy to see why it was such a hit on Broadway. Set over the course of a single working day in the heat of summer, it begins with the shutters of Jaja’s Harlem salon being hauled open. But Jaja herself is nowhere to be seen: instead, her 18-year-old daughter Marie has been left in charge, while her mother is off preparing for her wedding day to a white American. The daily grind continues as the staff arrive to braid hair, bitch and banter, offering us a small slice of their everyday routine. The play uses the salon space to host big conversations. As customers pass through the women open up about their lives in America, their journeys to get there, and their relationships and ambitions. The skill of Bioh’s writing lies in simply presenting a moment in time and place. 

With over 400 objects, including 100 ensembles and 50 artworks (by the likes of Salvador Dalí, Picasso and Man Ray), as well as accessories, jewellery, photographs, perfumes and an excellent collection of buttons, Schiaparelli presents a deep dive into the fantastical and surreal world of the fashion house. Founded on Paris’ Place Vendôme in 1927, the exhibition spans the 1920s to the present day, showing glorious garments from Creative Director Daniel Roseberry, who has been at the helm since 2019. The clothes truly are pieces of art and prove that haute couture could always do with a bit of humour. 

This is a big show of big paintings. Big, energetic, happy paintings which are just as enjoyable to stand in front of as one can imagine they were to make. Hurvin Anderson is the artist responsible, and the 80 paintings on show at Tate Britain amount to 30 years worth of work. Some date back to 1995 when he was an art student at the Royal College of Art; others were made this year (some he even finished off once they’d been hung). Looking at them feels like you’ve been carried somewhere else, if only briefly, sharing in that condition of being in one place while thinking about another.

Joo Young Won used to be head chef at the Michelin-starred Galvin at Windows, his new restaurant, Calong, is cosy and simple, with food made for sharing. Chef Joo was raised in South Korea, but began his cookery career in the UK, and for a long time focused on French technique. It shows. Calong sees him cooking dishes inspired by his native cuisine in a masterful light-touch fusion fashion. A warm pumpkin and crisp pear salad is delicately dressed with gochujang, cured Chalkstream trout with perfectly tart sesame and plum soy, the fried chicken is crunchy yet silky, and a BBQ onglet is sweet and tender with a bulgogi jus. It’s one of the most exciting restaurants Stoke Newington has to offer. 

The Picture Comes First, Rose Wylie’s marvellous retrospective at the Royal Academy, is hugely varied in its subject matter – ranging from the Blitz to Nicole Kidman – Wylie’s paintings are unified by a joyful and vibrant energy which beams out from all of them. The RA’s high ceilings and grand interiors act as a brilliant canvas for the artist’s large-scale, often child-like works. The 91-year-old Wylie is the first female painter to have a full retrospective in the space and it only adds to Wylie’s credentials as a trailblazing feminist artist. This show is a fantastic testament to an artist who has proven tenfold that age is no barrier to reaching one’s full potential. Equal parts puzzling, entertaining and thoughtful, this show is guaranteed to leave you in a better mood than when you arrived.

Broadwick Soho landed in 2023 with serious flair and has been delivering a hit of West End glamour ever since. Inside the hotel, Dear Jackie is its seductive Italian dining room, all Murano glow, red silk walls and plush booths made for lingering. Expect refined Italian comfort food, standout pasta and classic cocktails from Bar Jackie to set the mood.

Our exclusive Time Out offer saves you 30% (now £33), for three courses and a cocktail worth up to £14. It’s an indulgent pre-theatre treat or the kind of Soho dinner that could easily turn into a late night.

Get 30% off with vouchers, only through Time Out Offers