Things to do in London this week

If there’s one symbol of the rivalry between academic titans Oxford and Cambridge, it’s the Boat Race – the annual oars-off between the two unis. Typically, over 300,000 people line the banks of the Thames to get a glimpse of the action. If you’re like the majority of them, then as well as the sporting spectacle, you’re also there for the excuse to knock back a few pints (or more). Whether you’re a diehard supporter or a fair-weather fan, read our guide to everything you need to know about the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race 2025.

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. 

Eugene Ionesco’s classic absurdist satire Rhinoceros is a drama about a town full of people turning into rhinos as an allegory for totalitarianism. And Omar Elerian – contemporary British theatre’s most consummate director of leftfield absurdism – has created this enjoyable revival that pays fanboy-esque homage to Ionesco’s 1959 original, while also bolting on loads of fun extra stuff. Elerian rightly trusts in the enduring satirical potency of Ionesco’s 66-year-old play. But he also trusts himself and his cast to give a 2025 audience a damn good time. Faithful without being dogmatic, the tone is kept light and mischievous until a chilling kamikaze ending deliberately breaks the easy-going tone and sends us out deeply unnerved.

In a previous life, The Duck and Rice was a pub. Not a fancy pub, but a flat roof 1960s pub. Now, it’s taken on a new guise; as a glossy spot for dim sum and Cantonese cuisine under the auspices of Alan Yau; founder of Wagamama, Hakkasan and the neighbouring Yauatcha. Upstairs in the ‘restaurant’ (downstairs is more ‘pub’-adjacent, but the same menu applies) house-y music bangs and it’s busy but not hectic. When it comes to the menu, it’s all about the classics. There’s crispy duck and pancakes, sesame prawn toast, and all the top chicken permutations; kung po, sweet and sour, and chow mein. The Duck & Rice isn’t about deep Cantonese cuts, it’s about crowd pleasers done with a hearty flair in a room where you can sink brimming pints of pilsner direct from steampunk-style copper tanks on site.

One of the longest-running and most reputable of London’s many, many craft beverage festivals, BrewLDN returns to South Bank pop-up Between the Bridges for a second time, following last spring’s sold-out beer bonanza. Over 100 brands will be in attendance, pouring more than 1000 different products. Expect to see a few local favourites like Fourpure, Brew By Numbers and Brick Brewery, plus plenty of exciting brands to discover from further afield and specialist bars dedicated to no/low-alcohol beers and sustainably-produced brews. 

The Design Museum’s latest exhibition is dedicated to our adoration of swimming. With more than 200 objects, Splash! is a whistle-stop tour taking us all the way from bizarre Victorian bathing carriages to the present-day mermaidcore TikTok trend. From the politics of the pool (and who gets to learn to swim) to the evolution of swimwear and pool architecture, it covers a lot of ground, with each section designed to mimic different swimming spaces. Look out for a jumper knitted by Tom Daley, a 1984 David Hockney poster for the Los Angeles Olympics, the OG midriff-exposing bikini designed in 1946 by French designer Louis Réard and Pammy Anderson’s bright red Baywatch swimsuit. It’s a comprehensive, heartwarming, and even occasionally funny take on swimming. 

Ever since Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy made their comeback as the Sugababes on The Graham Norton Show in 2019, fans have been snapping up every chance to see the original line-up live. Continuing their victory lap, which made stops at Mighty Hoopla, Glastonbury and even Kings Cross station, the trio are hosting a massive night at The O2, offering you another chance to hear old school hits and a few new singles in the arena. 

The O2, SE10 0DX. Thur Apr 10, 6.30pm. From £40.68.

There’s something seriously wonderful about rifling through a crate of cardboard-wrapped vinyls, and music fans all over London agree. That’s why this city is going all out for Record Store Day this Saturday April 12, with parties, gigs, and even a dedicated limited edition beer from hip craft brewery DEYA. Founded back in 2007, this massive international event is all about showing a bit of love for vinyl records and the indie shops that peddle them, and many of London’s 50-odd record stores will be selling limited-edition vinyl records produced especially for the occasion. There are some big names involved, including Charlie xcx & Billie Eilish, Air, Black Sabbath, Tori Amos, and even Taylor Swift, but that ain’t all. Many of London’s record stores will also be laying on live music, DJ sets, free drinks and more to mark the occasion. Here’s where to get into the groove.

The Garden Museum is throwing open its doors again to exhibitors and plant perusers for its annual spring plant fair, which takes place both outside and inside the museum. This year it’s been curated by Susanna Grant, garden designer and founder of Hackney’s Hello There Linda. Nab plants and garden ephemera for your urban space, balcony or allotment, pick the brains of pro growers and attend talks and workshops covering everything from the city’s fruit trees to setting up your own micro-nursery. 

From Serpico to LA Confidential to Training Day, stories of straight-arrow cops navigating corruption on the force are a Hollywood staple. Sandhya Suri’s terrific slowburn drama is the non-Hollywoodised version of that story, depicting life as a woman in India’s rural police as a far murkier and less predictable affair. The British-Indian director diagnoses a problem far too deep-seated for one well-meaning, inexperienced young constable to solve, leading you into a maze of compromised ethics, police brutality, caste violence and misogyny, and refusing to point to the exit. If ‘Training Day with more grey areas’ sounds dull, it’s anything but.

In UK theaters Mar 21, 2025.

Step away from the mess of consoles in your bedroom and get immersed in the latest experimental games from across the world at Somerset House’s video-gaming extravaganza Now Play This. Into 8-bit 1-uping or cutting-edge new releases? The fest is all about interacting with thoughtful, inventive games that draw from the world we live in. It’s the 11th edition this year and, as ever, it will be showcasing games around a particular theme – this year: ‘Folk Games: the stories we play together’, which will be exploring community and identity through creativity and play. 

The Lost Boys meet Motherland in playwright John Donnelly’s giddily original stage return. It is a drama about postpartum depression and also vampirism that stars Sophie Melville as a stressed mum who turns to forces beyond mortal comprehension to sort out her mess of a life. Blanche McIntye’s production is a punchy affair that cheerily rips off a load of atmospheric stuff from classic horror movies. It’s an enjoyably outlandish way to tell a story about postpartum depression, it’s a serious story told in a wickedly entertaining way.

Snag your ticket for just £15, down from £65, only through Time Out Offers.

Roundhouse Three Sixty is a brand-new, month-long festival at Chalk Farm’s famous circular arts venue aiming to ‘amplify the voices of today’s most vital and unapologetic artists’ with a line-up featuring live music, visual arts, spoken word, podcasts and club nights. This week, look out for ‘Nine Earths’ – an immersive artwork by collective D-Fuse exploring human consumption and its impact on our world, an immersive 100-minute poetry event from Caleb Femi and Longplayer Live – a performance of a 1000-minute section of Longplayer, a 1000-year-long piece of music that’s been playing continuously since the first moments of this millennium. 

Azuka Oforka’s uneven but engrossing play ruthlessly pushes the surface incongruity of the fact that it’s set in an 18th-century Jamaican sugar plantation with the none-more-Welsh name of Llanrumney. Though Oforka’s characters are fictional, Llanrumney is a real place that was owned by the Welsh Morgan family. It’s a fascinating look at a period in British history usually kept under lock and key, a frontier planter society of appalling racism, big money, relaxed rules and simmering threat. It’s an interesting and heartfelt debut play, which offers a subversion of British period drama cliches. 

‘Vogue: Inventing the Runway’ takes you on a journey through the evolution of fashion shows, from intimate salons to today’s epic, celebrity-filled spectacles. Step into the front row and backstage at some of fashion’s most iconic moments, all projected on Lightroom’s massive 360-degree walls. With immersive animations, a killer soundtrack, and jaw-dropping visuals, this exhibit celebrates the creativity and drama that turned runway shows into cultural milestones. Save up to 33% with student tickets at £10 and adult tickets at £19.

Get adult tickets for £19 (down from £25), or student tickets for just £10, only through Time Out Offers.

The National Maritime Museum is putting on a huge exhibition unearthing the truth behind the infamous swashbuckling sailors. Pirates will trace the changing depictions of pirates through the ages and reveal what the brutal reality of pirate life was like behind the mythologised fictionalised accounts we’ve all grown up with. Explore piracy in popular culture – from comical characters like Captain Pugwash and Captain Hook to anti-heroes like Long John Silver and Captain Jack Sparrow, the global history of piracy and issues of modern piracy facing seafarers today. You’re in for a buccaneering time, me’hearties. 

Spring has officially sprung in the northern hemisphere, which means that cherry blossom season has arrived! Along with daffodils, bluebells and other spring flowers, the sight of these pastel pink blossoms popping up around the city is a joyful signal that warmer days are on the way. The pastel pink blooms are flourishing right now. From the candyfloss arches of Greenwich Park, to the Cherry Walk in Kew Gardens, here are the best places to spot them. 

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.