Things to do in London this week

The great Irish playwright Conor McPherson returns from his long absence with a bang with The Brightening Air, his first original play since The Night Alive in 2013. It’s a slow, wistful affair, the dial firmly tuned to ‘Chekhov’. The setting is a semi-dilapidated County Sligo farmhouse, at some point in the ‘80s, following a sprawling cast of characters centring on a trio of siblings who inherit their family farm from their father. It’s deft stuff, a slow-burn, bittersweet drama about a family finally disintegrating under forces that have been pulling at it for decades. 

When the sun is shining, or perhaps on a breezy spring day, there are arguably fewer idyllic spots in London to slurp a coffee or nibble on classic café lunches than this Regent’s Canal-side slice of homeliness in the heart of Haggerston. The menu changes daily, but you can’t go wrong with one of Towpath’s inventive, zesty salads – the blood orange, fennel and bitterleaf lives rent-free in our minds.

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.

What is a spatial audio festival, you might be wondering? The gist of Polygon Live LDN is seeing live music in a 360-degree arena surrounded by high-tech lights and loads of crystal-clear speakers – a spectacle which event organisers actually call a ‘spaceship’. Artists on the lineup so far include dreamy Pakistani-American singer Arooj Aftab, electronic legend Jon Hopkins, and composer Cosmo Sheldrake. This is one for audiophiles looking for something a bit more immersive. 

Newcastle singer-songwriter Richard Dawson is one of Britain’s strongest modern-day folk stars. Exploring life’s daily stresses and joys through illustrative storytelling, his latest album (released in February) explores how patterns of behaviour can influence generations of one singular family. It’s an intricate concept, but the author is no stranger to weird themes. In previous years, his albums have been inspired by the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Bryneich, plantlife and botany, and socio-political uncertainty in Modern Britain, all underpinned with a signature wit and sense of humour. 

The Clapham Grand, SW11 1TT. Tue Apr 29, 7pm. From £33.

Clown princess Natalie Palamides plays both halves of a fractious young couple – Mark and Christina – at the same time, with her outfits and wigs divided asymmetrically down the middle (Mark on the right, Christina on the left) in Weer. Add to that, it’s a parody of ‘90s rom coms: it’s set in 1996 and 1999 and the pair It’s a virtuoso piece of batshittery from Palamides. On a technical level it’s truly remarkable, but also goofy as hell, funny and ridiculous spectacle, with some delicious audience interactions and a high quotient of mad stuff (the finale is gloriously insane).

If you’ve got green fingers, you’ll be well aware of the healing, soothing powers of gardening – but did you know the pursuit is also one that’s been a catalyst for great change over the years? ‘Unearthed: The Power Of Gardening’ will shine a light on that side of the activity, while celebrating it as a force for creativity, resilience and community. The British Library exhibition will chart gardening’s role in health and wellbeing, and explore how our homes, towns and cities have been reimagined to create green spaces. Plus, you’ll be able to swot up on the histories of the plants growing in your garden and marvel at a jaw-dropping collection of books, manuscripts, photographs, artworks and historical tools.

Brixton’s annual disco festival will make you feel like you’re dancing in hot pants even if you’re actually wearing dad jeans. Returning for its seventh year, the event takes place across a host of SW9’s best venues, including Brixton Jamm, Phonox, Electric Brixton and the Black Cultural Archives. Line-up stalwarts returning for the 2025 festival include Dimitri From Paris, Norman Jay MBE and Faith residents Terry Farley, Stuart Patterson and Dave Jarvis. Also featured are noughties party-starters Crazy P, Rinse FM resident Charlie Dark veteran soul singer Omar and NTS regular Ruby Savage. And as well as plenty of music to get you up and dancing, the festival will feature a screening of Luther: Never Too Much, a new documentary about legendary R&B singer Luther Vandross, at the Ritzy cinema, plus plenty of delicious food to try at Brixton Village’s late opening. Category is: an amazing night out!

Pack your earplugs and plasters, this is a festival of extremes. Hosting some of the loudest bands in the music scene, Incineration Festival takes place across five hallowed grounds in north London, offering a devilish weekendof extreme metal. Conan, Pallbearer, Zeal & Ardor and Blood Incantation are all on the bill, casting a mesmerisingly deathly aura to Roundhouse, Electric Ballroom, Underworld, Black Heart and The Dev. 

Put a bit of jazz pizazz into your Friday nights with this concert series, held in a new Battersea venue. World Heart Beat Gardens is an intimate 200-seater concert hall that’s been built for optimal acoustics (and nope, it's not outdoors as the name might suggest). It’s perfect for filling your ears with the sounds of some jazz greats, from 1920s classics from the Julian Joseph trio to new compositions by Henry Spencer to soulful sounds from Grammy Award-winning tenor sax giant Jean Toussaint. This Friday listen to pianist and composer, Hans Koller premier a brand new jazz orchestra project featuring explorative improvisers John O’Gallagher (alto saxophone) and Byron Wallen (trumpet) as soloists. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

Elevate your next evening out at Searcys St Pancras Champagne Bar, where historic grandeur meets indulgent bites and bubbles. Treat yourself to a chic sharing experience under the iconic arches of one of London’s most cinematic landmarks. Choose from two exclusive deals: three elegant small plates and a bottle of Searcys Brut Champagne for £99 (that’s 25% off), or the same trio of plates with two expertly crafted cocktails for £49 (32% off). With dishes like devilled eggs and gochujang tempura prawns, and Eurostar trains gliding past just metres away, this is a stylish way to toast to spring – or a spontaneous midweek escape.

Get three plates with two cocktail or a bottle of Champagne with up to 32% off at Searcys St Pancras Bar & Brasserie, only with Time Out Offers.