What's On
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
- Monday: 8:30 AM – 12:00 AM
- Tuesday: 8:30 AM – 12:00 AM
- Wednesday: 8:30 AM – 12:00 AM
- Thursday: 8:30 AM – 12:00 AM
- Friday: 8:30 AM – 12:00 AM
- Saturday: 12:00 PM – 2:00 AM
- Sunday: Closed
Jack Thorne’s (who wrote Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) adaptation of the Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, is returning to the Old Vic stage for the festive season. Matthew Warchus is directing and the cast is led by Christopher Eccleston as Scrooge.
RUBEN'S REUBENS AT BRIXTON VILLAGE
After a summer residency at Robin Gill’s Brentford-based bakery and grill Rye By The Water, Ruben Danway of Ruben’s Reubens is teaming up with Gill for a winter pop-up in Brixton Village. Ruben has been making his reubens since the start of Covid when he would smoke meats in his parents’ garden in Brixton during lockdown. The sandwich business was inspired by his Polish-Jewish background and has already picked up a large and loyal following through a series of pop-ups. This latest residency, which will run Weds – Sun throughout the winter, will feature his reuben and salt beef sarnies alongside the likes of latke buns, hot honey burnt ends, smoked white wings, kung pao-strami cauliflower, and house lamb sausage. Word on the street is that guest chefs will be passing through the pop-up too….
SNOWBIRD
Seabird, the rooftop restaurant at the top of The Hoxton, Southwark, is becoming Snowbird this winter, complete with Mediterranean sharing plates, Grey Goose cocktails and those epic city views. The interior will be decked out with dried alpine flowers, an illuminated arch and the largest collection of iconic Slim Aarons winter photography prints currently on display in London. The menu will feature dishes like baked oysters with chorizo & lemon; smoked oxtail croquettes with aioli; dressed Brixham crab with sea urchin; hot seafood platter of oysters, mussels, scallops & tiger prawns; Basque stew with hake, mussels, saffron potatoes & roasted fennel; and baked lobster & crab pumpkin pie with caviar. Pair that with a sharing fountain of blood orange & fig spritz, fizzy dirty martinis, and a round of Arctic Espressos – mini espresso martinis served in ice shot glasses.
Step Inside the World of Accidentally Wes Anderson
Accidentally Wes Anderson is coming back to London IRL with an exhibition featuring over 200 photos of buildings and landscapes from around the world that look as though they could be backdrops in a Wes Anderson flick. The show will be spread out across seven themed rooms, including ‘Classic Facades’ ‘Transport’, ‘Maritime’ and ‘Hotels/Motels’, each filled with photographs that evoke Wes Anderson’s distinct style in different ways, whether through Art Nouveau exteriors, pastel hues, vintage modes of transportation or an abundance of symmetry. The second to last room – ‘The London Room’ – will centre around Accidentally Wes Anderson photos of the city and guests will be able to submit their own photos for the chance to be featured.
A Major Yoko Ono Exhibition Is on Display at Tate Modern
Yoko Ono: Music Of The Mind will be the UK’s largest-ever exhibition dedicated to the artist and activist. Bringing together more than 200 artworks (spanning multiple decades and mediums) the show will explore Ono’s distinctive poetic and humorous style, and the lasting impact it has had on contemporary culture. Expect to see a selection of Ono’s ‘instruction pieces’, which are written instructions for the viewer – ranging from ‘Fly’ or ‘Touch’, to ‘Listen to a heartbeat’ or ‘Step in all the puddles in the city’ – to imagine, experience, make or complete the work. These will appear alongside scores, installations, films, music and photography, with Ono’s radical, activist work at the heart of the exhibition. The gallery’s windows that overlook the River Thames will display ‘Peace is Power’, first shown 2017, translated into multiple languages. Meanwhile, at the entrance to the Tate Modern, the 1996 interactive artwork ‘Wish Tree’ will invite passers-by to contribute their own wishes for peace.
Winter by the River does exactly what it says on the tin: brings riverside Christmas fun to London Bridge. Not only are there a bunch of festive stalls all glowing with Christmas lights and selling boutique accessories and artisan gifts, but also themed karaoke rooms, street food and pop-up bars. Eat, drink and be merry with the likes of Korean corn dogs, burgers and Empanadas – plus buckets of glühwein.
HOMECOMING
Olivier-nominated director Matthew Dunster (who also directed 2:22 A Ghost Story) is helming a new production of Harold Pinter’s Homecoming at the Young Vic. Jared Harris, Joe Cole and Lisa Diveney are starring in the play set in an East London house, home to a family of butchers and boxers. When academic son Teddy comes back from America with a wife in tow, a power struggle erupts between man, wife and in-laws.
Following a run at Nottingham Playhouse, Mark Gatiss’ take on the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol is transferring to the Alexandra Palace Theatre. Nottingham Playhouse’s Artistic Director Adam Penfold is directing and Keith Allen is starring as Scrooge, and as this version is focusing on the ghost story aspect, expect spooks and scares from the special effects.
It’s become a Christmas movie classic and this year, as well as watching the Will Ferrell version on the screen, you can see the musical version of Elf on the stage. Matthew Wolfenden is playing Buddy, the human raised an an elf who goes on a journey to New York to find his birth father (played by Tom Chambers), helping the city to discover the true meaning of Christmas along the way.
ALADDIN
Hackney Empire is back with its annual panto for Christmas and this year, the theatre is staging a production of Aladdin. Panto royalty Clive Rowe will direct the production and star as Window Twankey, alongside Kat B as the Genie, and Fred Double as Aladdin. OTT costumes, big song and dance numbers, and that all-important audience participation, what more could you want from a panto?
PETER PAN GOES WRONG
The team behind the award-winning The Play That Goes Wrong are taking on Peter Pan this Christmas at the Lyric Theatre. Peter Pan Goes Wong sees the Cornley Drama Society attempt to stage J.M. Barrie’s classic but, of course, it doesn’t go quite to plan. Expect lots physical comedy, slapstick and farce as the cast battle hitches, mishaps and the occasional dispute as they try to make it to Neverland.
DAVID HOCKNEY | DRAWING FROM LIFE
After a smash hit retrospective at Tate Britain in 2017, another major Hockney exhibition is finally coming to town. David Hockney: Drawing From Life initially opened in February 2020 but only managed a few weeks before the pandemic shuttered the gallery. Now the exhibition is being restaged with portraits of his mother, his friend Celia Birtwell, curator Gregory Evans, and printer Maurice Payne, as well as a series of self-portraits, done in a variety of mediums from pencil to acrylic to digital. These will hang alongside thirty new pieces – including the viral one of Harry Styles – Hockney produced during and after the pandemic, depicting visitors to his Normandy studio across 2021 and 2022.
GHOSTS
Henrik Ibsen is being performed at Shakespeare’s Globe for the first time this winter with Ghosts at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. The opening show for the candlelit theatre’s tenth anniversary season, Ghosts is an exploration of forbidden desire and family secrets as Helene attempts to hide the truth about her late husband from her son Osvald, who has returned home from abroad and begins an illicit affair that threatens to destroy both her and her son’s life. This adaptation from Joe Hill-Gibbins, who is also on directing duties, stars Greg Hicks, Paul Hilton, Hattie Morahan, Sarah Slimani and Stuart Thompson.
WOMEN IN REVOLT! ART & ACTIVISM IN THE UK 1970 - 1990
Tate Britain is hosting a major survey of feminist art, featuring pieces by over 100 women artists working in the UK, with the Women in Revolt! exhibition. Featuring a range of mediums from painting and sculpture to film and performance, the exhibition explores how women used radical ideas and rebellious action to fight for women’s liberation and change British culture. Issues and events like punk, the visibility of Black and South Asian women artists, Section 28 and the AIDS epidemic, and Greenham Common and the peace movement are reflected in the artworks on show, many of which – including Bobby Baker’s ‘An Edible Family in a Mobile Home’ – are being presented for the first time since the 70s.
HUMBUG CHRISTMAS DIVE BAR
What do you think Santa does after a long hard day at his workshop? He hits his fave dive bar of course, and now you can too. At Humbug, a new immersive festive dive bar popping up on Waterloo’s Leake Street, you’ll have to help Santa get back in the Christmas spirit, which shouldn’t be a problem with festive sing-a-longs, cabaret performances, live music, and DJ sets all on the cards, alongside Christmas lights, holiday memorabilia and cocktails like the Bah F*****g Humbug’ (with rum, chocolate liqueur, oat milk, crushed Oreos, whipped cream and a mince pie on top).
Peckham’s become a bit of a rooftop terrace hub lately, but anyone after some al fresco dinner and drinks might be hard-pressed to find it at the usual suspects, which are typically rammed. So, if you don’t mind being closer to the ground, the terrace at Peckham Arches has you covered – literally. The canopied space is heated, has the capacity for 600 guests and adjoins an art gallery, screening room and dancefloor.
Soak Up Vincent Van Gogh's Masterpieces From All Angles
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience has been a hit in the States and in Europe and now it has come to Spitalfields. The exhibition sees more than 300 of Van Gogh’s works projected across a floor-to-ceiling two-storey space so you’ll be able to soak up the art from all angles. There’s also a drawing studio and a VR experience that takes you through a day in the life of the artist and explores the inspiration behind some of his most iconic paintings.
GET TICKETSAhead of the Netflix doc on Robbie Williams, the streaming giant is opening a pop-up shop dedicated to the singer in Covent Garden. The series is being released to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Robbie’s solo career and is promising a behind-the-scenes look at his rise to fame, and you’ll get a first glimpse at the pop-up. As well as being able to watch the first episode of the series before it airs, you’ll also be able to see even more never-before-seen archival footage from Robbie’s life, score some limited-edition merch and snap a selfie or two at the photo ops.