Justin Timberlake returns to the O2 for his first solo performance since 2007 and the Bank of England Museum reopens with the Curiosities from the Vaults in April 2014.
Returning for its third year, 2014's Made in Britain season focuses on acclaimed producer and founder of the Recorded Picture Company Jeremy Thomas, his father Ralph Thomas, director of a number of the 'Doctor' films and uncle Gerald Thomas, director of all the 'Carry On' films. Launched at the BFI in 2012 with a focus on women filmmakers, this annual series represents films born and bred in Britain.
Longitude Punk'd celebrates the wacky inventors, star-gazing scientists and elegant explorers of the eighteenth century. The Royal Observatory in Greenwich has commissioned eight British steampunk artists to create works inspired by the technical inventions that were presented to the Board of Longitude between 1714 and 1828. The exhibition features both fantastical inventions and real historic objects - blurring the boundaries between art and science, fiction and fact. Longitude Punk'd includes specially created pieces by steampunk luminaries Robert Rankin, Herr Döktor, Dr Geof, Emily Ladybird, Major Thaddeus Tinker, Lady Elsie, Yomi Ayeni and Wyn Griffiths.
Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell and Murray Perahia, "one of the most renowned American musicians on the international stage today" according to Forbes magazine, play a special Royal Festival Hall concert marking the 90th birthday of Sir Neville Marriner who conducts the Academy of St Martin in the Fields playing Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending, Mozart's Piano Concerto No.20 and Elgar's Enigma Variations.
After a seven-year hiatus from the music industry, Justin Timberlake is well and truly back in the spotlight, and will be performing at the O2 Arena in both April and June 2014. This will be the star's first solo show at the arena since his FutureSex/LoveSounds tour back in 2007 and with the release of both The 20/20 Experience and The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2, audiences will be treated to a whole host of new material as well as old favourites. The release of these two albums also meant Timberlake doubled his solo album output within one year.
Stock up on plants and seeds and get ready for a spectacular summer display at the RHS Great London Plant Fair. The Royal Horticultural Halls will light up with the colour and unmistakable scent of spring as nurserymen and growers gather to show off their finest horticultural essentials at this festival of flowers. Members of the RHS Advisory will be on hand to answer questions and planting queries, and guests will have the opportunity to get their hands on spring-flowering plants, seeds and bulbs. Check out our hotel deals near the Royal Horticultural Halls if you're planning on visiting the fair from outside London.
Directed and choreographed by Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood, Fiddler on the Roof comes to the New Wimbledon Theatre this April as part of its UK tour. From the award-winning producers of The King and I and High Society, this new production of the musical tells the story of Tevye, a modest Jewish milkman whose traditional life in Tsarist Russia is threatened from all sides. His main concern is the fact that his headstrong daughters have decided they want to marry for love rather than with who he pairs them with. Can Tevye convince his wife and the community that their decisions fit with tradition?
Tom is sent to stay with his uncle and aunt while his brother recovers from measles, but when he wakes in the middle of the night and hears the clock strike 13, he finds himself transported to the past, and a magnificent garden in which he meets and befriends a girl called Hatty. As Tom continues his nightly adventures, strange things begin to happen. Who is Hatty? And why does the garden only appear when the clock strikes an impossible time? This production of Tom's Midnight Garden is brought to the Hackney Empire by the Birmingham Stage Company.
Torvill & Dean's Dancing On Ice The Final Tour 2014
An emotional farewell tour from Dancing on Ice comes to Wembley twice in April.
Former Olympic ice dance champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean star in the final national arena Dancing on Ice show based on the hugely popular ITV programme which came to an emotional end, bowing out after nine series with an all-stars show won by former 'X Factor' star Ray Quinn. An entertaining and colourful show for all the family, which we have some great ticket deals for, the live tour includes ice dancing champions Gareth Gates, the king of the ice, Ray Quinn, Hayley Tamaddon, Beth Tweddle, Suzanne Shaw, Bonnie Langford, Kyran Bracken and Joe Pasquale. Fans of the Dancing on Ice TV show will definitely want to check out this final live version, touring the country during 2014 and coming to London's Wembley Arena twice in April: 1st to 3rd April and 23rd & 24th April. Expect thrilling choreography, crowd pleasing tunes, ridiculous costumes and an emotional farewell.
A survey of Hollywood talkies made before the censorious Hays Production Code came into force in 1934 will be the subject of both the Sight And Sound Deep Focus season and the Passport To Cinema strand from April to July at the BFI Southbank. Highlighting the studios' then relatively unfettered treatment of controversial and taboo themes to do with sex, crime, politics and social injustice, the season will include both classics like Blonde Venus, Public Enemy, Freaks and I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang and rarities like Baby Face, Jewel Robbery, Gabriel Over The White House and Wild Boys Of The Road.
English National Opera presents nine site-specific performances of Thomas Ades' Powder Her Face at Ambika P3. Joe Hill-Gibbins, one of Britain's most exciting young theatre directors who last year directed 'The Changeling' at the Young Vic, directs, and Amanda Roocroft takes on the role of the Duchess of Argyll. The University of Westminster's vast subterranean Ambika P3 art space on Baker Street, converted from the former concrete construction hall of the School of Engineering, promises to be an excited setting for this contemporary chamber opera about a real-life sex scandal in the 1930s.
The English National Ballet's new artistic director, Tamara Rojo, has commissioned three of Britain's top choreographers - Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant and Liam Scarlett - to create bold new pieces inspired by the First World War. Classical ballet and contemporary dance come together in an exciting fusion of techniques that promises to be as moving as it is inspiring. The programme, commemorating the centenary of the start of the Great War, will also include a performance of George Williamson's Firebird, which the ENB premiered in 2012.
Sherlock's Andrew Scott re-teams with Simon Stephens in a new play, Birdland, taking on the role of a rock star at the height of his fame. During the last week of a successful tour, Paul is starting to wonder about the "big questions" in life. The world premiere of the play marks Scott's first appearance at the Royal Court since he starred opposite Ben Whishaw in Mike Bartlett's Olivier award-winning play Cock. Sea Wall, his last collaboration with Stephens reached near cult status and was made into a film and transferred from the Bush to the National Theatre's the Shed in 2013. Carrie Cracknell, whose recent credits include 'A Doll's House' at the Young Vic which transferred to the West End and is set to go to Broadway, directs the play staged in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court.
Shakespeare's famous tale of jealousy, paranoia and revenge. Othello is a feted soldier and newly married to the beautiful Desdemona. He is also a moor and has been promoted over the head of his friend Iago, who is now hell-bent on revenge. EastEnders' James Alexandrou plays the slippery Iago in this highly accessible production from Grassroots Shakespeare at the Leicester Square Theatre Lounge. The show is part of the West End's celebration of the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth.
Taking its title from the prehistoric landmass that conjoined Africa and Latin America, Pangaea: New Art From Africa and Latin America is a major survey exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery which reunites the two former sister continents by bringing together the work of 16 of their contemporary artists. The exhibition celebrates and explores the parallels between their distinctly diverse cultures and creative practices through paintings, drawings, photography and sculpture by artists like Bogota-based Rafael Gomezbarros, and Vincent Michea whose bright-coloured paintings operate as souvenirs of Dakar's past glories.
The chart-topping and award-winning vocalist, a former member of synth-pop duo Yazoo, performs blues-infused pop in support of her latest album, The Minutes.
Long-established Motown groups the Four Tops and The Temptations come to London in April for a one-night performance at the O2. Often considered as one of the main artists to define the Motown sounds of the 1960s, the Four Tops will be performing their big hits I Can't Help Myself and Reach Out I'll Be There. While The Temptations, who were the first ever Motown artists to win a Grammy, will offer classics My Girl and Papa Was a Rolling Stone. Support comes from The Platters and Freda Payne.
Mariss Jansons conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, one of the world's oldest symphony orchestras, with particular hommage to Anton Bruckner. This three-night Barbican residency starts with Mozart's Violin Concerto in G major and Bruckner's Symphony No 4 in E flat, Romantic, on 3 April, with Peter Zimmermann on violin. On 4 April, cellist Truls Mork plays Haydn's Cello Concerto in C and Bruckner's Symphony No 7. For the final evening on 6 April, pianist Lars Vogt joins Jansons to play Beethoven's Piano Concerto No1 and Bruckner's Symphony No 9.
London Coffee Festival
Indulge in the capital's growing scene of artisan coffee where baristas are rockstars!
The London Coffee Festival returns once again and embraces the fact that the capital is gaining respect as a great place to uncover, experience and indulge in artisan coffee. The festival launched in 2011 and now entices more than 15,000 coffee enthusiasts, food lovers and professional baristas to enjoy four days of coffee-fuelled activities. The festival includes demonstrations from world-class baristas, live acoustic music and a 'Lab' seminar programme where the keenest of coffee lovers can be educated. There will be the chance to learn about how to make a brew coffee at home, taste speciality drinks and graze on a number of artisan and street food. Features include a pop up coffee shop, a roastery tour and the official UK Barista Championships.
The Malcontent, one of the greatest Jacobean tragicomedies, is performed at the Globe's new Sam Wanamaker indoor theatre by the Globe Young Players, a new company of talented 12- to 16-year olds specially selected and trained by Shakespeare's Globe. Directed by Caitlin McLeod, a rising star who assisted on Dominic Dromgoole's touring production of 'Hamlet' in 2011 and more recently directed Facts at the Finborough Theatre.
From chomping caterpillars to beautiful butterflies, the Natural History Museum comes alive this summer with the erection of a tropical butterfly house on the museum lawn. Visitors to Butterflies will be able to take on butterfly challenges, try out games and activities as they explore one of the planet's most amazing life cycles and experience the magic of walking among hundreds of free-flying tropical butterflies.
Charles has to decide how to rule, following the death of the Queen and a lifetime of waiting in King Charles III, Mike Bartlett's latest drama which imagines the accession and reign of Charles, Prince of Wales. The award-winning British playwright (who has won titles for 'Artefacts', 'Cock', and 'Love, Love, Love', and was BAFTA nominated for his TV series 'The Town') looks specifically at the period immediately after the Queen's death, when Prince Charles ascends to the throne and imagines the many troubles he encounters after so many decades as an heir. The production, which premieres at the Almeida Theatre from 3rd April to 31st May 2014, reunites Bartlett and Goold for the first time since their work together on 'Earthquakes in London' at the National Theatre in 2010. If that hard-hitting play about climate change and corporate corruption is anything to go by, they won't dodge the big questions around democracy. The cast includes Nicholas Rowe, Oliver Chris, Richard Goulding, Adam James, Katie Brayben, who appeared in Goold's recent critically acclaimed American Psycho, and Olivier Award nominated actor Tim Pigott-Smith in the title role.
The Tricycle Theatre's Olivier award winning production, Handbagged, which examines the relationship between former prime minister Margaret Thatcher and The Queen, comes to the Vaudeville Theatre for a limited run. Based on the short play Women, Power & Politics, Moira Buffini's "irresistibly mischievous" (The Independent) comedy drama dissects the antipathy between Maggie and Queen Elizabeth II, who held wildly divergent beliefs on society and its importance. There are multiple versions of the two women with younger and older versions of the Queen (played by Lucy Robinson and Marion Bailey, respectively) and the former Prime Minister (Fenella Woolgar and Stella Gonet) in this acclaimed drama directed by artistic director of the Tricycle Indhu Rubasingham. The production's deserved win of the Olivier for best off-west end play will ensure tickets will be in demand for this limited run which continues until 2nd August 2014.
Now that the Backstreet Boys are back together as a five-piece for the first time in ten years, they are embarking on a world tour in support of their eighth studio album, In A World Like This. Originally formed in the '90s, they are the most successful boy band in music history with more than 130 million records sold worldwide. As well as their news hits, nostalgic fans can expect to be treated to classic hits I Want It That Way, As Long As You Love Me and Everybody. Backstreets Back, alright! Support comes from '90s girl band All Saints, who are reforming specially for this tour.
In his new show There Is No Escape, which he brings to the Bloomsbury Theatre in early April, Andrew Lawrence offers his standard chatter about death and the unpleasantness of other people. But, just to add to the negativity, he also looks back at his comedy career and asks: what was the point? Ever the pessimist, he explains how he's been nominated for practically every comedy award there is but never won one. Further self-deprecating points include the fact that he's deemed ugly in London and how a bogey was hanging out of his nose in his graduation photo. If cynical and vitriolic humour is your thing, then this show is for you.
Held annually at the Royal College of Art, Ceramic Art London, now in its tenth year, is one of the leading international fairs for contemporary ceramics, with over 75 ceramic artists displaying their work. Held in the Henry Moore and Gulbenkian Galleries, all works at the three-day exhibition are for sale, offering collectors an opportunity to see the latest works and buy directly from the maker. For gallery owners and collectors it's an opportunity to snap up new talent, and for enthusiasts and visitors it gives an insight into this niche art form. For those who want to learn more, there's a free programme of demonstrations, talks and discussions while an exhibition by RCA Ceramics students shows the future of studio ceramics.
Tenor Joseph Calleja "has one of the loveliest voices in opera right now", The New York Times wrote of his performance in Faust at the Metropolitan Opera two years ago. He alone is good reason to see Charles Gounod's version of Michel Carre's play Faust Et Marguerite, directed by David McVicar's at the Royal Opera House this spring. First seen at the Covent Garden venue in 2004, McVicar's lavish production sets the action in the Paris of Gounod's later years, on the eve of the Franco-Prussian War. Anna Netrebko, Bryn Terfel and Simon Keenlyside also star in the story of a middle-aged scholar who sells his soul to a mysterious demon in return for glory and pleasure.
This Is Now at the BFI Southbank will show up to twenty films newly restored by the BFI National Archive in a special season looking at bold and provocative films made by art students, clubbers and members of the industrial and New Romantic subculture scenes of the early 1980s.
Fresh from touring with Thirty Seconds To Mars, You Me At Six perform their first UK headline shows since their sold-out appearance at Wembley a year ago. The shows come on the back of their forthcoming album Cavalier Youth, due for release in January 2014.
Now that his stint as an X Factor judge is over, Gary Barlow is back to focusing on what he does best: song writing and performing. In support of his first solo album in 14 years, Since I Saw You Last, the singer-songwriter will be touring the UK in early 2013, stopping by the O2 for two nights. Having written thirteen number one singles and been awarded the Ivor Novello Award six times, Barlow is one of Britain's most successful songwriters. His latest album entered the UK charts at number two, missing out on the top spot to One Direction who ironically spawned from the X Factor.
Jaqueline Wilson's Hetty Feather is brought to life on the stage at Rose Theatre Kingston this April. Adapted by scriptwriter Emma Reeves - known for CBBC's The Story of Tracy Beaker - the story follows Hetty after she escapes from the Foundling Hospital. Following her adventures from a squirrel house to the streets of Victorian London as she searches for her real mother, it's a terrific story that's ideal for all the family.
Since the Second World War, Italian designers have become synonymous with glamour: Prada, Gucci, Armani, Versace... the names alone scream swagger, money, luxury and style. But there is more to Italian fashion than jet-set glitz - its success has been built on values such as craftsmanship, fine materials, innovation and expert tailoring. This V&A exhibition offers the chance to appreciate the art of the designers and the makers, without running the gauntlet of Bond Street doormen, displaying 100 ensembles, both menswear and womenswear, from the museum's collection. Pieces from leading Italian fashion houses are set beside lesser-known mid-century designers and emerging talent and put in context through period film and fashion photography.
This exhibition at the Museum of Childhood celebrates best-selling children's author Jacqueline Wilson, giving visitors the chance to learn out about her childhood, early career and what inspired her to write. The exhibition features original notebooks along with childhood toys, school reports and diaries. There are also extracts and illustrations from some of her best-loved books including The Story of Tracy Beaker, The Illustrated Mum and Hetty Feather. The exhibition will also feature contributions from readers, explaining the impact Wilson's book have had on their lives.
Since finding mainstream chart success with their single Chocolate in early 2013, The 1975 have gone on to become one of the biggest new bands of the year, supporting the Rolling Stones on tour and gaining a UK number one debut album, for which they outsold the Nine Inch Nails comeback album. They also booked three nights at the O2 Academy Brixton months before the self-titled album was even released. As well as stopping by the Brixton venue in early 2014, the Manchester-formed four-piece have been invited to perform a one-off special concert at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the Albert Sessions, an initiative that allows artists who have not previously headlined at the venue to showcase their skills.
One of London's oldest sporting events, first raced in 1829, The Boat Race returns in 2014 for the 160th contest as England's two elite universities take to the water in a gruelling four-mile rowing race between Putney Bridge and Chiswick Bridge in southwest London. Around a quarter of a million fans are expected to line the Thames for the annual Boat Race in which Oxford (with 77 wins) will look to close in on the Light Blues of Cambridge (81 wins). For spectators, there's a great view - and some great pubs - around Furnivall Gardens on the north side of the Thames near Hammersmith Bridge. Alternatively, you might like to watch from near the start at Putney Bridge, where the big screens on both banks allow spectators to monitor the race as it heads its way around the first bend. Nearby, at Bishop's Park behind the South Stand of Fulham football ground Craven Cottage, you'll find food stalls, family attractions and a large beer tent, while the banks of the river around Barnes are another popular spot. This year's Boat Race takes place at 6pm and the reserve crew race between Isis and Goldie is before the main event but events at the river bank kick off at 12noon at Bishop's Park and Furnivall Gardens.
The stakes are high as Oxford and Cambridge once again come head-to-head in a nail-biting and highly competitive race. No, this isn't the famous Boat Race but the equally prestigious (okay, maybe not quite) Oxford vs Cambridge Goat Race . Two feisty goats - one named Oxford, the other Cambridge - embark on the sixth annual race, which takes place at Spitalfields City Farm on the same day as the Boat Race. Last year, Barney the pygmy goat - who started Cambridge's winning streak back in 2009 - came out of retirement and made it five in a row for Cambridge. There are numerous other goat-related activities on offer as well as food & market stalls, live music, beer & cocktail bars, arts & crafts stands and a bookie & sweepstake tent.
A modern ballet piece for five dancers by Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed, 'Ballet Work No. 2010' is performed live at the Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall to music played by Creed and his band. The one-off event is one of two key performances which tie in with Creed's current exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, the first major survey of his work, which runs from January to April. You can also see the premiere of Creed's 'Face to Face with Bach' on 30th March 2014, a new commission and part of the Pull Out All of The Stops Festival which celebrates the restoration of the Royal Festival Hall organ. With 'Work No.1020' Creed gives simple ballet positions a fresh perspective.
Veteran singer Johnny Mathis stops by the O2 for one night in April 2014 to perform live versions of hits from his extensive back catalogue. The concert follows the release of Mathis's latest studio album, Let It Be Me: Methis is Nashville which sees the singer depart from pop music and delve into the world of country. The Texas born star has been entertaining audiences since the mid-fifties, and boasts hits such as A Certain Smile, Twelfth Of Never, Winter Wonderland, I'm Stone In Love With You and When A Child Is Born.
Part of the My First Ballet series - adapting ballet productions especially for younger audiences - the English National Ballet and English National Ballet School present a colourful version of comic ballet Coppelia. Set to the music of Delibes, the fairytale follows an eccentric toymaker and his relationship with a lifelike Coppelia doll. Check out our deals on tickets for My First Ballet Coppelia.
For the past two years Little Bulb Theatre have been working in collaboration with Battersea Arts Centre to create Orpheus, a 1930's Parisian retelling of the Orpheus myth, inspired by the music of Django Reinhardt. In this jazz-infused adaptation of the ancient mythological tale, they draw a parallel between the Greek figure Orpheus and the late gypsy jazz genius guitarist Django Reinhardt who kept playing even after losing the use of two fingers in his left hand. "It's a show with an epic sweep," writes Lyn Gardner in The Guardian, and by far and away the largest show to date from a company who gave us the "wildly successful" 'Operation Greenfield', about the growing pains of Christian teenagers intent on winning a village talent show. With Orpheus they've gone to a grand scale, using the setting of a magnificent 1930s Parisian-style music hall complete with an organ to explore the myth which is a story of love, of trying to put things right, and of how music can change things.
Following their critically acclaimed productions of Project Colony and Paradise Lost in 2013, Fourth Monkey theatre company return to Trinity Buoy Wharf in April and June 2014 with a repertory season of work, performed in atmospheric basement space of The Electrician's Shop. The award-winning company will be producing Lorca's 'Yerma', Timberlake Wertenbaker's 'Our Country's Good' and 'The Good Person of Szechwan', Brecht's parable of good and evil, in rep between the 9th April and 3rd May and 4th to 21st June.
The first major exhibition of the work of fashion's most theatrical of designers, Jean Paul Gaultier. More than 140 pieces will be on show in the Barbican Art Gallery, spanning Gaultier's 35-year career. Alongside couture, ready-to-wear garments and film costumes will be pieces that have become celebrities in their own right, such as Madonna's conical bra from her 1990 Blonde Ambition world tour and stage outfits designed for Kylie Minogue. Plus there'll be catwalk films, music videos and clips from the cult 90s TV show Eurotrash. This won't be any standard exhibition; like the man himself, it promises humour, drama and subversion.
Cheek By Jowl reprise their production of John Ford's Jacobean tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, directed by Declan Donnellan. Not for the faint hearted (or anyone under the age of 16), the visceral, violent play addresses topics of incest, morality, corruption and religion as a brother and sister's relationship drags them down into Hell. Powerful stuff.
Oh My Sweet Land looks at the crisis in Syria, as told through the stories of the country's two million refugees. Amir Nizar Zuabi (The Beloved, I Am Yusuf and This Is My Brother), founder of Haifa-based theatre company ShiberHur, returns to the Young Vic with this UK premiere, conceived by Corinne Jaber. The German-Syrian actor and director masterminded Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors performed by actors from Afghanistan, the culmination of Shakespeare's Globe's six-week Globe to Globe festival, its contribution to the Cultural Olympiad in 2012. Now living in camps and abandoned buildings in Lebanon or Jordan, Syria is just a distant memory for its refugees in this topical drama.
Following his Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Christopher Wheeldon's new full-length work, The Winter's Tale, is given its world premiere at the Royal Opera House on 10th April 2014. Based on Shakespeare's late, great romance the story, performed by The Royal Ballet, begins with Leontes's sudden and unfounded fear that his pregnant wife is sleeping with his best friend. Despite dealing with the ensuing jealousy and destruction, the tale has a feel-good happily-ever-after ending. Wheeldon reunites with designer Bob Crowley and composer Joby Talbot, the team behind Alice, in what is expected to be one of the highlights of The Royal Ballet 2014 spring/summer season.
Is there any such thing as privacy any more or, in a world of search engines, online shopping and social media, have we clicked away our inner selves? Given the revelations of Edward Snowden and organisations such as WikiLeaks, is anything really secret? James Graham's new play draws on interviews with journalists, politicians and analysts to dissect life in the digital age. Directed by Josie Rourke, Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse.
Look out for an upside-down purple cow as you're crossing over the Golden Jubilee footbridge to the Southbank Centre from the mid-April - failing that, just listen out for the belly laughs - and you'll find your way to London's funniest summer event. The colourful, comic, curvaceous cow marks the spot of the Udderbelly - a two-month festival of comedy, cabaret and theatre from around the globe. There's a huge variety of entertainment taking place both in and outside the bulbous bovine - which also appears at the Edinburgh Festival - with something going on almost every night. Confirmed acts for 2014 include Omid Djalili, Tony Law, Spank!, Festival of the Spoken Nerd, and The Showstoppers Improvised Musical who create a brand new musical from scratch at each performance of the show.
Imelda Staunton, who won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Sweeney Todd at the Chichester Festival, reunites with the musical's producer Jonathan Kent for Good People, which transfers to the West End following a successful run at Hampstead Theatre. Staunton plays single mother Margie (originally played by 'Fargo' actress Frances McDormand when it premiered on Broadway) who will do anything it takes to pay the bills after losing yet another job - so when an old boyfriend who has made good returns she is quick to track him down. Ultimately, David Lindsay-Abaire's play asks, 'can you ever really leave the place you are born?' Good People plays at the Noel Coward Theatre for a strictly limited 10-week run.
Dave Davies, the co-founder and lead guitarist of the legendary sixties supergroup, The Kinks, performs his first UK show in 13 years at the Barbican on Friday 11th April in a special celebration of the 50th anniversary of the band. Famed for his power chords which paved the way for rock to replace 1950s-style rock 'n roll, Dave Davies created a unique guitar sound evident in hits like 'You Really Got Me!' and helped The Kinks to chart well over 100 albums and singles from the 1960s to the 1990s. With reports in the press that a reunion of The Kinks is "as close as its ever been to happening", for their 50th anniversary, you never know what might happen, Dave's brother Ray Davies might just turn up to this. Kinks fans can also see the band's early career dramatised in Sunny Afternoon, a musical scripted by Joe Penhall and staged at Hampstead Theatre from 14th April.
The world's finest specialist orchid growers put their best work on display alongside beautiful botanical art at the RHS London Orchid and Botanical Art Show at the Royal Horticultural Halls in April. Discover remarkable displays of tropical and hardy orchids from all over the world, hear from a selection of esteemed orchid experts and shop from a wide variety of species and hybrids. The event also doubles as the largest botanical art show of the year, making it unmissable for flower and plant lovers. If you're visiting the show from out of town, take a look at our hotel deals near the Royal Horticultural Halls for all your accommodation needs.
Children aged five and above can enter an imaginary world that celebrates its rubbish. Created by leading children's theatre company Theatre-Rites, Rubbish creates a beautiful world from objects more usually found in a bin bag. The cast of four excavators create junk sculpture puppets and characters made from old washing up bottles, giving children a renewed approach to discarded old objects.
New York-based photographer, filmmaker and writer Moyra Davey uses various mediums to showcase her everyday life and personal relationship with literature. For this exhibition at the Camden Arts Centre, Davey will present four influential video works as well as two major bodies of recent work: Subway Writers, a display of photographs that show commuters writers on the New York Subway, and her ongoing series that focuses on her interest with Mary Wollstonecraft and the Shelleys.
London-based artist Phillip Lai, who explores themes such as occupancy, itinerancy and otherness, showcases his new sculptural work at Camden Arts Centre. The piece extends ideas from his recent works, including Co-presence, for which strips of hand-dyed jute were hung over a suspended rope line together with cymbals and spoons. The curtain-like effect from the jute represents a sense of inhabitation within a space of labour while the cymbals mark the potential for noise and disobedience.
An exhibition of work by the four artists shortlisted for the annual £30,000 Deutsche Borse Photography Prize shows images by Alberto Garcia-Alix, Jochen Lempert, Richard Mosse and Lorna Simpson. The "surprising bordering on bemusing" (The Guardian) shortlist stretches the definition of the medium and features Richard Mosse's exhibition The Enclave, which represented Ireland at this year's Venice Biennale, Brooklyn-born Lorna Simpson's multimedia retrospective at the Jeu de Paume in Paris, Jochen Lempert's eponymously titled show at Hamburger Kuntshalle and Alberto Garcia-Alix and his publication Autorretrato/Self-Portrait. The winner of the renowned prize will be announced a month after the exhibition opens, on 12th May 2014, rewarding the living photographer, of any nationality, who has made the most significant contribution to the medium of photography during the past year.
The First Georgians: Art and Monarchy 1714-1760 at The Queen's Gallery brings together more than 300 works in the Royal Collection in order to explore royal patronage and taste during the reigns of George I and George II. When George I ascended the throne in 1714, becoming the first British monarch of the German House of Hanover, it marked the beginning of one of the most dramatic periods of change across British politics, intellectual and cultural life. This exhibition showcases a time when Britain was the world's most liberal, commercial and modern society.
Welsh veteran alternative rockers the Manic Street Preachers perform a medley of hits from their 11 studio albums including 2013's Rewind The Film, their first record since 2010. The title track of the album features Sheffield crooner Richard Hawley on vocals alongside Manics frontman James Dean Bradfield, while the first single Show Me The Wonder is a classic Manics track - an upbeat nugget of pop with soaring horns, a joyous chorus and some questioning lyrics. The rest of the album is a more reflective, stripped-back, acoustic affair which should keep one of the UK's most lasting rock bands in the limelight for a while longer. They will also offer a preview of tracks from their planned follow up album, Futurology.
The Melbourne-based, New Zealand drum and bass act Shapeshifter bring their unique live show and pioneering blend of electronic textures and breaking beats to The Forum to promote their latest album, Delta. The quintet is made of trained musicians and built a reputation as pioneers of modern music after they eschewed 100% mechanical sound in favour of a more traditional approach, which includes live percussion, saxophone and guitar.
Every spring, around 30,000 runners flood the streets of the capital to take part in the London Marathon - one of the top five international marathons and the largest annual fund raising event in the world. Serious competitors mingle with charity fun-runners in the April sunshine as the 26.2 mile route comes alive to the sounds of bands, cheering crowds and pounding feet. The race kicks off at Greenwich Park and Blackheath with a loop around Charlton and Woolwich, continues through Rotherhithe and Bermondsey, crosses the Thames on Tower Bridge before circling Canary Wharf and the City ahead of the showpiece finish along the Embankment, past Parliament Square and onto The Mall in the shadow of Buckingham Palace.
Georgia-born singer-songwriter Katie Melua will perform a stripped-down set accompanied by just bass and keyboards when she plays at London's Union Chapel on Sunday 13th April 2014 as part of her 'Simplified' European tour. "I love the purity and nakedness of performing with hardly any accompaniment," the singer of "nine million bicycles in Beijing" explained. She will be singing a wide range of material from all six of her albums in a sultry acoustica style.
Japanese pianist Hiromi Uehara enlivens Cadogan Hall with her experimental and contemporary jazz, accompanied by musicians Simon Phillips and Anthony Jackson, bass guitarist on Paul Simon's "Slip Slidin' Away".
Having been busy informing the nation of his Good News, Russell Howard hasn't been on a tour for three years. However, he's now back on the circuit with his latest show, Wonderbox . His 2011 tour was a sell-out success and extended three times, and with more of his trademark upbeat and razor-sharp comedy, the same is expected this time round. Stopping by the Royal Albert Hall for four nights, Howard will be the first comedian to play an extended run at this renowned venue. Purchase tickets for Russell Howard: Wonderbox now on LondonTown.com.
Using music and lyrics by The Kinks' lead singer and songwriter Ray Davies, and a script by award-winning playwright Joe Penhall, Sunny Afternoon tells the extraordinary story of the musician, the band and its rise to stardom. The exciting young cast includes John Dagleish as Ray Davies who had a hand in choosing the actor to play himself, George Maguire who plays Ray's brother Dave Davies, Ned Derrington as Pete Quaife and Adam Sopp who takes on the role of the band's drummer Mick Avory. Set against the backdrop of social change in Britain - from the conservative 50s to the riotous 60s - this production explores the euphoric highs and agonising lows of one of Britain's most iconic bands whose influence is still felt today.
A British reggae band from Bristol seemingly named after a character in Star Wars? Are you having a laugh? Well, no, we're deadly serious - and so are UB40, still going strong after more than three decades in the business. The eight-man band with more than 50 UK chart singles famously formed while larking around in the dole queue (Unemployment Benefit, Form 40 - geddit?) - since which time they've taken their brand of reggae pop music all over the world, winning millions of fans. This concert at Shepherd's Bush Empire comes on the back of their latest Top 30 album Getting Over The Storm, awarded BBC Radio 2's Album of the Week.
Old MacDonald's famous farm is in a mess. The animals are misbehaving and the cows are eating the crops. In this interactive puppet show at the Leicester Square Theatre, the audience must help Old MacDonald's nephew Marty sort everything out and save the farm. There'll be well-known songs and nursery rhymes to join in with and the guest voice of CBeebies' Justin Fletcher as Pongo the Pig (although Justin does not appear in person).
The dazzling Harry Heegan is off to war, following the football team's latest victory in The Silver Tassie, Sean O'Casey's powerful, huge and rarely performed anti-war play of 1928 which comes to the National Theatre's Lyttelton Theatre this spring. Harry, played by Ronan Raftery, arrives at the trenches and finds a nightmarish world, where his fellow soldiers are now only cannon-fodder. When he returns months later, he's a cripple. At the football club party, everyone except the veterans, dances away and forgets in this play which gives full expression to the horror and waste of war.
Five hundred years ago, a fraternity of London mariners was given a charter by Henry VIII and became the Corporation of Trinity House - with instructions to improve the safety of navigation on the Thames. Since then, Trinity House has looked after pilotage, buoys, beacons and lightships and has become the Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales and the Channel Islands. The work of Trinity House over the last 500 years has prevented countless shipwrecks and immense loss of life, and its employees have shown great skill, bravery and endurance. While Trinity House's aims have remained constant its methods of achieving them have changed dramatically as new technology is adopted and developed. This small gallery at the National Maritime Museum displays objects and stories from throughout the organisation's history as well as looking to the future as Trinity House continues to work 'for the benefit and safety of all mariners'.
Akram Khan, guest artistic director of the National Youth Dance Company, has created a brand new double bill for the young dance troupe which is showing at Sadler's Wells Theatre for one night only on Wednesday 16th April 2014. The dancers, aged 16 to 20 and drawn from workshops across England, perform a restaged excerpt from Vertical Road (originally performed by the Akram Khan Company in 2010), alongside the world premiere of a new work, The Rashomon Effect, by Khan and assistant choreographer, Andrej Petrovic.
Elbow, the Mercury Music Prize winning five piece from Bury who, in 2012, played to a worldwide audience at the Olympic Closing Ceremony come to London's O2 Arena in April 2014 as part of their first live shows in over a year. Expect atmospheric alternative rock including numbers from their sixth studio album due for release in March 2014. With previous albums, 'Build a Rocket Boys!' and 'The Seldom Seen Kid', going platinum and multi-platinum, there are high expectations of Elbow's new collection of works.
This will be San Francisco-born, New York-based artist Tauba Auerbach's first solo exhibition in the UK. Her work encompasses a variety of media ranging from photography and sculpture, painting and book design and reveals a highly innovative approach to colour, form and process.The show will feature newly created sculptural objects and photographs, which take as their starting point scientific principles of symmetry/asymmetry and reflection as a means to hint at an alternate, mirror universe to the one that is known.
David Robilliard was a London-based poet and painter. Born in 1952 on the Channel Island of Guernsey, he moved to London in 1976 to pursue his interest in art. He first met Gilbert & George in 1979 and was described by them as 'the new master of the modern person'. They would remain good friends until his death in 1988. Robilliard had no formal training but produced paintings, drawings, and eight volumes of poetry in his short life. The ICA exhibition will bring together a selection of his paintings and will be the first UK institutional exhibition of his work for over twenty years.
Visionary French filmmaker, photographer, writer and artist Chris Marker (1921-2012) is widely acknowledged as the finest exponent of the essay film. He is best known as the director of over 50 films including Sans soleil (Sunless, 1983), A Grin Without a Cat (1977) and for his most influential work La Jetee (The Pier, 1962), imagining a Paris devastated by nuclear catastrophe and composed almost entirely of black-and-white still photographs, which later informed the narrative of Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys (1995). He was a prescient multi-media maker, exploring the future through both digital art and via his numerous online avatars. This exhibition looks at Marker's prolific career and considers his influence on contemporary British art and artists. Organised in collaboration with Chris Darke and the Centre Pompidou.
In this exhibition of the work of Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Tate Modern ignores the artist's famous colorist paintings to focus instead on his paper cut-outs. Made during the last decade of his life, when Matisse was often too ill to work at an easel, the cut-outs, or gouaches découpées, are arrangements of simple painted-paper shapes that nevertheless form striking graphic images - the 'Blue Nude' (1952), for example, or 'The Snail'. This will be the most comprehensive exhibition of this aspect of Matisse's work ever staged, and brings together around 120 pieces made between 1943 and 1954.
HeadSpaceDance, the company founded by the British dancers Charlotte Broom and Christopher Akrill, present an evening of recent works created by the playwright and theatre director Matthew Dunster at the Royal Opera House's Linbury Studio. Matthew Dunster's work 'The Days The Nights The Wounds and The Night' explores what it's to be a dancer in a city like London and how it affects rest of a dancer's life through an innovative choreographic process and theatrical game playing. The evening's programme features dancers Clemmie Sveaas, Jonathan Goddard, whose credits include performances with Rambert, Richard Alston Dance Company, Gemma Nixon, and Christopher Akrill who also perform works by choreographers Johan Inger and Luca Silvestrini.
Each time Edinburgh-based visual artist Rose Frain carries out her site-specific installation piece 'What Escapes' it is different; what binds its various incarnations together is the theme of looking beyond the official accounts of war and seeking out the traces of actual experience. Here the V&A has invited Frain to work with objects from its collection, reflecting on 1914. This forms part of the museum's WWI centenary commemorations.
Following sell-out performances in 2009, 2010 and 2012, Irish folk singer Christy Moore returns to the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall this spring for two live shows. Accompanied by his long-term producer, collaborator and friend Declan Sinnott, the award-winning star will perform tracks from his latest album, Folk Tale.
Back for its 26th anniversary, this four-day festival returns to the capital over the Easter weekend (17th to 20th April 2014) and invites 50 acts to perform across multiple London venues in celebration of all things Ska. With a variety of guests, including a number of Jamaican legends, the festival spans across all eras of the music genre. From 60s Jamaica through to the 70s and late 80s revivals, music fans can expect ska in all its guises including the original American rhythm and blues, The Specials 2 Tone era and Madness who were responsible for bringing Ska into the mainstream. Embracing these influences, the line-up boasts the likes of Derrick Morgan, Junior Murvin performing his classic Police & Thieves album, soulful vocalist Ken Parker, and Keith & Tex, the Jamaican duo famed for 1967 hit 'Stop That Train'.
The family friendly ice dance show featuring four favourite Disney stories returns as Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy. This Disney On Ice show is performed by world-class figure skaters with well-known Disney characters, including Mickey Mouse, the Cars, the Little Mermaid, Tinker Bell and the gang from Toy Story, and we've got great deals to see them here. The action takes place in four locations - the auto-racing terrain of Cars, Andy's bedroom for some fun with Woody, Buzz and the stars of Toy Story 3, Ariel's undersea world from the Little Mermaid, and the musical land of Pixie Hollow where Tinkerbell lives.
To mark the 300th anniversary of the Georgian dynasty, Kew Palace will explore the home of George II's grandson, the future George III of 'madness' fame, with new objects and displays. There will also be a Georgian garden party featuring historically appropriate food, music and costumes at Kew Palace on 16th and 17th August. There will also be Glorious Georges events at Kensington Palace and Hampton Court Palace.
At Hampton Court, a special display will take place in the rooms the Georgian court once occupied in the Baroque half of the palace to mark the 300th anniversary of the Georgian dynasty. It will include a stunning redisplay of the Queen's State and Private Apartments that will show what life was like for Georgian courtiers. There will also be a Georgian garden party featuring historically appropriate food, music and costumes at Hampton Court on 26th and 27th July. There will also be Glorious Georges exhibitions at Kew Palace and Kensington Palace.
A Kensington Palace special display will take place to mark the 300th anniversary of the Georgian dynasty. The King's State Apartments will be transformed to recreate the court of King George II and Queen Caroline, to show how the Georgian king and his court entertained in lavish style. There will also be a Georgian garden party featuring historically appropriate food, music and costumes at the palace on 14th and 15th June. There will also be Glorious Georges exhibitions at Kew Palace and Hampton Court Palace.
Poet and spoken word artist Kate Tempest began rapping in battles at 16, and at the age of 26 became the first person under 40 to win the Ted Hughes award for innovation in poetry. This is a chance to see her performing her solo show, 'Brand New Ancients', an hour and half of storytelling set to a live score played by tuba, cello, violin, drums and electronics.
A long weekend of art and performance inspired by the Thames tide includes the launch of the Floodtide listening post, a mechanical musical device which is a collaboration between Floodtide and sculptor Andrew Baldwin. See the mechanical sculptures, listen to the flow of the tidal music, and explore Trinity Buoy Wharf at the same time, home of the last surviving lighthouse in London and a thriving artists' community.
A season at BFI Southbank celebrating James Dean, the iconic American actor of the 1950s, centred around restored versions of his only three films - all classics - Giant, East Of Eden and Rebel Without A Cause.
Richard Eyre's production is a well-rehearsed formula for the Royal Opera but time after time it draws the crowds with the promise of pure spectacle. Verdi's music takes audiences to the heart of Violetta's world in La Traviata as she gives up her wild lifestyle for love and makes the ultimate sacrifice. There's romance, there's tragedy, there's even a scandal - the portrayal of a 'fallen' heroine would have been shocking to the premiere audiences of 1853. Both old hands and opera virgins will be reaching for the tissues at the Royal Opera House as Violetta, played by Renee Fleming, sings her way to the heart-rending end of Act III. Bob Crawley's sumptuous period designs beckon the audience into the Paris of the 19th century from the lavish scene of Violetta's party to her country house in the suburbs.
Starting on 19th April 2014, Ace Hotel and cult bike brand tokyobikes are running monthly bike tours exploring the scenic and hidden parts of the surrounding Shoreditch area. Everyone is welcome on the three-hour two-wheeled tours with bikes and gear provided by toykobikes. Tours are largely led by writer and brand consultant Duncan Riches who gives an insider's view of the local area. On the first tour, on Easter Saturday, highlights include a visit to artists' workshops at Terrace Studios in Dalston, a ride down Regent's Canal, and a visit to Keeling House, a modernist block of flats in Bethnal Green by the architect of the Royal National Theatre, Denys Lasdun. Meet in the lobby at 10am sharp, then head over to tokyobike who'll provide the wheels and helmet. After three hours of action and insight and you'll return to the hotel for a well earned fresh juice from Lovage, the Ace Hotel's onsite juice bar.
Following the sold-out success of TEDxAlbertopolis held at the Royal Albert Hall in September 2013, Imagining the Future of Medicine will feature short talks and artistic performances celebrating the future of medicine and healthcare. Irish comedian and presenter Dara O Briain hosts while TEDMED curator Jay Walker is special guest at this day of inspirational talks by world-renowned speakers. Highlights include a neuroscientist who combines her talk with a theatrical performance; a surgeon who was inspired by paintings from the 16th century; and performances from a group who entertained millions at the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony. Prior to the stage programme, biotech showcase The Cell makes its London debut at the Sir Alexander Fleming Building, Imperial College London, a short walk away from the Royal Albert Hall.
The Queen celebrates her actual birthday on 21st April privately, but the occasion is marked publicly by gun salutes in central London. The 41-gun Queen's Birthday Gun Salute in Hyde Park takes place at midday, a 21-gun salute in Windsor Great Park and a 62-gun salute at the Tower Of London at 1pm. At Hyde Park the salute is carried out by the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery who ride into the park from the north by Marble Arch along North Carriage Drive, line up abreast and gallop down the parade ground to roughly opposite the Dorchester Hotel. The Troop itself arrives at around 11.45am ready to fire the first round at midday. The guns are then unhooked and the salute is fired off. Duty performed, the horses gallop back up towards North Carriage Drive. The band arrives separately and can usually be seen from about 11.30am. It is a spectacular show of pomp and ceremony and it's also the only time when you will see horses legally at a full gallop in Hyde Park - with a ton and a half of cannon in tow. The Queen's Birthday Gun Salutes are held to celebrate her actual birthday on 21st April, and there are further celebrations for her official birthday in June which is marked by Trooping the Colour.
Though St George's Day is always on 23rd April, in 2014 it falls on a Wednesday so the London celebrations in Trafalgar Square will take place on the Monday before the saint's day, Easter Bank Holiday Monday 21st April. Flag waving is encouraged at this free event held in recognition of England's dragon-slaying patron saint with live bands playing on the main stage and food stalls surrounding the square. This year's event focuses on British food and there will be a 250 seat banqueting area in the square, free tastings, hog roasts, live cookery demonstrations and food workshops. A bandstand, traditional games and a kids' tent add to the very English sense of fun. Sadly, despite tireless campaigning to make St George's day a national bank holiday, celebrations on the actual day itself will have to fit in with working hours.
War Music at the Royal Academy of Music will look at the role of music in the First World War in an exhibition held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of war. In the war, music was heard on battlefields, concerts halls, camps and churches, reflecting the emotions of war - pride, nationalism, sorrow, consolation. The exhibition will feature a host of popular songs as well as items such as a gramophone, used in the trenches and camouflaged to avoid detection. It will be accompanied by a lively programme of musical events.
Continuing Shakespeare's 450th birthday celebrations, trio In Voice and Verse present a whistlestop tour of the best of the Bard, including all the greatest speeches, poems and songs. See how many you can recite. Performing Shakespeare's Greatest Hits at the Leicester Square Theatre are actor Lance Pierson, soprano Belinda Yates and pianist Heather Chamberlain.
Three musicians and two puppeteers bring the Paper Cinema's contemporary retelling of Homer's epic poem, The Odessy, to life at the Battersea Arts Centre. The epic tale, of a husband's long return to his home and family after war, is told with the help of Paper Cinema's clever use of cinematic projection, live music and cut-out paper puppets.
The acerbic Canadian comedian Katherine Ryan, now based in the UK, is becoming a regular fixture on TV panel games such as Mock the Week and QI. Catch her at the Soho Theatre Downstairs for a night of her wittily warped humour and some commentary on popular culture.
Despite Brian Friel saying his play Translations is 'a play about language and only language', it actually explores language and communication, Irish history and cultural imperialism. Set in 1833 rural Ireland, it tells the story of farm girl Maire and how she is torn between the affections of the local school teacher and the love of a British soldier - between her native tongue and a new language. Will she choose the comfort of the familiar or delve into a world of foreign possibilities?
In this new production physical theatre company Frantic Assembly, in association with writer Bryony Lavery, explores what happens when two families are thrust upon each other during a night of cataclysmic weather. Bruised, tired and lubricated with alcohol, tensions soon arise. Until, the unthinkable happens. Desperate to determine what truly happened, will they be able to pull together and find the answers? Frantic Assembly have become renowned for unique and dynamic theatre pieces - described by The Independent as 'vibrant and visceral' - and this show is sure to be no different.
The City of London Sinfonia's hugely popular informal concert series CLoSer - which offers audiences shorter concerts in a more relaxed setting - finishes its 2013/14 season with a performance of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. The Village Underground's acoustics and bare brick walls create a unique atmosphere to stage this epic 12th Century masterpiece.
On 23rd April 2014, the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, a new version of Hamlet staged by Shakespeare's Globe begins a two-year global tour, aiming to take in all 205 nations in the world. The 'Globe to Globe Hamlet', a stripped-down version of Shakespeare's classic tragedy is performed by a new cast of just eight actors in a brisk two hours and forty minutes. The tour, which comes to Middle Temple Hall from 18th to 20th April before officially beginning at Shakespeare's Globe on 23rd April 2014 will finish on 23rd April 2016 - the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. This will also be the date of Dominic Dromgoole's departure from the Globe, after a decade as its artistic director.
Last year saw London stage four revivals of Anton Checkov's Uncle Vanya and now 2014 welcomes another. Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky transfers his two acclaimed Checkov productions - the second being Three Sisters - from Moscow's Moccobeta State Academic Theatre to London's Wyndham's Theatre. For the productions, which will be performed in Russian with English surtitles, Konchalovsky has utilised the same setting and cast in order to showcase the similarities between Checkov's two most famous plays. The story deals with Yelena, the younger second wife of a professor, who entertains an eternally frustrated love triangle between two friends of her husband - Vanya, the brother of the professor's late first wife, and the local doctor, Astrov (who himself has inadvertently rendered the professor's daughter completely smitten). Book tickets to Uncle Vanya through LondonTown.com
Bringing together exciting international talents from the diverse field of graphic arts, the Pick Me Up art fair is a 12-day extravaganza dedicated to graphic art. This is an excellent opportunity to discover the latest talents in the graphic art scene. The spectacular Somerset House is once again host for this annual celebration of contemporary graphic art, design and illustration, first launched in April 2010. As well as the affordable artwork and limited-edition prints on sale from as little as £10, there's a lively series of events and activities including creative workshops, late-night art and music mash-ups, quirky family-fun events and interactive shopping spaces.
The Cadogan Hall in Chelsea hosts the cutting-edge Basel Symphony Orchestra for three concerts (on 24th, 28th & 30th April) of minimalist music starting with Philip Glass's Overture, Arvo Part's Lamentate For Piano And Orchestra and John Adams's Harmonielehre, with Maki Namekawa, piano. Dennis Russell Davies conducts.
After the rapturous response given when McFly were joined by two thirds of Busted during their 10th anniversary gigs, the two bands have officially come together to form super group McBusted. The group is made up of all four members of McFly - Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Harry Judd and Dougie Poynter - and two members of Busted - Matt Willis and James Bourne. Their 2014 tour will see them play three nights at the O2, indulging fans with a nostalgic mega mix of hits from both band's back catalogues.
The London Children's Ballet returns to the Peacock theatre with a charming interpretation of Emma Thompson's Nanny McPhee. This family production tells the story of a father and his seven unruly children who have driven away every nanny in the village. Just as he starts to think all is lost, the magical Nanny McPhee comes into their lives and things miraculously start to change.
The London Original Print Fair offers the chance to see specialist dealers displaying their etchings, engravings, linocuts and lithographs in the grand setting of the Royal Academy of Arts. Over the past 20 years it has become a firm favourite with dealers and print fans alike. Prices start from £100 and rise to £1,000,000 covering old Masters (including Rembrandt and Durer), 18th and 19th century painters (Hogarth, Goya, Sickert) and top names from the contemporary scene (Hockney and Hirst). Whether you're looking for an investment or something pretty to put on your walls, limited edition prints offer a more affordable alternative to one-off, original art works - and it's great fun to browse.
Snap up some original art from some of London's most promising emerging artists, before they get signed and the prices soar. All the artists showing at The Other Art Fair have been carefully selected by an eagle-eyed committee of art experts, so even if you're not buying, this show is a great day out for art-lovers looking to discover new talent. Since its launch in 2011, the fair has attracted artists from all across the world as opposed to just London. So, visitors will be able to explore art from France, Italy, Japan, Brazil and Puerto Rico. This year's fair also boasts live performance, curated walks, limited edition prints and 'Photo 15', a celebration of the best fifteen unrepresented photographers from London and beyond. There will also be interactive art sessions for children, a mentor programme and pop up food stalls. With so many aspects to the event, this is more than an art fair, rather an art experience.
Lucy Bailey's 2006 production of Titus Andronicus - a gruesome play which saw audiences "dropping like flies" (one observer told the Evening Standard) - is revived and revamped at Shakespeare's Globe for the theatre's 2014 season. Eight years ago Shakespeare's Globe had to issue a warning about its gory production after four members of the audience fainted in one night. Scenes of mutilation, rape and murder are "made all the more claustrophobic" (The Independent) by William Dudley's stage set in which the theatre is draped in dark cloth which blocks out the sunlight. "Audiences should be aware of its graphic nature prior to seeing the play," said The Independent in 2006.
Running concurrently with Uncle Vanya, Andrei Konchalovsky transfers his second Checkov adaptation to the Wyndham's Theatre. Highlighting the similarities between Checkov's two most celebrated plays, this production of Three Sisters sees Konchalovsky utilise the same set and cast as Uncle Vanya. With initial inspiration taken from the Bronte sisters, Checkov's play tells the story of three Prosorov sisters who are finding life in a provincial town increasingly boring. This production is performed in Russian with English surtitles. View our ticket deals for Three Sisters.
A world full of carnival, love and intrigue is the setting for Thomas Otway's Restoration comedy, in which a group of revolutionaries try to overthrow the corrupt Venetian senate. Presented as immersive theatre, by The Spectators' Guild, the promenade piece stars Ashley Zhangazha as Jaffier and takes you through the streets of maritime Greenwich to the historic Paynes and Borthwick Wharf, once a ship engine factory, a meat storage facility and a paper warehouse. Now recast as a bustling Venetian metropolis.
The Musical Comedy Awards return for a sixth year when the finalists will come head to head at the Bloomsbury Theatre for the showpiece grand final after a series of heats held between January and March at the Black Heart in Camden. The genre is in fine fettle, as exemplified by the success of mainstream acts such as Flight of the Conchords (the self-proclaimed "formerly New Zealand's fourth-best folk parody duo") and Frisky and Mannish, finalists of the 2009 Musical Comedy Awards.
Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite, a former dancer with William Forsythe's Ballett Frankfurt and Sadler's Wells newest associate artist, presents the UK premiere of The Tempest Replica, her Shakespeare-inspired dance work, in April 2014. The first visit to Sadler's Wells for Pite's Kidd Pivot company since debuting in 2009, The Tempest Replica draws on Shakespeare's The Tempest, exploring themes of revenge and forgiveness, reality and imagination. Check out our ticket deals.
Bringing three days of original film and an expanded filmmaker development programme, Sundance London returns to The O2 for the third year in April 2014. The UK spinoff of America's indie film festival founded by Robert Redford in 1987 will showcase films screened at the Utah-based film festival in January. As well as screenings celebrating independent filmmakers, the festival includes a short film competition on the theme of 'Making a go of it' and a workshop for aspiring short filmmakers.
The top ranked divers in the world return to the Aquatics Centre for the FINA/NVC Diving World Series - the first international event to be held at the centre since the London 2012 Games - from 25th to 27th April 2014. The world's diving elite, many of whom competed here at the 2012 Olympics, return to the iconic Zaha Hadid-designed venue continuing the legacy of the Games.
The London-based five-piece bring their shoegaze indie-rock with heavy psychedelic influences to the Shepherd's Bush Empire for one night. Since their thirst live performance at The Lexington back in 2010, Toy have played at a number of festivals, picked as one of NME's 100 New Bands You Have to Hear and released their self-titled debut album to critical acclaim. This London gig comes in support of their second album, Join the Dots which took twice as long as their first album to produce.
Acclaimed West End actor Henry Goodman reads Richard Strauss's melodrama 'Enoch Arden' based on Tennyson's epic poem accompanied by pianist Lucy Parham, part of the Sunday Coffee Concert series at Kings Place.
New for 2014, the RHS London Alpine Garden Show comes to the Royal Horticultural Halls on Sunday 27th April offering a wide range of alpines from heucheras to hardy hellebores. The RHS London Flower Shows are small but are more than a selling show; they include expert talks and guest speakers, competitions and exhibitions. Check out our hotel deals near the Royal Horticultural Halls if you're planning on visiting the fair from outside London.
A new, small touring version of Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing comes to the Globe between 28th April and 3rd May and from 14th to 19th May 2014. "The very best Much Ados touch the heart as much as they do the funny bone," wrote Quentin Letts reviewing the 2011 Shakespeare's Globe production of Much Ado About Nothing in the Daily Mail. In this new version, lovable lovers, the bantering Beatrice and Benedick, are made all the more charming as they deny their love for one another.
George Orwell's seminal novel, 1984, is adapted by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan for Headlong Theatre company who have created "a superbly handled multimedia speculation on the nature of truth" according to the Guardian theatre critic Lyn Gardner who gave it 5 out of 5. Though "not an easy watch" (Guardian), Headlong's version of George Orwell's novel on surveillance and censorship uses a book club from the distant future discussing Winston Smith's diary to makes the story more relevant today than ever. This new adaptation transfers from the Almeida Theatre to the Playhouse Theatre in London's West End for a three-month run beginning on 28th April 2014.
American cellist and pianist Yo-Yo Ma, who has reached the level of celebrity where he "could do just about anything and his fans would like it" (Washington Post), comes to Wigmore Hall on 29th April 2014 to give his first recital there for more than 20 years. He'll be performing Stravinsky's Suite Italienne, Guarnieri's Dansa Negra, and Brahms' Sonata No. 3 in D Minor for violin and piano, op. 108, with British pianist Kathryn Stott.
Follow Gyles Brandreth - actor, author, former Tory MP, and wearer of novelty knitwear - on his quest for the seven secrets of happiness, a journey which begins in Las Vegas and ends in the psychiatrist's chair. A regular on TV panel shows, Brandreth is a household name in the UK and his stand-up shows a sell-out. The Scotsman newspaper described the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013 performances of Looking for Happiness as an 'absolute joy'.
With a constant conveyor belt of band members, it's a surprise that John Butler has managed to keep the title of his band as the John Butler Trio. Lead singer and guitarist Butler is the only constant member, with nine others being involved throughout the band's sixteen-year history. With the current line-up consisting of John Butler, Byron Luiters and new drummer Grant Gerathy, the John Butler Trio circa 2014 will be stopping by the O2 Academy Brixton on the back of their new album Flesh & Blood, their first release since April Uprising back in 2010.
The architecture in Italian Renaissance painting is explored through works by 14th, 15th and 16th century artists including Duccio, Botticelli and Crivelli at this exhibition in the Sunley Room of the National Gallery. Building the Picture also explores the way architecture was used to frame sitters in figurative paintings and depict biblical stories in paintings like Duccio's 1307/8-11 work, 'The Annunciation', the opening scene on the front of his greatest work, the double-sided 'Maesta' altarpiece.
Award-winning and internationally renowned director, Ivo van Hove, whose theatrical adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage played at the Barbican in November 2013, directs Arthur Miller's tragic tour de force at the Young Vic from 4th April 2014. The director of Holland's leading theatre company has assembled a strong cast including Zero Dark Thirty actor Mark Strong who returns to the stage after a 12-year absence to play the lead in Miller's A View from the Bridge. Strong stars as Eddie Carbone, the tragic hero of Miller's drama set in blue collar 1950s Brooklyn while Nicola Walker (famed for TV roles in Last Tango in Halifax, Spooks, and her Olivier award-winning performance in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time) plays his wife, Beatrice.