The London Design Festival, 100% Design and London Fashion Week all return to the city this September. Open House Weekend gives nosy Londoners the chance to look inside some of the city's private buildings. And top chefs work their magic on the humble British snack at the Scotch Egg Challenge.
Taking place for the first time throughout September, Totally Thames is an exciting new, month-long arts and cultural celebration of London's river, featuring over 100 river-related events along its entire 42 mile course through the capital. The festival will take place at various venues between Hampton Court Bridge in the west and the Dartford Crossing in the east. One event, the River Relay, will go even further, covering the whole 215 mile course of the Thames from its source to the sea. The festival - much of which is free - celebrates the main waterway which winds its way through the heart of the city, through a diverse mix of art, music, and educational events both on the water and along its banks and bridges at various riverside locations from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge and beyond. See our feature on Totally Thames for further details.
Free concerts every night of the month in September, the iTunes Festival gives those lucky enough to get tickets access to the biggest pop and rock stars without paying a penny. In 2014 names like Elbow, Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams and Kylie Minogue, The Script, Blondie, and Rudimental have all been lined up to play the festival at London's iconic Roundhouse in Camden. There's something for everyone with outfits such as First Aid Kit, David Gray, and Lenny Kravitz along with Australian boy band 5 Seconds of Summer, DJ David Guetta and one of the industry's newest stars, Sam Smith all playing headline shows. To get free tickets for these intimate gigs you must enter a competition through the iTunes store. Alternatively, all performances can be watched live or on-demand on Apple devices and via iTunes.
They appeared on the Shakespeare's Globe stage in 2012 as part of the Globe to Globe festival, now, two years later Madrid-based theatre company Rakata return to stage Lope de Vega's classic Punishment Without Revenge, performed in Castilian Spanish with scene synopses in English. In 'El castigo sin venganza' Federico, bastard son of the Duke of Ferrara, falls in love with Cassandra, his father's intended bride, and she with him. When the truth of their 'dishonourable' union comes to light, the Duke exacts a pitiless revenge.
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 premiered at the Almeida Theatre in the spring and transfers to Wyndham's Theatre in the autumn of 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.
One of the highlights of the Cultural Olympiad in 2012, Unlimited returns to the Southbank Centre with a plethora of theatre, dance, music, literature, comedy and visual arts events that celebrate difference. This year's festival presents new work by artists including Robert Softley Gale, Julie McNamara, Claire Cunningham and Katherine Araniello who appears in two London-based venues simultaneously giving a live, unscripted and digital performance. With 29 impressive and ambitious shows the series will cover dance, live arts, visual arts, music and theatre. Performances include 'If These Spasms Could Speak', 'Guide Gods', Claire Cunningham's perilous quest to explore how the major world faiths view deafness and disability, and 'Let Me Stay', a love letter from the playwright, Julie McNamara, to her mother who lives with dementia. There are workshops and free events including 'Take Me to Bed', a film screening in the Royal Festival Hall's Clore Ballroom, and 'The Unlimited Story', an audio described exhibition in the foyer spaces of Royal Festival Hall, telling the story of Unlimited past, present and future. For the complete programme visit the Southbank Centre's official website.
One of London's most popular outdoor screening events takes place in September at The Scoop, a 1,000-seat amphitheatre located between HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge in the shadow of City Hall on the south bank of the Thames. Screenings of a mixture of current, classical and cult films take place on three successive Wednesdays to Fridays with the 2014 line-up including the recent release, The LEGO Movie, Judy Dench's latest turn in Philomena, coming of age classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off, adventure blockbuster Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Truman Show and 2013 release Mandela - The Long Walk to Freedom, starring Idris Elba and Naomie Harris. The More London Free Film Festival is - as the title suggests - a free event, with places going on a first-come, first-served capacity. All films start at 7.30pm and there is food and drink available. The screenings are part of the More London Free Festival of music, theatre, film and fringe performances that takes place at the same location all summer long.
The largest Tall Ship event in London for 25 years comes to Royal Greenwich in September 2014. Royal Greenwich Tall Ships Regatta, the first major Tall Ships event in the city since London hosted the Tall Ships Race in 1989, will bring up to 50 ships from Falmouth to Royal Greenwich for four days of festivities. Vessels will be berthed along the River Thames and there will be exciting shore-side activities for crew and visitors including maritime markets, street theatre, music, dance, art installations and exhibitions. A key highlight of the weekend's activities will be the crew parade in which over 1,000 people - including Tall Ships' crew, marching bands, and young people from around the world - take part.
Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker, who played an "out of this world" (The Guardian) concert at the 2012 Proms, return to the Royal Albert Hall for the first of two concerts at this summer's Proms. An all-Russian programme inspired by dance opens with Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances which is, for many, his finest orchestral work. After the interval the audience enters the Russian fairy-tale world of Stravinsky's The Firebird, the folk-infused ballet score for Diaghilev's Ballet Russes that established the young composer as a rising star. For the second Proms concert, Sir Simon Rattle conducts Peter Sellars's staging of the St Matthew Passion with the Berlin Philharmoniker and a stellar cast led by Mark Padmore.
Burning lanterns, sizzling braziers and extraordinary fire sculptures come together to create Fire Garden, a spectacular display of fire and light by internationally renowned French artists Carabosse. One of the last ever public events at Battersea Power Station before it closes for development, the display transforms the iconic building through the use of improvised live music, steam and fire-powered kinetic sculptures together with a mass application of fire and flame installations. A Totally Thames event not to be missed!
Presented by the award-winning, international comedy company Mischief Theatre, The Play That Goes Wrong follows the inept and accident prone Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society as they attempt to create an ambitious 1920's murder mystery (Murder at Haversham Manor) to The Edinburgh Festival. Disaster ensues and the cast fall apart under the pressure, can they turn things around before the final curtain falls? Praised for its script - "full of bright ideas and preposterous gags" - by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, and described as "an enduring cult hit in the making" by Daily Telegraph theatre critic Charles Spencer when it was staged at Trafalgar Studios in the summer of 2013, The Play That Goes Wrong comes to London's Duchess Theatre from Friday 5th September 2014.
This major retrospective looks at the career of German-born photographer Horst P Horst, one of the 20th century's master photographers. Horst: Photographer of Style at the V&A will feature photos, film footage, nude studies, haute couture costume and magazines relating to Horst's sixty-year career. It will also look at collaborations and friendships between Horst and the likes of Coco Chanel, Marlene Dietrich, and Salvador Dali, as well as other parts of his work and life such as travel photos, sketches and contact sheets.
The annual one-day Angel Canal Festival is based around the City Road Lock on the peaceful Regent's Canal in Islington and features all sorts of attractions and events for the whole family. Attractions include a children's fun fair, boat trips, regatta, live music, street theatre, a boat rally and The Floating Cinema. With 80 stalls and gazebos arranged along the towpath, there's plenty to choose from - expect to find stalls selling anything from crafts, books, jewellery, food and drink, etc. As well as local businesses, there are a variety of local and national charities on site to raise awareness for their respective causes and to provide entertainment. The festival will be opened, as it is each year, by the Major of Islington, who arrives by boat from the London Canal Museum and gives a welcome speech before starting the Bell-Boat Race in the City Road Basin at 1pm. Summer may be winding down but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy a family day out by the canal.
Join Islington's Little Angel Theatre for their Summer Party, an afternoon of theatre tours and puppetry. You'll get to learn how this renowned puppet theatre company puts on its performances, from making the characters to animating them through puppetry demonstrations and performances. This year the party will be held a little later than usual, on Sunday 7th September 2014, marking the launch of their brand new autumn season. There's a focus on all things Roald Dahl with the opening of their Fantastic Mr Fox show. You can help make a giant Willy Wonka puppet throughout the day, search for the BFG hiding somewhere in the gardens, and if you come to the morning session you can make a puppet to parade with during the afternoon.
Each year, the Design Museum holds its Designers in Residence exhibition giving visitors the chance to see the work of young designers at the beginning of their careers. The annual show is the culmination of a year-long programme which supports and nurtures up-and-coming designers. The show includes specially created new work from the year's finalists and is backed by a series of events and talks, offering visitors the chance to meet the designers while giving them a test-bed for new ideas.
The James Plays, a trio of new history plays by award-winning writer Rona Munro bringing to life three generations of Stewart kings who ruled Scotland in the tumultuous fifteenth century, comes to the National Theatre this autumn. In the first installment, James I returns to Scotland after 18 years' imprisonment at the hands of the English, with his new bride. Determined that he will bring law back to a warring land, the King faces some choices if he is to save his crown, his Queen and himself. The ensemble cast of 20 actors includes James McArdle, "the hottest young actor to come out of Scotland since James McAvoy" (The Herald) who plays the Stewart king, and Blythe Duff (Taggart and Ciara). Sofie Grabol who plays detective Sarah Lund in the popular Scandinavian crime thriller The Killing, stars as Queen Margaret of Denmark, the wife of James III, in her first stage role in English.
The 20/21 British Art Fair offers works for sale by well known modern British artists from the 20th and 21st centuries and distinguishes itself by being the only fair for British art which focuses on Modern and Post-War art as well as featuring contemporary work from the 1970s onwards. It's a chance to see and buy works by highly respected artists like Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and David Hockney, all displayed at the prestigious Royal College of Art. Since the fair first started in the 1980s, art buying has changed from being the exclusive pastime of the rich to being something we can all join in on. Undoubtedly, fairs like this have helped. The big names of the last two centuries are all here with Henry Moore alongside Damien Hirst. But there are also more 'entry level' pieces starting at a few hundred pounds. The focus is on painting and sculpture rather than the wild fringes of conceptualism, and there will be exciting pieces to covet from the brightest talents of recent times.
Well timed to coincide with the movie of Mr Turner - Mike Leigh's new film starring Timothy Spall as the lead - this major survey of the last works of the influential British landscape artist, J.M.W. Turner, features iconic works from his final period spanning the 15 years between 1835 and 1850. The exhibition will reassess Turner's extraordinary body of work created during this period, when some of his most celebrated works including Ancient Rome Agrippina Landing With The Ashes Of Germanicus, The Wreck Buoy and Heidelberg Sunset were committed to canvas. Beginning in 1835, the year that Turner reached 60, the exhibition of 150 works challenges assumptions around the idea of the 'elderly' artist, and shows how his closing years were a time of exceptional energy and vigour, initiated by one of his most extensive tours of Europe.
Anna Nicole, Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera based on the life of the late American glamour model and actress Anna Nicole Smith which premiered here in 2011 gets its first revival at the Royal Opera House in September 2014. The challenging opera of our times looks at the high-profile and ultimately doomed celebrity lifestyle of Smith, who died in 2007 after an apparent drug overdose, at the age of 39. A jam-packed but tragic life saw the heroine become a Playboy Playmate, star on the big screen in Hollywood, be declared bankrupt after a sexual harassment case, and get married twice - including once, controversially, to an octogenarian business tycoon, which led to a bitter £450m inheritance battle. Throw in a top US radio presenter, custody tussles, constant weight fluctuations, and the sudden death of her 20-year-old son - and Smith's life has all the ingredients for the West End stage. Librettist Richard Thomas was one of the co-creators of the hit Jerry Springer: the Opera while Turnage's previous operas have included Greek (1988) and The Silver Tassie (2000) for English National Opera. The Royal Opera's Music Director Antonio Pappano conducts and Dutch soprano Eva Maria Westbroek returns to the title role. Contains strong language, scenes of drug abuse and scenes of a sexual nature.
The lives of two men unravel quickly over the course of 90 minutes in Enda Walsh's ambitious and tender new play, Ballyturk. Irish actor Cillian Murphy, who stars in BBC Two period crime drama Peaky Blinders and whose film credits include 'Disco Pigs', Danny Boyle's '28 Days Later...' and Neil Jordan's 'Breakfast on Pluto', returns to the National following his 2012 solo performance in Misterman and is joined by Enda Walsh's long-time collaborator Mikel Murfi, and the internationally acclaimed Stephen Rea who has appeared in high profile films such as 'V for Vendetta', 'Michael Collins', 'Interview with the Vampire' and alongside Cillian in 'Breakfast on Pluto'. The comedy, Walsh's first new play in four years, reunites the creative team behind the Dublin playwright's Misterman. Described as "gut-wrenchingly funny and achingly sad, and featuring jaw-dropping moments of physical comedy", the production makes its world premiere at the Galway Arts Festival in July and stops off in Dublin before transferring to the National Theatre in London from 11th September.
Doctor Scroggy's War
Anne Boleyn's Howard Brenton and John Dove return to the Globe.
Howard Brenton and John Dove, the team that brought you Anne Boleyn (Best New Play - What's On Stage Awards) return to the Globe in 2014 with Dr Scroggy's War which follows 19-year-old Jack Twigg on his journey to the trenches of the First World War and back. Hilarious and moving, the play explores Twigg's relationship with pioneering medic Harold Gillies, the founding father of plastic surgery and offers an alternative take on the century following World War I. The play is the third of four new pieces of writing to be staged at Shakespeare's Globe in 2014, joining The Last Days of Troy by poet Simon Armitage, David Eldridge's Holy Warriors and Pitcairn by Richard Bean.
Steve John Shepherd (who played the morally corrupt Michael Moon in EastEnders), plays Paul and Natalie Casey (Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps) plays Christine in the world premiere of Albion at the Bush Theatre, a new play by Chris Thompson that examines the turbulent rise of the new far right in modern day Britain. Set in The Albion, a proper East End boozer and the unofficial home of the English Protection Army, the play follows Jayson out front smashing it on the mic, Paul and his deputy Kyle (played by Delroy Atkinson whose theatre work includes I Can't Sing!) and asks: just how far can the far right go? This isn't Steve John Shepherd's first foray into theatre since he left EastEnders, he starred in Bomber's Moon at The Park theatre, Finsbury's fringe theatre in April this year, described as "a highly accomplished affair" by The Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington.
A range of performances on Sadler's Wells' main stage and in the Lilian Baylis Studio celebrating lifelong creativity and the contribution of older artists. Contributing artists include Sadler's Wells Associate Artist Hofesh Shechter, world-renowned choreographers Mats Ek and Ana Laguna, international guests and the Company of Elders. In addition to performances the Elixir Festival offers the opportunity for everyone to get involved via a series of workshops, events and a full day conference to close the festival.
For the second time this year, London Fashion Week injects a burst of style into Somerset House; the iconic building with its famous courtyard is a magical setting for this high profile fashion industry event. Inviting 200 of the industry's most creative designers and businesses, in the UK and internationally, the week includes catwalk shows, exhibitions and award ceremonies. The event is wildly exclusive and entry is invite-only, however, the whole city is sure to be taken over by fashion fever and the streets could become your very own catwalk keep an eye out for top models and designers around town too.
Described by conductor Jiri Belohlavek as "the world's largest and most democratic musical festival", the much-loved Proms now encompasses more than 100 concerts each year. The rousing Last Night is traditionally very different from the eight weeks that precede it, following a lighter, 'winding-down' vein and often pandering to popular classics and Patriotic Anthems (Rule, Britannia!, anyone?). Tickets are almost as hard to come by as Centre Court passes for the Wimbledon finals, but like the tennis, the whole thing is broadcast live on the BBC - and all round the world. Plus on the same night there's the popular Proms in the Park party, hosted by Terry Wogan. This year's soloists and special guests will be confirmed in April when the full programme is announced.
Britain's largest classical music event, the outdoor BBC Proms in the Park concert in Hyde Park, is a rousing alternative finale to two months of the BBC Proms for those unable to snare tickets to the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. While the whole Last Night shebang is broadcast live on the BBC, nothing quite beats experiencing the biggest night in the classical music calendar under the stars in Hyde Park. Families and friends gather with picnic hampers and rugs for five hours of evening entertainment hosted by Radio 2 DJ Tony Blackburn and the inimitable Sir Terry Wogan with a sensational firework finale above the stage to cap things off.
The London Design Festival is an ambitious project. Hundreds of events, locations, shops, universities and design agencies are involved in the nine days of talks, exhibitions, competitions and activities. It's a true celebration of the capital's all-encompassing design industry, taking in sectors as diverse as fashion, architecture, retail, typography, photography, textiles, interior decoration and manufacturing. There's a huge amount to see but don't be put off by the volume: inclusion here is based on the quality of the design. Events come in all shapes and sizes from product launches in tiny boutiques to massive trade shows including 100% Design at Earls Court, the UK's largest contemporary design trade event. The scope is far-reaching and you'll be hard pressed to cover all of it but it's fun trying.
If there's one place in London that merits an Art Deco Fair, it's Eltham Palace, with its Art Deco entrance hall, created by the textile magnates the Courtaulds in 1936. The much-loved weekend fair is held twice a year - once in the summer and a second time in September - giving visitors the chance to buy original 1930s objects, from furniture and collectables to hats, handbags and jewellery. Browse the original 1930s objects, from jewellery to furniture while you take in the magnificent Art Deco surroundings of the Palace. Ticket price includes entry to Eltham Palace and gardens and you can see the house by guided tour.
On Blackheath
Massive Attack, Frank Turner, Imelda May and Athlete entertain the crowds on Blackheath Common.
Taking place on the weekend of Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th September 2014 on Blackheath Common, home to the start of the London Marathon, On Blackheath is a brand new music and food festival. Boundary-breaking trip-hop band Massive Attack headline the Saturday line-up with support from Aloe Blacc and Young Father. On Sunday Frank Turner, Imelda May and Athlete entertain the crowds. On the supporting stages, there'll be alternative music, dance and DJs like Hop Chip's Joe Goddard and Gilles Peterson on Saturday followed by Don Letts, Heavenly Jukebox and Dave Maclean on Sunday. It's a family-friendly festival with an area designed specially for kids where arts and crafts workshops, games and special performances are laid on. For food lovers, the demo stage and the chef's club, hosted by Gizzi Erskine, stirs up a hot pot of Michelin-starred British talent including Neil Rankin, Richard Bainbridge and Jack Stein, middle son of celebrated chef Rick.
English National Opera celebrates Shakespeare's 450th anniversary with a new production of Verdi's Otello. Set on the Cypriot coast, Otello's tale of deception, love and jealousy is brought to life through Verdi's exquisite score as the Moorish army general, Otello, is tricked into doubting the fidelity of his new wife Desdemona by the manipulative Captain Iago. Directed by David Alden who returns to the London Coliseum following his recent triumphant production of Peter Grimes. He is reunited with Grimes collaborators ENO Music Director Edward Gardner and tenor Stuart Skelton, who sings Otello for the first time.
The London Transport Museum Depot opens its doors for its annual behind-the-scenes Open Weekend this September for a weekend of activities focusing on the role of London's Transport in the First World War. Look out for the 1914 B-type bus which was converted into a wartime 'Battle Bus' to transport troops to the Front Line, meet the team taking the B-type to France, and take park in heritage bus runs around Acton. Housing the majority of the London Transport Museum's collections which cannot be displayed at the main Covent Garden location, the Depot is home to more than 400,000 objects and this is one of the few occasions when the Acton Depot is open to the public, giving visitors a chance to explore the Museum's rarely seen treasures. There are also posters and artworks, engineering drawings, signs and ephemera, and a marvellous collection of historic road and rail vehicles. Further activities include creative workshops, storytelling, miniature tram and railway rides, heritage bus rides and curator-led tours.
The world's biggest duathlon returns to Richmond Park this September as athletes prime themselves to run, bike and run a little bit more on closed roads in south west London's area of outstanding natural beauty. This double-discipline endurance test is ideal for sporty types who fancy doing a triathlon but are put off by the cold water of the Thames. There are three main categories: super sprint (5km run/11km ride/5km run), sprint (10km run/22km ride/5km run), classic (10km run/44km ride/5km run), classic team relay (10km run/44km ride/5km run) or ultra (20km run/77km ride/10km run). While 50 per cent of the 3,500 entrants are competing for the very first time, top athletes will also be able to take part in separate elite and junior elite sprint races. The London Duathlon is sponsored by Chelsea and Westminster Health Charity and encourages participants to raise money for charity.
Organised and hosted by the London Jewish Cultural Centre, the Hampstead and Highgate Literary Festival has quickly become a much-loved event in London's literary calendar. This will be the sixth time the three day book festival returns since launching back in 2009, putting well known authors - most of whom come from north London - in the spotlight. Top authors and celebrities who have taken part in the festival in the past have included Ruby Wax, Nick Ross, Baroness Gillian Shephard, Mark Billingham, Tracy Chevalier, and Maggie O'Farrell. With close to 60 festival events to choose from, held in the former home of prima ballerina Anna Pavlova in a picturesque part of town, it's a popular event. Added to these are creative writing workshops, book sales and signings at nearby Daunt Books as well as Kidsfest for younger readers, and Poetry in the Park on the bandstand in Golders Hill Park.
The second of three new plays by award-winning writer Rona Munro about 15th century Scottish kings, in James II the king has become the ultimate prize in a terrible game being played by Scotland's most powerful families. James, played by Andrew Rothney (Blackbird, KJB: The Book That Changed the World, The Cottage), can only trust William his childhood friend and the future Earl of Douglas. He must fight to keep his slim hold of the crown, whilst dealing with childhood nightmares. Speaking to the BBC, Laurie Sansom, artistic director of the National Theatre of Scotland who directs all three James Plays, said the plays were "daring, passionate and offer a tumultuous ride through Scottish 15th Century history".
Nicholas Hytner's Olivier Award-winning production takes Handel's satirical comic opera Xerxes and mixes it with humour and sexuality. The tale, set in Vauxhall's pleasure gardens of the eighteenth century, reveals the rivalry between Xerxes and his brother Arsamenes who both have feelings for the same woman. Mezzo-soprano Alice Coote sings the title role at English National Opera for the first time and counter-tenor Andrew Watts returns as Arsamenes alongside Sarah Tynan as Romilda. Conducted by Michael Hofstetter, who conducted last season's acclaimed Traviata, leads the orchestra for what promises to be an enthralling night of fun, joy and biting social satire.
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita comes to London's Dominion Theatre for 55 shows from September 2014. With a number of previous adaptations, including the Oscar-winning 1996 movie with Madonna and Antonio Banderas, the story of Eva Peron and her journey from humble beginnings to Argentina's spiritual leader features some of the most iconic songs from musical theatre's history: Don't Cry For Me Argentina, On This Night of a Thousand Stars and Another Suitcase in Another Hall. Singer, actor and former member of Wet Wet Wet, Marti Pellow will take the role of Che, a character whose voice reflects the Argentine people and brings conflict to Eva's rise to fame. The role of Eva is played by Madalena Alberto, known for Fantine in the 25th Anniversary production of Les Miserables.
Describing itself as the UK's first and leading contemporary design event, 100% Design is a four day extravaganza held at Earls Court devoted to the latest product launches, ideas, designs and technology. You can expect more than 400 exhibitors, hundreds of interior design and architectural product launches and plenty of talent, both familiar and rising, on display. Attracting architects, interior designers and industry insiders from all over the world, the event is the best place to marvel at the newest and most innovative designs from an emerging and exciting talent pool. If that's not enough, the event also encompasses 100% Design; an interactive feature with suppliers and manufactures showcasing their products through samples and workshops and 100% Futures; a section of the show dedicated to the design superstars of the future. There's also a great programme of in depth seminars running throughout the four day programme with all sessions free to attend.
If you plan on getting the train, the District and Piccadilly lines take you to Earl's Court tube station. For those travelling in from outside London, we have a number of hotel deals for 100% Design, so please have a look what's on offer.
Fashion designer Nicole Farhi doesn't just create elegant, sophisticated clothes, she also studied sculpture under none other than the esteemed scluptor Sir Eduardo Paolozzi whose bust features in 'From the Neck Up', her first ever exhibition in a gallery space. Bowman Sculpture gives members of the public a rare chance to see her work which also includes more abstract pieces. Paolozzi and Francis Bacon are among 12 busts of famous faces from the worlds of fashion, art and theatre who also include Anna Wintour, Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Helena Bonham Carter.
Celebrating 20 years of democracy in South Africa, Inala presents the South African choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo appearing in a unique artistic collaboration with multi award-winning choreographer and Rambert Dance Company artistic director Mark Baldwin and world class dancers, allowing them to perform alongside dancers from companies including Rambert and the Royal Ballet. Reviewing Ladysmith Black Mambazo at the Edinburgh festival for The Guardian Judith Mackrell wrote: "Most pleasing are the sections where Baldwin unites the cast" concluding, "it's the triumph of Inala that, however far this collaboration takes the choir outside their familiar zone, they remain the natural stars".
A free, live outdoor screening direct from the Royal Opera House to Trafalgar Square. The last of three BP Big Screen events in London this summer, on Wednesday 17th September David McVicar's production of Verdi's tragedy, Rigoletto, highlights the cruelty and corruption of innocence at the heart of the court of Mantua as Rigoletto, court jester to the libertine Duke of Mantua, is cursed by the father of one of the Duke's victims for his irreverent laughter.
Renowned Scottish puppeteer Ailie Cohen (Cloud Man, The Man Who Planted Trees) joins Lewis Hetherington to create The Secret Life of Suitcases, a beautiful puppet show for children aged 4 and above. Join Larry an office worker whose world gets turned upside down by a fantastical flying suitcase which takes him on an exciting adventure. This funny and enchanting new collaboration has already been nominated for a Critics' Award for Theatre in Scotland.
Through spectacular objects from 15th century China, Ming: 50 Years That Changed China, the blockbuster autumn exhibition at the British Museum focuses on a little explored but spectacular period in the first half of 15th century when China became a global superpower. "There will be many surprises" in the exhibition, according to The Guardian, "including the world's first encyclopaedia and a form of imperial mini-golf." Ming dynasty objects dating from between 1400 and 1450 - exquisite porcelain, gold, jewellery, furniture, paintings, sculptures and textiles loaned by museums across China and the rest of the world - reveal a golden age, "a spectacularly dynamic and culturally fertile period" (The Guardian) when the capital was established in Beijing.
Along with the main London Fashion Week event, the open-to-all London Fashion Weekend is returning to Somerset House this September. This fashion-focused weekend is an opportunity for everyone to get access to the latest designer trends - even if they don't have a stylist's little black book. The frenzied London Fashion Week is all about work for models, buyers and fashion editors who run around at breakneck speed. But this consumer show, which takes place on the weekend after the main event, offers savvy shoppers the opportunity to check out the latest fashions at a far more leisurely pace. Tickets are on a timed entry basis to make sure the crowds never get 'first-day-of-the-sales' busy. And with over 150 London Fashion Week designers offering their clothes at cheaper than retail prices you can find some real bargains. But it's not just about the latest clothes, you also get makeovers and styling tips while sipping on a champagne cocktail - very stylish.
James III is full of grand schemes in the third and final installment of Rona Munro's trio of new history plays, The James Plays, which play in rep at the National Theatre this autumn. Presenting "accessible, popular culture versions of our medieval history" (Scottish writer Munro told the BBC), James III picks up the action as Scotland approaches near civil war. Scottish actor Jamie Sives plays the charismatic, cultured king James III whose grandiose schemes his nation can ill afford. The actor got his big break in the acclaimed Scottish-Danish co-production, Wilbur (Wants To Kill Himself) and his long list of TV and film credits include appearances in Get Him to the Greek, Clash of the Titans, Doctor Who (as Captain Reynolds in the episode Tooth and Claw), and Game of Thrones in which he played Jory Cassel. In James III, his wife the Queen Margaret of Denmark, is played by Sofie Grabol, best known as detective Sarah Lund in the popular Scandinavian crime thriller The Killing, in her first stage role in English. She may be able to save the fragile monarchy from collapse.
For one weekend a year many of London's architectural landmarks open their doors offering us a glimpse behind doors which are, for the rest of the year, closed to the public. The hugely popular London Open House Weekend opens more than 800 of the city's sites and buildings - including London landmarks like 'The Gherkin' - which celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2014 - Lloyd's of London, Battersea Power Station, The View from the Shard and the Bank of England - in this fantastic, free yearly event, now in its 22nd year. There's a wealth of architectural gems to choose from including some of the most beautiful buildings - old and new - in the city. You can also get inside some of the grandest private homes in your own neighbourhood - it's a voyeur's dream come true. For the more serious students of contemporary design, this is a chance to visit spaces by famous modern architects, some of whom give talks and tours of the buildings they've designed. An inspired idea and a real treat whether you're a lover of architecture or just plain nosy. Entry to some of the houses is only permitted via pre-booked tickets acquired through the website www.londonopenhouse.org. You're advised to bring booking confirmation with you.
There's some serious monkey business going on in London this September; back for its 12th year the Great Gorilla Run will be bounding through the streets of the capital. Aiming to raise money to save the world's remaining gorillas, hundreds of people will be pulling on their gorilla costumes and running, jogging or walking the 7km City and Bankside route. Expect to see many humorously adapted costumes, including cheerleading gorillas prancing across Tower Bridge and ballerina gorillas perfecting their poise by the Tate Modern. Runners hoping to participate need to pay a registration fee which can be done through The Gorilla Organisation website (a gorilla costume is included!) and should head to the London Underwriting Centre off Mincing Lane in the City of London where the run starts and finishes.
The V&A showcases the work of British landscape artist John Constable in Constable: The Making of a Master. The exhibition will reveal the stories of how Constable created some of his most loved and best-known paintings, displaying great works such as The Haywain and a selection of oil sketches he painted outdoors direct from nature, which are considered unparalleled at capturing effects of light and atmosphere.
Kristin Scott Thomas stars in Ian Rickson's production of Electra, the tragedy of Electra and Orestes's revenge on their father's killers, as written by Sophocles. Scott Thomas will play the lead in the Greek tragedy adapted by Frank McGuinness and directed by Ian Rickson. It's the latest stage performance for the actress who won an Olivier Award in 2009 for her role in The Seagull at the Royal Court and who starred in Old Times at the Harold Pinter Theatre last year opposite Rufus Sewell.
Richard Bean, whose recent credits include 'One Man, Two Guvnors' at the National Theatre and in the West End, pens the final new work appearing at the Globe in 2014. Pitcairn reveals the brutal colonisation of a remote Pacific Ocean island by Fletcher Christian and the Bounty mutineers. The British settlers refusal to relinquish the vices of their past soon causes tensions to rise. The production, along with The Last Days of Troy by poet Simon Armitage, David Eldridge's Holy Warriors and Doctor Scroggy's War by Howard Brenton, shows the Globe's continued support of new writing. It will be directed by Max Stafford-Clark and designed by Tim Shortall and contains nudity and scenes of a sexual nature.
Lindsay Lohan makes her West End stage debut as Karen, a sassy secretary who derails the dream of two down-on-their-luck film producers whose hopes of having a blockbuster hit are derailed by the seemingly naive secretary. David Mamet's biting satire Speed-the-Plow is directed by Lindsay Posner who has staged more plays by David Mamet in the West End than any other director, including: Oleanna with Julia Stiles and Aaron Eckhart, Sexual Perversity in Chicago with Matthew Perry, Minnie Driver and Kelly Reilly and A Life in the Theatre with Patrick Stewart and Joshua Jackson. Lohan, the Hollywood actress who became a child star in the remake of The Parent Trap, followed by Freaky Friday and Mean Girls, takes on a role played by Madonna when the play was originally seen on Broadway in 1988.
The trio from Leeds perform their unique brand of folk-tinged indie, playing tracks from their second album, This Is All Yours - the highly anticipated follow-up to their million selling Mercury Prize winning debut record, An Awesome Wave. The new album includes an unlikely collaboration with Miley Cyrus, an Alt-J fan, whose vocals feature on Hunger Of The Pine. The band, whose guitarist and founding member Gwil Sainsbury quit the band for personal reasons in January of this year, continues as a threesome: keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton, singer and guitarist Joe Newman, and drummer Thom Green and this concert, part of a small UK tour, sold out in record time.
As part of his mammoth Monsters tour, Lee Evans will be stopping by both the O2 and Wembley Arena in 2014, playing six nights at the O2 and four at Wembley. Renowned for his energetic performances, manic delivery and constant gurning, Evans is one of the UK's most successful comedians and continuously sells out major venues around the country as well as breaking box office records with his DVD releases - his last tour in 2011 sold 733,000 tickets and spawned 911,000 DVD sales. Expect lots of hilarious day-to-day observations and gallons of sweat.
The annual fair for international art bookmakers, gallery presses, arts publishing houses, colleges and rare book dealers, with workshops, panel discussions, lectures and talks by artists, philosophers and writers including Tom Morton of frieze, and artists Pablo Bronstein, Ruth Ewan, and Jeremy Deller. There are talks and workshops on a variety of topics such as learning basic bookbinding techniques, discussing the hows, whys and should nots of contemporary criticism, and 'zine publishing, its current trends and the continued necessity of book fairs in a rapidly changing landscape.
Kenneth MacMillan's Manon, which had its premiere in 1974, celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2014 and the Royal Ballet, the company he directed from 1970 for seven years, marks the occasion by opening its 2014/2015 season with this modern masterpiece. The tragic love story of Manon Lescaut and Des Grieux, based on the novel by French writer Abbe Prevost, is set to Jules Massenet's music. A ballet about a woman torn between her true love and a wealthy suitor, this production of Manon is regarded as one of the great 20th century productions in the Royal Ballet repertory. Set in one of the most decadent periods in French history, a world recreated through stage designs by Nicholas Georgiadis, the "stench of corruption permeates the ballet" (The Guardian) as we follow Manon's journey from "girlish tease to enraptured lover to hard-bitten courtesan and finally to heart-broken and dying waif" (The Telegraph).
See the Mona Lisa in LEGO when you visit The Art of the Brick, a display of over 75 sculptures created out of more than a million LEGO bricks at the Old Truman Brewery. The 3D art models are made by American artist Nathan Sawaya who, like so many of us, started playing with LEGO toys at an early age but he has taken his hobby one step further and this touring exhibition has now been seen by millions of visitors worldwide in New York, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Shanghai and Singapore. Visitors also have a chance to create their own masterpieces in an Interactive Zone - on seeing Sawaya's creations you're sure to be inspired.
Four young writers are to meet the short-tempered teacher and editor, and former novelist, Leonard, and find his unorthodox and intense teaching methods leads to alliances made and unmade, tactics hatched, all in the name of ambition. Theresa Rebeck's play Seminar stars Roger Allam as Leonard, the role originated by Alan Rickman when the play premiered on Broadway in 2011 and which Jeff Goldblum later played. Allam is a familiar face from stage and screen best known for his work at the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre, and the original London Les Miserables. Film and TV credits include Tamara Drewe, Game of Thrones, The Thick of It and Endeavour. Directed by Terry Johnson who returns to Hampstead Theatre following his critically acclaimed Hysteria last year.
Regarded as the rowing equivalent of the London Marathon, the Great River Race covers 21 miles from Millwall Slipway in London's Docklands to Ham in Surrey. Bursting with colour, spectacle, intense competition and casual fun, the race challenges crews to row from the industrial cityscape of Docklands all the way along the Thames to the idyllic semi-rural Richmond shores. Since launching in 1987, entries have snowballed from a mere 72 entrants to a massive 300 boats carrying over 2,000 competitors, racing for 35 trophies. Festivities along the river at Richmond will begin at noon with live music, a children's beach, donkey rides and food and drink stalls, finishing with a spectacular riverside party at Ham.
In September 2014, the Royal Academy will present a major and comprehensive retrospective of Anselm Kiefer, whose 1969 degree show, 'Occupations', "remains one of the most polarising artworks to have emerged from postwar Germany" (The Guardian). A comprehensive display of his works, the exhibition will include books, drawings, photographs, watercolours, paintings, sculptures and installations spanning his entire career as well as pieces conceived specifically for the Royal Academy's galleries. Kiefer studied the work of past masters and that dialogue will be brought out in this large scale retrospective which presents Kiefer as an artist who continues to seek new challenges and produce ever more ambitious work. Following his 2011 White Cube exhibition in London, Kiefer told The Guardian his opinion on art: "A part of it should always include having to scratch your head."
The lovely people at Discover Children's Story Centre in Stratford celebrate the 10th birthday of Oliver Jeffers's classic 'How to Catch a Star' by exploring the author's magical worlds in a new exhibition bringing his fabulous picture books to life. Children and families will be able to walk into immersive environments inspired by 'How to Catch a Star', 'Up and Down', 'Lost and Found' and 'The Way Back Home' through 'Once There Was... The Wonderful World of Oliver Jeffers', an exhibition filled with penguins, aliens, a Lost and Found office, a beach, a pier, a garden, a rocket, and a full-sized rowing boat. The exhibition ties in with the centre's autumn programme which is full of inspiration from Oliver Jeffers' books and drawings.
Set up in 1984, the Tate's Turner Prize has been courting controversy ever since. The most notorious prize in the world of contemporary art, it carries a large cash prize - there's £40,000 in the pot - and instant fame for the winner who must be a British artist under fifty and have staged an 'outstanding' exhibition of work completed within the year. The shortlist - which this year consists of Duncan Campbell, Ciara Phillips, James Richards and Tris Vonna-Michell - always seems to feature conceptual art of the most difficult-to-understand sort. But despite the uproar from stuffier elements in the tabloids, this show is always great fun. No matter what your view, the return of the Turner Prize to London in 2014 - following its temporary move to Derry-Londonderry last year - makes this a must for lovers of contemporary art. The exhibition opens at Tate Britain on 30th September 2014 and runs to 4th January 2015. The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony, broadcast live on Channel 4 on Monday 1st December 2014.
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's musical Here Lies Love opens the new Dorfman Theatre (formerly the Cottesloe) at the National Theatre for a strictly limited run from 30th September until 6th October 2014. Follow the journey of the former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, from her rise to power to her fall into disgrace. Come dressed comfortably and be prepared to dance at this immersive theatrical event which turns the new Dorfman Theatre into a pulsating club.