Things to do in London this week

This year’s BFI London Film Festival will kick off on Wednesday, with Rian Johnson’s new Knives Out movie Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery at the Royal Festival Hall. From there, the UK’s biggest film festival will be pressing play on 11 days and nights of movies, big and small, at cinemas and venues across London. Very much not a festival that’s just for the critics, snobs and VIPs, the LFF remains the most accessible of the world’s big film festivals. Which means you’ve got every chance of scoring seats to its packed line-up of new movies when tickets go on sale on September 16 (earlier for BFI members). 

If you’re looking for a brunch spot that’ll impress your date far more than a fancy Mayfair restaurant, Aram is the one. The eastern Mediterranean café is the latest venture from chef Imad Alarnab, who fled wartorn Syria a decade ago, before opening Imad’s Syrian Kitchen in Soho. At Aram you can taste the rich flavours of his homeland in everything from zaatar croissants, to olive and feta danishes. Set in the grand Somerset House, you’ll feel like you’re eating inside a stately home, with tall ceilings and huge windows flooding the room with light.

At the National Theatre last Christmas, Max Webster’s vividly queer take on Oscar Wilde’s magnum opus featured Ncuti Gatwa as the dashing young protagonist Algernon Montcrieff. In this West End Cast Gatwa’s replacement is fellow Russell T Davies alumnus Ollie Alexander, and he plays Algie with a waspish dandyishness that feels childish, not adult, a little boy roleplaying his whirlwind romance with Jessica Whitehurst’s bolshy Cicily. Likewise, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett‘s Jack is basically a gigantic overgrown puppy, wagging his tail in delight at the attentions of Kitty Hawthorn’s Gwendolyn, but with zero sexual intent. It’s a funny, fresh, irreverent way of tackling Wilde’s comedy. 

One hundred years ago, a strange curtained box appeared on Broadway in New York City. If you went inside and slotted in 25 cents, you’d emerge with eight sepia tinged photos of yourself in a matter of minutes. It was the Photomaton – the world’s first fully automated photobooth. Fast forward to the 21st century and photobooths are in bars, train stations, cinemas, record shops and on streets all over the world. The Photographer’s Gallery is marking a century of the machines with Click!, an archival exhibition exploring their imperfections, their quirks and their most famous fans. Naturally, there’ll be a working photobooth for visitors to take their own snap.

‘Nigerian Modernism’ celebrates the achievements of Nigerian artists working on either side of a decade of independence from British colonial rule in 1960. As well as traversing networks in the country’s locales of Zaria, Ibadan, Lagos and Enugu, it also looks further afield to London, Munich and Paris, exploring how artistic collectives fused Nigerian, African and European techniques and traditions in their multidimensional works.

Hiran Abeysekera begins Robert Hastie’s production of Hamlet as a sardonic, melancholy prince who feels adrift in life after the sudden death of his dad and the even more sudden remarriage of his mum Gertrude to his uncle Claudius. Then he meets his father’s vengeful ghost and suddenly we have a problem. The prince tells his friends that he’s going to pretend to be insane for a bit while he investigates the spirit’s allegations that Claudius killed his father, but the madcap cackle he emits as he says this gives away the game. He is genuinely nuts, or at best, the ghost has radicalised him into a single-minded path in which he turns his back on his loved ones in pursuit of revenge. Abeysekera is tremendously entertaining, and this is a fun, imaginative take on the classic. 

Triangle of Sadness and Babygirl breakout star Harris Dickinson steps behind the camera for a bruising, brilliantly strange debut that channels veteran auteurs like Jonathan Glazer and Andrea Arnold, while carving out a distinctive voice all its own. Written by Dickinson himself, Urchin draws on his experiences growing up around people dealing with addiction and mental illness. It lulls you into a sense of comfort before punching you hard in the ribs. Already an actor of note, the princely Urchin crowns Dickinson as a serious new filmmaking voice too.

Artist Candice Lin’s new commission at the Whitechapel Gallery is inspired by the politcal and cultural upheaval in the USA goes on display. Created in Los Angeles during the the inauguration of Donald Trump’s second presidency, and the LA wildfires, Lin’s hellish and labrythine landscapes – where small creatures stand beneath towering monoliths, and human cadavers emerge from behind shrubberies – evoke the shock, grief and helplessness many Americans feel today in the face of genocide, police brutality and a climate catastrophe. 

Do you spend your time in London seeking out the best dirty martini? Or judging every barman by their daquri-making skills? Then get yourself to London Cocktail Week where the city’s inventive and innovative cocktail makers will be shaking up exciting and unusual concoctions to sink back. Over 200 bars across the capital will take part, including Nipperkin, Seed Library and Swift. Pick up a wristband in advance, or at any participating bar, and sip your way around London, tasting tried-and-trusted classics and new recipes. The event is all not-for-profit, with funds being redirected back to the bars involved, helping support the people behind the drinks.

Hammersmith arts centre Riverside Studios is going all out for Black History Month this year, with a line-up that spans films, community creative workshops, and spotlight evenings. The programme includes a scratch night (October 6; November 3) for emerging theatremakers and writers, as well as a work-in-progress showing of immersive experience Doubles (October 11), which follows two Grenadians navigating the British class system. The program is rounded out with djembe drumming workshops for both kids and adults (October 11-12).

It’s not that long ago that British art bigwigs Gilbert & George grew so frustrated with what they saw as a lack of attention from the UK’s art institutions that they set up their very own museum dedicated to themselves. That big whinge seems a bit premature now that the Hayward is giving them a big exhibition looking at their work since the turn of the millennium, a period that has seen them satirising everything from hope and fear to sex and religion.

One of Hollywood’s biggest stars in a true-life sports movie with big-time awards hopes. It’s going to be a Rocky-like story of comeback glory wrenched from the jaws of defeat, right? Except that’s not at all what Dwayne Johnson and director Benny Safdie have got cooking with this tender but tumultuous addiction and relationship drama set in the gladiatorial world of mixed martial arts (MMA). Because beyond the regular crunch of fist on bone, The Smashing Machine is an unexpectedly gentle, soulful character study that has Johnson undercutting his crowd-pleasing ‘The Rock’ persona with vulnerability and boyish uncertainty. Inside this smashing machine is a deeply heartsore human – and inside Johnson is a very fine actor indeed. 

This is London’s biggest Diwali event and one not to be missed. Around 35,000 revellers descend on Trafalgar Square to celebrate the Hindu, Sikh and Jain Festival of Light, where you’ll find a sensory kaleidoscope of activities. The full programme for this year’s festival is yet to be announced, but expect it to be a vibrant affair.

Peter Doig is one of the greatest living painters, an artist whose approach to hazy, memory-drenched figuration has had an enormous impact on the visual landscape of today. For his show at the Serpentine, he’s going well beyond the canvas, filling the gallery with speaker systems to explore the impact of music on his work. Does DJ-set-meets-art-exhibition sound like your idea of hell? Mine too, but it’s Doig, so it just might work. Maybe.

Charge the steins! You don’t have to travel all the way to Germany for a lederhosen-clad knees-up this Oktoberfest – and you don't even have to wait until October. Munich’s world-famous beer festival is very much on in London with big steins of beer, platters of excessively long wurst and loud oompah bands blowing brass like they don’t give a schnitzel. You’re sure to get a warm willkommen at one of these London Oktoberfest events. 

Looking for a wholesome, creative night out that doesn’t involve a hangover (unless you BYOB)? Token Studio in Tower Bridge offers relaxed, hands-on ceramics classes where you can spin, shape and decorate your own pottery piece. Whether you fancy throwing a pot on the wheel (£32) or painting a pre-made mug or plate (£23), it’s the perfect mix of fun, mindful and surprisingly therapeutic. And to top it all off, you can sip while you sculpt as it’s BYOB and super chill.

Buy a Token Studio session from just £23, only through Time Out Offers. 

Hidden somewhere between a theme park, an escape room and a real-life video game, Phantom Peak isn’t just your average day out. This open-world adventure based in Canada Water invites you to explore a fictional steampunk town at your own pace, chatting to quirky characters, uncovering mysteries and slowly piecing together your own story.

With 11 unique trails, a rotating calendar of seasonal storylines, and a cast of live actors guiding your experience, no two visits are ever the same.

Get discounted adult tickets exclusively through Time Out Offers

From Vivienne Westwood’s mud-inspired collection, to Acne Studio’s stained jeans, the autumn exhibition at the Barbican traces fashion’s obsession with all things dirty, grimy and messy. That’s right. Through the collections of more than 60 designers from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion will take a look at everything from models wrestling in mud at New York fashion week, to Hussein Chalayan’s dresses buried underground, and the newish trend, hailing from Copenhagen, ‘bogcore’. Containing pieces from Paco Rabane, Dilara Findikoglu, Maison Margiela, Issey Miyake and Alexander McQueen, Dirt’s lineup promises to give a comprehensive look at the grubbier side of clothing design, with enough to impress any fashion lover. 

Kerry James Marshall is an artist with a singular vision. He has become arguably the most important living American painter over the past few decades, with an ultra-distinctive body of work that celebrates the Black figure in an otherwise very ‘Western’ painting tradition. This big, ambitious show will be a joyful celebration of his lush, colourful approach to painting.

If you fancy switching things up a bit and find yourself near Borough, why not roll up your sleeves at Comptoir Bakery's London Bridge workshop space? Choose from sessions where you’ll learn to craft buttery croissants and pain au chocolat, the cult-favourite Brionuts, or delicate tartelettes. Expert bakers—trained under culinary legends—will guide you through every step, from mixing the dough to perfecting the fillings. You’ll also nab a slick £20 apron to keep and plenty of fresh pastries to take home. Starting at just £69 per person or £118 for two, with over 30% off, it’s a delicious way to spend a few hours.

Get discounted workshop sessions, only through Time Out Offers