Things to do in London this week

Each year, the London Literature Festival aims to bring together readers of all ages to ‘celebrate the power of the written and spoken word’, with a big-name celebrity curator leading the charge. And excitingly, the 2025 edition will have singer-songwriter Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka Self Esteem) in the hot seat. She'll be joined by Dolly Alderton for an event to launch her debut book, A Complicated Woman, followed by a night of music and poetry alongside multi-disciplinary artists Tom Rasmussen, Marged, Travis Alabanza, Seraphina Simone and Pam Ayres. Elsewhere, there'll be appearances from massive literary and cultural figures including Sebastian Faulks, Jimi Famurewa, Zadie Smith, Adam Buxton, Malala Yousafzai, Claire-Louise Bennett, Reese Witherspoon, Harlan Coben, Sayaka Murata, Chris Kraus, Alexis Wright, Bora Chung and Simon Armitage. As ever, there'll be plenty of opportunities for kids to get involved too, with events with the children’s laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce and a run of Mog the Forgetful Cat.

Doc’n Roll Film Festival shines a spotlight on some of the movers and shakers who’ve lit up the music world with intriguing and eclectic sounds. This year, the programme covers a wealth of genres and scenes, and takes over the capital’s cinema staples like the Barbican, BFI Southbank, Dalston's Rio and more. The fest kicks off with I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol, punk legend Glen Matlock’s cinematic memoir. The subversive mood continues with How Tanita Tikaram Became A Liar, an anti-documentary directed by filmmaker Natacha Horn, who is also this maverick music icon's wife. Rockers Don't Stop plunges us into the world of 1980s dance pioneers, Not Indian Enough is an exploration of King Khan's roots in indigenous Canada and the devastating impacts of colonialism, and Boy George & Culture Club is a new look back at a storied London scene. 

Hausu lives in the grand, Grade II-listed, one-time ticket office of Peckham Rye train station, meaning its hilariously spacious bathroom dates back all the way to 1865 and is covered with intricate Victorian tiling. Head chef Holly Middleton-Joseph does her thing in a sunken kitchen where you can gaze upon chefs at work. Named after a cult 1970s Japanese horror film, Hausu took over from Peckham institution the Coal Rooms and showcases Middleton-Joseph’s wilfully unique brand of cookery, which draws as much upon high-octane Asian cuisine as it does cheffy, Euro-centric small plates, such as Hausu’s rightly notorious prawn toast – a juicy, scallop-injected powerhouse – and zingy lemon butter noodles plonked on an oozy miso and confit garlic sauce. Finish with the toasted rice ice cream, which is just the right side of sweet. 

Last decade Bryony Kimmings was an enchanting, amusing and provocative regular presence on our stages, with a run of funny, inventive, deeply personal and visually arresting shows. Bog Witch is quintessential Kimmings, using funny songs, fun costumes and unfiltered, matey honesty to describe the latest chapter in her life: living off grid after falling for Will, an eco-warrior. That said, Bog Witch proves disarming in being more diaristic than narrowly focussed on the headline topic. As illustrated by Will Duke’s beautiful shadow puppet-like projections, it’s really about the turn of an eventful year in Kimmings’s life. It’s beautifully wrought and just generally a joy to have Kimmings back.

The king of creature features, Guillermo del Toro resurrects Mary Shelley’s literary creation in all its full-on gaudy gothic glory. Oscar Isaac is Baron Victor Frankenstein, who is rescued from a monster on the ice by the crew of a ship of polar explorers. He is a man with a tale to tell of how he got there: but, like Dewey Cox in Walk Hard, he has to start at the very beginning: with a childhood of a bad daddy (Charles Dance) and grief that drives an ambition to conquer death itself. From anatomy theatres to graveyards, Victor proceeds, a floppy-haired Byronic hero aided not by Igor but Christoph Waltz’s Herr Harlander, an arms dealer who is willing to fund Victor’s scientific research for his own ends. As with The Shape of Water, del Toro makes no secret of where his sympathy lies and who the real monsters are, but there are surprises here. Not least of which is how moved you might feel in the end. 

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. 

From top secret D-Day documents, to hidden treasure maps, Secret Maps at the British Library will explore the relationship between mapping and secrecy, showing how maps from the 14th century to the present day were used to conceal knowlegde, control populations and create power. Visitors will see charts used by governments, armies, businesses, organisations, communities and individuals, and explore how these mysterious cartographies were used to disseminate, and hide, information, and sometimes purposefully decieve people. From a destroyed Ordnance Survey map from the General Strike of 1926, to landscapes that have been erased from official histories, Secret Maps will provide a new insight into the power of spatial information. 

This five-day film fest is all about young, up-and-coming filmmakers from around the world. The 10th edition of London Breeze Film Festival (formerly Barnes Film Festival) takes up residence at Riverside Studios, Covent Garden's Garden Cinema, Cinema in the Arches and Irish Cultural Centre to showcase exciting new talents. It opens with documentary Shoot The People, which follows celebrated photographer and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Misan Hariman as he documents protest movements around the world, and questions whether his work can effect change. Other films include The Summer Book, an adaptation of Moomin creator Tove Janssen's memoir of the same name, sci-fi drama Phase, and The Song Cycle, which charts a cycle ride from Ireland to Glastonbury.

An award-winning slice of life set on Paris’s margins set over 48 helter-skelter hours, Souleymane’s Story is the latest in a series of social realist dramas to tackle Europe’s migrant crisis from the perspective of African migrants. The Dardennes’ Tori and Lokita (2022), Alice Diop’s Saint Omer (2023), and Matteo Garrone’s fantastically-tinged Io Capitano (2024) have shared the stories behind the sensationalist headlines – and here’s another one to bring deep humanity and insight to this political football. Here, French director Boris Lojkine follows twenty-something protagonist, Souleymane Sangaré (Abou Sangaré) from Guinea who has become a cog in Paris’s exploitative gig economy, cycling frantically to deliver food orders to apartments across the city and thrusting bags of takeaway into the hands of Parisians who barely notice him. It’s a tough, unsparing and often heartbreaking look at life for the migrants who make the online world tick, and a jolt for those of us who use it unthinkingly.

As usual, beloved central London repertory cinema The Prince Charles will be showing more frightening films than Dracula has had bloody dinners during month-long season of spooky cinema this October. The wildly eclectic programme features almost 100 titles this year, encompassing everything from horror classics to niche B movies, all-night marathons and, of course, its famous Sing-A-Long-A Rocky Horror Picture Show (Oct 31 and Nov 1). Highlights of the programme include the original 1977 Suspiria, the original 1922 Nosferatu performed with a live score and several all-night marathons, including all six Final Destination films (Oct 25).

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.

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Taking place across The Place, Sadler’s Wells, the Barbican and more, the massive annual contemporary dance festival returns to London, bringing groundbreaking artists from Colombia, Taiwan, Cyprus, Spain and Brazil. Sadler’s Wells East will stage Bogotá by Andrea Peña & Artists, an intense choreography inspired by Colombia’s political and spiritual heritage; see a bold flamenco duet at Change Tempo at the Barbican Pit; and a day takeover of Brixton House will see DJ sets, workshops led by Jamaal Burkmar and Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy as well as in queer salsa. Plus much more across the month. 

Get a dose of hip hop history at Somerset House this autumn, where the first major solo exhibition from British photographer Jennie Baptiste will be displayed. Having photographed everyone from NAS, to Jay Z, Estelle and Biggie Smalls, Baptiste’s work spanning the last three decades has been at the forefront of R&B, hip hop, fashion and youth culture, as she documented the influence of Black British communities on culture and art from the 1990s to today. 

Frieze Sculpture returns for another year, transforming Regent's Park, one of London's prettiest green spaces, into a massive outdoor gallery. Expect massive sculptures curated by Fatoş Üstek, on the theme of ‘In the Shadows’, which means they'll be engage with the idea of darkness from many perspectives, whether that's inner darkness or the interplay between light and obscurity. The exhibition will be complemented by a programme of performances and talks, all free to the public.

Tracy Letts’s 2018 play embraces and subverts bio-drama cliches. It’s the story of an alcoholic woman who lives a hard life, largely as a result of being the daughter of an alcoholic woman who also lived a hard life. Did Mary Page Marlowe ever have a chance? What sets it apart is the way Letts has chosen to tell the story. Instead of a linear narrative, Mary Page Marlowe covers the eponymous midwestern Boomer’s entire life in 11 scenes that run in a non-linear fashion and rather than a single big central role, the title part is performed by five actors. Two of the Mary Pages are famous – Andrea Riseborough and Susan Sarandon and chopping and changing lead actors without aligning their performances creates an exquisite corpse of a life story, that speaks to the idea that none of us are one single person throughout our lives. It’s a smart piece of writing. 

Cecil Beaton was a jack of all trades and master of many, bringing his inimitable touch to the worlds of fashion illustration, photography, costume design, writing and more. While most exhibitions covering his glittering career touch on all sides of his creative world, none has ever looked solely at his ground-breaking fashion work – until now. ‘Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World’ will do just that via some of his most dazzling outfits that defined the Jazz Age or shone on screen in the likes of ‘My Fair Lady’.

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.

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The producers of Kew Gardens’ beloved Christmas trail are behind this spooky-themed train for Halloween, which leads people on an illuminated path through the iconic botanical gardens. Expect eerie illuminated trees, ghoulish installations, fire performers and more, with a troupe of actors on hand to stoke up our horrors (in a family-friendly way, of course).

This renowned annual photography exhibition returns to the Natural History Museum for its 61st edition, showcasing the very best entries of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. On display are images of the most extraordinary species on the planet captured by professional and amateur photographers. This year’s entries are TBA right now, but the winners are reliably spectacular – pictured is last year’s champion Shane Gross, whose mesmirising underwater shot of western toad tadpoles involved snorkelled for hours in a lake on Vancouver Island, making sure not to disturb fine layers of silt and algae at the bottom. Don’t miss what is always a highlight in the NHM’s calendar.

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.