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This week is looking mighty fine thanks to late-night museum events, a new pop-up serving steaming hot goulash and some ace new art exhibitions on display in the capital. Dig out your diary and get some of the events below penned in!
Things to do
Diary Days, The Book Club, TONIGHT, £5, £4 adv. Laugh yourself senseless at one of the city’s funniest cult nights where Londoners read out the most cringe-worthy passages from their old diaries whilst enjoying a drink or two.
Christie’s Lates, Christie's South Kensington, Tue, free. Hear talks tonight from interior designer Rachel Bates, and design journalist Kassia St Clair. Guided tours of a pop-up ceramics exhibition will be taking place alongside workshops exploring colour.
Outing the Past, National Maritime Museum, Tue, free. Part of the National Maritime Museum's LGBT History Month series, hear discussions about transgender and gender-fluid experiences in the armed forces.
Valentine's Pop-Up Post Box, Hoxton Hotel, Tue-Thu, free. Not Another Bill are parking up their portable post box at The Hoxton Hotel, giving loved-up Londoners the chance to send Valentine's cards for free.
Roald Dahl and the Big Friendly Neuroscientist, Royal College of Physicians, Wed, free. A free talk from the Royal College of Physicians exploring Roald Dahl's fascination with medicine.
Unnatural Acts LGBT+ Festival, Omnibus, Wed-Thu, £5 to £12. Marking 50 years since the Sexual Offences Act 1967, Unnatural Acts, is an eclectic programme of theatre, discussion, short films, comedy and song, all about repression, activism and questioning how far we’ve really come.
Lush Summit, Tobacco Dock, Wed-Thu, free. Charities, speakers and grassroots organisations interested in conservation, human rights, energy and environment come together for this two-day summit from cosmetic company Lush.
…or check out more events happening in London this week.
© Joe Okpako
Eating and drinking
Chef Residencies at Carousel, Tue-Thu, £37.50. The Carousel team collaborate with a changing roster of top guest chefs, including emerging and established international kitchen wizards. This week it's Gísli Matthías Auðunsson.
Pasta n' Goulash, 51 Red Lion Street, all week. An Italian-Hungarian pop-up supper spot, serving exactly what its name suggest. Choose to eat your stew from a traditional bowl, or one made from bread instead.
…or check out the latest restaurant reviews.
C U Next Tuesday
Live music and nightlife
Deerhoof, Village Underground, TONIGHT, £14. Deerhoof drop their signature mix of '77 punk, pop, glam, hair metal, doo-wop, hip hop, and R&B.
C U Next Tuesday, Muse Soho, Tue, free before 10pm, £5 after. Tuesdays used to be the night for lesbians in Soho so it's great to have a new contender on the scene.
Dill Katz, 606 Club, Tue, £10. Ex-Nucleus electric bassist Katz leads his superior jazz-rock quartet.
Two Door Cinema Club, Alexandra Palace, Thu, £24,50. The melodic quirk-pop trio, signed to the hip Kitsuné label, headline this enormous show with ecstatic and melodic cuts.
Gospeloke, Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, Thu, £12. A fun karaoke night complete with a full gospel choir.
…or take a look at all the live music events in London this week.
Loving
Film
Anachron Film Club: An Evening of Cheerleaders, Muse Gallery, Tue, free. Another intriguing double bill from the Anachron team, on the theme of young women who jump about in leotards.
Anti-Winter Blues: ‘High Fidelity’, House of Vans, Thu, free. The screening room in the House of Vans has been offering up a run of upbeat movies to help you beat the February gloom.
‘Touch of Evil’, BFI Southbank, Thu, £6.85 –£8.80. Orson Welles’s 1958 B-movie masterpiece continues to get better with age.
Or at the cinema...
Toni Erdmann ★★★★★ This tender German comedy is a moving, often hilarious portrait of an unusual father-daughter relationship.
Loving ★★★☆☆ Jeff Nichols's story of a 1950s US couple whose marriage defied the law is sensitive if a little too restrained.
…or see all of the latest releases.
© Helen Murray
Theatre
The Iron Man, Unicorn Theatre, Tue-Thu, £12-£18. Winning lo-fi puppet take on Ted Hughes's timeless story, for ages eight-plus.
The Glass Menagerie, Duke of York’s Theatre, all week, £15-£85. John Tiffany's stunning Tennessee Williams' revival.
Escaped Alone, Royal Court Theatre, all week, £10-£35, £12-£30 concs. A menacing, joyous, brilliant return from the enigmatic Caryl Churchill.
The Pitchfork Disney, Shoreditch Town Hall, all week, £12-£28. Philip Ridley's disturbing 1991 play gets a slick revival from Jamie Lloyd.
…or see our theatre critics’ choices.
This week's best new art
Anya Gallaccio: Beautiful Minds, Thomas Dane, Tue-Thu, free. Over the coming weeks, a mountain in a central London gallery will collapse in on itself. Built from layer upon layer of clay extruded by a massive 3D printer, Anya Gallaccio’s work is destined – and designed – to fail.
Ben Jeans Houghton: ! Blessed Be :)) Merry Part :(( But Again!, Space in Between, Wed-Thu, free. Ben Jeans Houghton’s first solo UK show is a bit like a weird collector’s den and a bit like a mad scientist’s lab: wild, cluttered, but ordered with care.
Tim Noble and Sue Webster: Sticks with Dicks and Slits, Blainsouthern, all week, free. The series started out as wire maquettes created while the duo (who divorced in 2013 but continue to work together) were doing a residency in the Caribbean. Poor them, huh. Those little maquettes were then cast into massive bronze version of themselves.
…or see all London art reviews.
And finally
Win...a seriously splendid Fortnum & Mason hamper or tickets to see The Weeknd and get the full VIP treatment
Book…these gigs while you still can
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