The Time Out London blog team

In 2023 we got the shiny £13m revamp of the Young V&A, in 2025 we got the sprawling treasure trove that is the V&A East Storehouse and in 2026 we’re getting its long-awaited sister venue, the V&A East.  The 7,000 square metre V&A East Museum will open on Saturday April 18. And tickets are now available for its inaugural exhibition, The Music is Black: A British Story.   The landmark show will feature more than 200 objects exploring the impact of Black artistry on British music, culture and beyond from 1900 all the way to present day. Split into four acts, it’ll start by tracing the origins of Black music, then explore how Black music flourished during the war, migration and technological change of the early twentieth century, then focus on how Black British genres like lovers rock, 2 tone, Brit funk and grime began to emerge before spotlighting the Black British music of today and what it’ll look like in the future.  Photograph: Sam WhiteSam White, Skepta and Jammer, Run the Road, Fabric, 2005 There’ll be artefacts like Winifred Atwell’s piano, Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar, the Nintendo that Jme used in his first music experiments, newly acquired photographs of Kemistry and Storm, Mis-Teeq, and Skepta, and iconic pieces of clothing worn by the likes of Little Simz, Dame Shirley Bassey, Skin and Sade.  Jacqueline Springer, the curator of the exhibition and the museum’s curator of Africa and diaspora performance, said: ‘This exhibition speaks to modernity and long...

There’s one name on everyone’s lips in Theatreland this month: Cynthia Erivo, who trades witchcraft for vampirism as she returns to the London stage for the first time in a decade with a one-woman take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. That’s the splashiest show of the month, though if it sounds dauntingly hip a new Yes, Minister play starring Griff Rhys Jones and a reviewal of CS Lewis bio-drama Shadowlands starring Hugh Bonneville ought to offer more traditional delights. The other big news is a rare revival of the late Tom Stoppard’s masterpiece Arcadia – a generational event even without the poignant timing. Elsewhere the London stage is as eclectic as ever: the UK premiere of a play by the late Chadwick Boseman at Shakespeare’s Globe? Yes please! A drama about cavemen called The Shitheads? Why not? Read on to find out more. The best new London theatre openings in February 2026   Photo: Mark Seliger   1. Dracula Cynthia Erivo was a rising star of the British stage before the tiny Menier Chocolate Factory’s 2015 production of The Color Purple set off a chain of events that would make her one of the biggest actors on the planet. She hasn’t performed on said British stage since. But now she finally makes her return home in style: playing all 23 roles in a stage version of Bram Stoker’s vampire classic. It might sound a touch hubristic, but she’s in safe hands with Australian multimedia whizzkid director Kip Williams, who was responsible for the excellent Sarah Snook-starring...

We've made it, guys! January is basically over, and that means the greyest, grimmest bit of the year is receding from view. Gone are the bleak days where only the Traitors was worth getting excited about. In a few short weeks, we’ll be enjoying lighter evenings, the first spring flowers, and al fresco pints when warmer weather rolls in. But first, it’s time to give the year’s darkest month a good send off. And fortunately, that doesn’t have to mean putting pressure on your beleaguered bank balance. This weekend, there’s a warming array of free things to do that’ll provide the perfect way to dispel any lingering January gloom. Sip a free hot chocolate, marvel at open-air light installations, or see movies without shelling out for tickets – and give February’s longer days the warm welcome they deserve.  The best free things on in London this weekend, January 30-February 1 2026 1. Feast your eyes on the bright colours of Winter Lights There was a time when Canary Wharf was the exclusive preserve of the finance types beavering away in its glass-walled towerblocks. But it’s made considerable efforts to broaden its appeal in recent years, and its annual Winter Lights festival must be one of the most successful. Every January, hordes of thrill-seekers and amateur photographers flock to Canary Wharf to see an eccentric array of light-based spectacles once the sun sets. This year’s highlights include Sol, which is a collection of glowing planet-like orbs on Crossrail Place...