London events in April
You can guarantee that April in London has some pretty amazing things in store. Spring has officially landed in London and Easter is just around the corner. With warm, sunny weather on the way, hit up the city's rooftop bars, which are just starting to open, take a walk around London's fabulous parks, and start picking out your spot to wave on the brave souls taking part in the London Marathon. April in London is also the month of Cocktails in the City, the Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race (or, the Goat Race - if you're more into goats that boats) and the London Games Festival. There’s a whole load of other London happenings, openings and pop-ups to get involved in. Here are our April 2019 highlights to get you started.
While you're here, there's no better time to start planning your diary for May too.
RECOMMENDED: Our definitive London events calendar
Our April 2019 highlights
The BBQ Club: Patch & Picnic
South Bank pop-up The BBQ Club returns next month, and this year you can reserve a private picnic spot right by the Thames - plus a gourmet hamper for four.
The Wildlife Walk
Turn off your phone and take a stroll around the Rainham Marshes Nature Reserve. It's guided by RSPB experts, who'll be able to help you tell your mallards from moorhens.
Reduce Speed Now!
This open-air installation brings together the world’s leading ecological voices, including 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and author Zadie Smith, and turns their thoughts into enormous, solar-powered LED signs.
'Fuel' by Kate Friend
State of the planet got you down? Check out photographer Kate Friend's images of the 100ft waves which batter Nazaré in Portugal, before listening to a panel discussion on the optimistic future of renewable energy.
The Monster
At 300 metres long and with 40 hazards, this giant inflatable obstacle course really is one huge beast. See if you can beat the wobble (and tackle the 18 metre-long mega slide), before thrashing around in a unicorn ball pit.
Silent Disco at The View from The Shard
The silent disco phenomenon reaches new heights at these exclusive Time Out events. Pick your channel and choose your side as three DJs battle it out over separate wireless channels, playing the best in pop, rock and party classics, while you dance the night away at 1,000ft. The View from The Shard is the visitor attraction at the top of Western Europe's tallest building, The Shard. With unparalleled, panoramic views, it offers visitors a unique perspective on the capital.
Maître Choux Easter Éclair Hunt
If you fancy something a little more bougie than a chocolate egg. Maître Choux will be hiding mini éclairs all around the King's Road over the Easter weekend.
Hito Steyerl: ‘Power Plants’
Social inequality made visible and lushly beautiful. Steyrel mixes nature and data to shocking effect. Steyerl is swinging her art like a club, and you can feel every blow.
‘A Simple Space’
This stripped-back Aussie circus show returns to headline Underbelly Festival. It's great fun, heavy on skill, light on bells and whistles.
Joan Snyder: ‘Rosebuds & Rivers’
Gorgeous abstract paintings that are thick and gloopy. These are textured stunning works of contemporary art.
‘Toast’
Watch the adaptation of food writer Nigel Slater's memoir, Toast. Set in 1960s West Midlands and it'll also set your tastebuds well-seasoned.
Edvard Munch: ‘Love and Angst’
Prints from art's greatest miserablist. The eyes of his works follow you around the room, and they'll haunt you when you leave.
‘Going Through’
A moving narrative of child migration. Go see the richness of communicating using sign language and the losses, as well as the gains, of integration into a new kind of life.
The Chocolate Cocktail Club
Kove chocolate and cocktails? Then prepare for a serious sugar rush at this pop-up which combines the two. Your ticket includes a chocolate martini, which you can chuck back while you check out the menu of chocolatey twists on classic cocktails.
Joan Cornellà: ‘I’m Good Thanks’
Surreal, grotesque cartoons with a horrible sense of humour. Cornellaá is nasty, critical, cynical, misanthropic: it's great. What lacks in tact, it more than makes up for it in hilarity.
‘The Crucible’
A trippy, haunting take on Miller's classic. It's atmospheric as hell and it's a dazzlingly weird look at a collapsing community.
‘Top Girls’
Caryl Churchill's iconic feminist masterpiece. Lyndsey Turner's massive production is a once-in-a-lifetime staging.
Emma Kunz: ‘Visionary Drawings’
Stunning geometric drawings from a healer and naturopath. The Serpentine has become a great place to sit and look at something beautiful. This is art to soothe your soul.
Flea at Vinegar Yard
Formerly Flea at Flat Iron Square, this vintage and makers' market has moved to Vinegar Yard, bringing heaps of old books, clothing, specs, and cameras with it.
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Want to catch the cherry blossom season? Hurry, it won't stick around for long - here's were to get your bloss on in London.
Easter in London
There's a lot to like about Easter in London – two whole days off, gratuitous chocolate consumption and if we're lucky, some springtime sunshine. Spend the year's first bank holiday hitting up spring fairs, wild nights out and giant Easter Egg hunts.
Horniman Easter Fair
Get stuck into the Easter trail, settle in for family-friendly theatre, join a creative workshop or just sit back and relax while someone paints bunny whiskers on your face at this fun fair.
‘Richard II’
Adjoa Andoh stars in this adaptation of the Bard's ‘Richard II’. In the hands of a top-notch cast of women of colour, the commonwealth-obsessed noblemen at the centre of this Shakespearean tale appear increasingly pathetic.
Sixty Years
Tate Britain's biggest show of the year will feature works produced only by women and will look back on the history of British art in the last 60 years. Celebrate the country's most important artists like Susan Hiller and Bridget Riley. Now that's what we call girl power.
Power Up
It’s technically a Science Museum exhibition, but ‘Power UP’ is really an arcade of 160 consoles spanning 40 years of gaming history, from Pong and Pac-Man to the latest VR experiences.
5km Street Art Running Tour
Build up your calves and your brain on this run through spray can-strewn east London. Spot works by Banksy, Zabou, Phlegm and more as you pound the pavements and learn all about their art and inspirations along the way.
David Salle: ‘Musicality and Humour’
Silly cartoons, bawdy humour and advertising imagery: it sounds silly, but Salle is a master of visual composition, and these are brilliant paintings.
Vaisakhi Festival
Twenty million people worldwide celebrate Sikh New Year. Head to this free festival in Trafalgar Square with talks, traditional food, turban tying and a jam-packed programme of live performances and kirtan (spiritual music) sessions.
‘Downstate’
Bruce Norris's drama about a quartet of sex offenders. Behind the dark humour, it's smart and sensitive.
Hendrix Talks
Hey there voodoo chile. If you can't get enough Jimi, head to this series of talks focusing on how Jimi Hendrix used the guitar and changed the way we think about music.
‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’
A touching look at 200 years of art inspired by sadness. It's not just nice painting, it makes an important point about mental health to boot.
‘Shadows of War: Roger Fenton’s Photographs of the Crimea 1855’
In 1855, Roger Fenton arrived in the Crimea to photograph scenes and figures from the ongoing Crimean War. There hasn’t been a London show of Fenton’s creations since 1856. That’s a shame because this small show is a fascinating early example of what we now call war photography.
London Marathon
Join the crowds of spectators lining the 26.2-mile route of the world-famous London Marathon and cheer on your favourite runners as they break a sweat while wending their way through the capital.
‘Bedrooms of London’
This sobering exhibition of new documentary photography by Katie Wilson captures the homes of some of London's 700,000 kids who live below the poverty line.
‘A Simple Space’
Prepare yourself for an hour of mind-bending acrobatics. Gravity & Other Myths return to the Underbelly with this contemporary circus show where seven performers push themselves to the physical limit. It's raw, frantic and delicate.
Diane Arbus: ‘In the Beginning’
This show focuses on the earlier years of the iconic photographer's career (1956 - 62), presenting almost 100 images, many of which have never been displayed in Europe before.
‘Fiddler on the Roof’ review
Trevor Nunn’s intense, dark-hued production of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ is as close as this Broadway classic could get to gritty naturalism. Andy Nyman is a real highlight where he makes wearily humorous work of the central role of Tevye, a dairyman bellowing ‘Tradition!’ at his five daughters.
Don McCullin
This five-star show is full of harrowing images of war and conflict by a true master of the form. McCullin knows how to hit you right in the feels. It might not be easy to see, but it's damn good.
Pierre Bonnard: ‘The Colour of Memory’
A survey of gorgeous lush, modern figurative painting. It's not all about light and joy, there's also melancholy here to make your heartache.
‘All About Eve’
See super-director Ivo van Howe's take of the movie classic. Gillian Anderson is phenomenal.
‘Follies’
Great shows are rare; flawless ones happen only under a blue moon. But Dominic Cooke’s revival of this wry, classy American musical, back for an encore at the National Theatre, is both of the above.
‘Is This Tomorrow?’
Artists and architects working in cahoots to build immersive installations. Some of this is ingenious, intriguing and a whole lot of fun.
Anthea Hamilton: ‘The Prude’
The Turner Prize-nominee brings a wall that looks like Battenberg cake and giant butterflies to central London. It's just as fun as it looks.
‘Elizabethan Treasures: Miniatures by Hilliard and Oliver’
See tiny windows into the upper echelons of Elizabethan life. These stunning works of exquisite skill make for a beautifully meditative art experience.
Martin Parr: ‘Only Human’
The nation's favourite photographer brings his Brexit-plus images to the National Portrait Gallery, again proving that he is a great recorder of human contradictions.
‘Come from Away’
This sleeper hit Canadian musical is set in the days after 9/11. It's a beautifully crafted hymn to the power of community.
The Chocolate Cocktail Club
Love chocolate and cocktails? Then prepare for a serious sugar rush at this pop-up which combines the two. Chuck back a chocotini, before glugging back some chocolate wine.
‘How Chicago! Imagists 1960s & 70s’
A group show of little-known pop-inflected psychedelia. It's mind-blowingly good, and huge amounts of fun.
‘Cultural Revolution: State graphics in China from the 1960s to the 1970s’
See propaganda posters and intricate paper cuts (not the ones that hurt).
‘Haiku Adventure: The Craft of Games’
New Japanese show. Woodblock prints and video games. No poetry here.
‘Betrayal’
What a way to wrap up Jamie Lloyd’s epic Pinter at the Pinter season: megastar Tom Hiddleston will star in Pinter’s 1978 masterpiece ‘Betrayal’, a drama about a trio of self-deceiving lovers which devastatingly unfolds in reverse chronological order.
‘Nelson Mandela: The Official Exhibition’
Although it's been five years since his death, the legacy of South Africa's father lives on. Immerse yourself in Madiba's life and come away feeling inspired by his actions.
‘The Renaissance Nude’
Take a titillating trip through the various ways the nude was used in the Renaissance at this show at the Royal Academy of Arts. It's nudgy, it's winky, and it's a lot of fascinating fun.
Franz West
See absurd drunken art by an Austrian who didn't give a hoot. who knew art could be so fun.
Dorothea Tanning
See the life and work of one of the most important, and most overlooked, surrealists. At her best Tanning produced stunning works of dark, twisted beauty.
Phyllida Barlow: ‘Cul-de-Sac’
Big, imposing sculptural assemblages of concrete and fabric: Barlow knows how to dwarf a viewer, but something about that is totally and perfectly calming.
Mecca: Players Bingo
Dabbers at the ready for this big boozy bingo night in a classic London bingo hall. There are big prizes up for grabs, a hilarious host, pop-up restaurants, mixologists and live music.
Sorolla: ‘Spanish Master of Light’
Joaquín Sorolla's a big deal in Spain, but little known in the UK. That's about the change with this neat show of portraiture, landscapes, social painting and dazzling sea scenes.
‘Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams’
The V&A goes bigger than a post-war circle skirt with this massive retrospect of the great designer. This is the biggest fashion exhibition the museum has staged since ‘Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty’ and it looks hot.
Edvard Munch: ‘Love and Angst’
It's the exhibition whoever invented the scream emoji has been waiting for. The British Museum stages a huge exhibition of Norway's most famous painter, Edvard Munch, focusing on the artist's unique ability to crystalise intense human emotions like grief, sorrow, jealousy and desire.
Artist Rooms: Jenny Holzer
American artist Jenny Holzer’s work is decades’ worth of statements, aphorisms, quotes and poetry. She takes words and sentences and plasters them over the streets, prints them on cups and condoms and sends at lightspeed along LED columns.
‘Van Gogh and Britain’
A lesser-known fact about the Dutch painter is that he was a bit of an Anglophile. Here's your chance to admire his artworks alongside those by British artists who, in turn, owe a debt to Van Gogh.
Anish Kapoor
He's done it again, he's done it again, Anish Kapoor, he's done it again. Head over to Ealing and get a load of his really shiny creations. Be prepared to be discombobulated (in a good way).
‘9 to 5 the Musical’
Check out Dolly Parton's own musical adaption of her hit 1980 film. It's gloriously OTT - and they do the title song four times.
‘Smoke and Mirrors: The Psychology of Magic’
Gather your newt eyes, fetch the cauldron and dust down the tarot cards: Wellcome Collection has a new exhibition exploring the magic of magic.
‘Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition’
The ionic filmmaker movies, ‘A Clockwork Orange’, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, ‘Dr Strangelove’ and others, are famous for involving some of the most ambitious sets ever created. This is your chance to see props, costumes, photographs and other memorabilia.
Panorama: London’s Lost View
Back in 1815, a French artist named Pierre Prévost climbed the tower of St Margaret’s Church in Westminster and started sketching. Although the 100-foot panorama he created was lost, the 20-foot painting he made as a dry run survived. Bought last year by the Museum of London, it's now on public display until September. Head down and time-travel – without having to worry about cholera, Napoleon or the Corn Laws.
Mike Nelson: ‘The Asset Strippers’
Giant machines symbolising the death of industrial Britain. It's overwhelming and poignantly sad.
‘Waitress’
Sara Bareilles's smash hit Broadway musical about a pie-baking waitress has made the leap across the pond for its West End run; Katharine McPhee stars as its lead.
‘Craft and Graft: Making Science Happen’
Get clued up on the latest scientific research in the UK. With 15,000 families of fruit flies on show, it might just put you off your dinner.
Insiders/Outsiders Festival
This year-long arts festival celebrates refugees from Nazi Europe and highlights their impact on British culture. Expect a vibrant and all-encompassing programme of exhibitions, performances and events across a variety of London venues.
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