London events in April
Plan an amazing April 2020 with our selection of the best events, exhibitions and things to do in London
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 2020 highlights to get you started.
While you're here, there's no better time to start planning your diary for May too.
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RHS London Spring Launch and Orchid Show
Head to the Royal Horticultural Society’s Halls for a bloomin’ good Easter weekend. See vibrant seasonal plant displays created by talented local florists and CityScapes’ immersive urban oasis that demonstrates the positive benefits of being surrounded by our plant babies. Green-fingered Londoners can also stock up on gardening goods, seeds, spring plants, gifts and other horticulturally inspired goods.
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.
‘The Seagull’
The Jamie Lloyd Company kicks off a busy 2020 with Anya Reiss’s unique modernisation of Chekhov’s wistful masterpiece ‘The Seagull’. Emilia Clarke makes her West End stage debut as vain young actress Nina alongside a first-rate cast including Robert Glenister, Daniel Monks, Indira Varma, Danny Ashok and Sophie Wu.
‘Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company’
See stunning nineteenth-century paintings of the subcontinent. These names have been forgotten, but it’s time to start remembering now.
London Marathon: your winning guide
The race is on and the 2020 London Marathon is nearly upon us! Join cheering crowds and fancy dress fundraisers at the world-famous London Marathon. Covering 26.2 miles and shutting down roads left, right and centre, it takes over the city for one weekend every April. Ahead of this year's race, here's everything you need to know about running the London Marathon 2020, whether you're a road-pounding-pro or a newbie dressed as a stormtrooper. What is the London Marathon? Attracting professionals, celebrities and some truly ludicrous outfits, the London Marathon is a 26.2-mile race around the streets of London. One of the key London events in spring, it attracts just as many supporters as participants, and the atmosphere on the day is absolutely buzzing, whatever the weather. If you're out and about in the afternoon of marathon day here are the best places to catch all the action and expect to see weary runners propping up the bar at pubs across the capital. Those who'd like to run can enter by ballot or take up a fundraising place to go the distance via their favourite charity. Where is the London Marathon? The marathon route starts south of the Thames at Blackheath and passes through Greenwich before crossing the river over Tower Bridge. It then continues through central London before finishing in glory in front of Buckingham Palace. When is the 2020 London Marathon? The 2020 marathon takes place on Sunday April 26. The event will be streamed onto the big screens at
Cao Fei: ‘Blueprints’
Time is slipping, narratives are falling apart and reality is spinning into fantasy in this immersive show from Beijing-based multimedia artist Cao Fei, featuring VR headsets and an immersive recreation of her Beijing studio. It’s brutally relatable, time-travelling sociopolitical art about people and places being transformed by work and capitalism, surveillance and control.
British Baroque: ‘Power and Illusion’
A collection of saucy courtly paintings from the seventeenth century British Baroque period, featuring fat men in wigs, women with translucently white skin and pompous portraits of Charles II. Go for the drama, intrigue and sex. It’s like the best Netflix series ever, but on canvas. Well, if it ain't baroque...
Kimono: ‘Kyoto to Catwalk’
A beguiling look at the history of Japan’s most iconic garment, from the Edo Period (1603-1868) through to the Dutch kimono trade, Victorian obsessions with Japan and modern reinterpretations. This is another excellent exhibition from a museum known for its fashion blockbusters.
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‘The Phantom of the Opera’
Andrew Lloyd Webber's gothic spectacular is totally '80s in the best possible way.
Kehinde Wiley: ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’
A collection of paintings of real women that Barack Obama’s portraitist Kehinde Wiley met on the streets of Dalston, this show is a joyous celebration of black identity.
Romesh Ranganathan: ‘The Cynic's Mixtape’
Romesh Ranganathan - who is seemingly never off TV these days, with his own sitcom 'The Reluctant Landlord', Dave's 'Judge Romesh' and a team captain on 'A League of Their Own' – is back on tour. His material's smartly written, told with a permanently pissed-off persona.
‘Aubrey Beardsley’
The Victorians have a reputation for being buttoned-up, but Aubrey Beardsley’s black-and-white drawings are full of sex and death. This gorgeous retrospective covers pretty much everything Beardsley did, from early medievalist and mythological subjects through to illustrations for ‘The Yellow Book’ and explicit pictures of Ancient Greeks getting frisky. It’s audacious, bold, sexy and knowingly funny.
Masculinities: ‘Liberation Through Photography’
Guns and cowboys, beer and beards, this show might be packed with typical images of masculinity, but with it's intimate, erotic shots of soldiers and films of men crying, it’s also full of subversion. In a society where gender is ceaselessly melting into an ever more fluid substance, this exhibition makes you walk away asking infinite questions.
‘Steve McQueen’
A heavy-hitting art exhibition from Turner Prize- and Oscar-winning Steve McQueen. Go for a painful, moving and totally amazing show about racism, violence, greed, oppression, manipulation and sadness. It’s truly eye-opening stuff.
St George's Day in London
Sharpen your jousting lance for St George’s Day (Monday April 23 2020). The capital is putting its dragon-slaying skills to the test again and we've rounded up London's best St George’s Day themed festivals, events and activities below. The best part is, many of them are free. How very English.
‘Uncle Vanya’
Chekhov's great play about a group of melancholy middle-aged pals. Toby Jones is superb as an irritating bu lovable Vanya.
Steve McQueen: ‘Year 3’
The Oscar - and Turner Prize-winner’s project photographing our city’s schoolkids is a thing of absolute joy.
Mushrooms: ‘The Art, Design and Future of Fungi’
An exhibition about the mycelial meanderings in art, design and science. Mushrooms are now recognised for the important role they play in maintaining the planet’s biodiversity, for their nutritional value and for their mind-altering powers.
‘The Four Ages of Woman’
Art by women about women. And so much more. It’s topical, political, emotional – and well worth the length of the train journey to get there.
‘Les Misérables’
‘Les Mis’ is back after a light refurb. It’s the same madly OTT masterpiece.
‘British Surrealism’
A uniquely British look at the twentieth-century art movement, this exhibition provides a fascinating context for legends such as Paul Nash, Henry Moore and Francis Bacon.
Isa Genzken: ‘Window’
Come fly with German punk minimalism supremo Isa Genzken with his brand-new art installation about planes and spaces. Genzken’s work creates in-between spaces, nowheres and adds a bit of nuance in a black and white world.
Find great things to do all year round
101 things to do in London
London is a treasure trove of brilliant days out