London events in May

There are only so many theatres in London big enough to stage a proper full on Broadway musical spectacular, and with MJ the Musical off, the door is open for Beetlejuice the Musical to enter.

The name ought to make it pretty clear what we’re talking about here: Beetlejuice is of course Tim Burton’s cult classic 1988 film about a young couple with a very nice house who die in a car crash and are horrifed to observe – from a very surreal, bureacracy-bound afterlife – that some ghastly new people have moved into their old gaff.

The stage version is directed by Alex Timbers, best known to London audiences for his heroically OTT smash Moulin Rogue! The Musical – you can expect similar amounts of excess here.

Isn’t it lovely when things turn out better than you imagined? Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway are reunited for this updated on the classic fashion world caper, which has all the sass and energy of the 2006 original but none of the lazy repetition and box-ticking fan service that blights this kind of reboot (Tron, Ghostbusters, any number of Halloween movies). Dig your cerulean sweater for a cinema trip with undeniable style. 

Tucked inside the five-star Andaz London Liverpool Street by Hyatt, the Oak Room is one of London’s most intimate and atmospheric hidden spaces. Between May and July, award-winning magician Tony Middleton ‘Sonic’ invites audiences to a series of exclusive drawing room performances, exploring sleight of hand, mind-reading and feats that seem impossible.

With 12 years of The Magic Hour under his belt, Middleton is a master of close-up and parlour magic — and this new show promises something darker, more secretive and utterly spellbinding. It’s a rare chance to experience magic up close in one of the city’s most elusive and atmospheric venues. 

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If you’ll always carry a torch for your teenage celeb crush, then this one’s for you. From the internet’s impact on beauty trends to all things cute and cuddly, Somerset House has a history of delving into contemporary pop cultural trends with its exhibition programming, and it continues in a similar vein with its spring 2026 exhibition. In Holy Pop! Somerset House will explore the power of fandom and the world of modern shrines. Through art, memorabilia, letters, photographs, and interactive installations, the pay what you can exhibition will uncover the rituals of idolisation, showing how fandom shapes identity, values, and community. 

Much-hyped young playwright Ava Pickett’s superb debut play 1536 follows three young women who meet at the outskirts of an Essex village to discuss love, life and Anne Boleyn’s execution. It’s a brilliant, bold debut play featuring some bleakly astute observations on the power dynamics between men and women that go considerably beyond the Early Modern Period, it was a hit for the Almeida, it transfers to the West End’s Ambassadors Theatre this month. 

If you haven’t already visited Frameless, now’s the time. Escape reality through maximum immersion and experience 42 masterpieces from 29 of the world’s most iconic artists, each reimagined beyond belief, through cutting-edge technology. Situated in Marble Arch, Frameless plays host to four unique galleries with hypnotic visuals and a dazzling score. Enjoy 90 minutes of surreal artwork from Bosch, Dalí and more for just £23.60.

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Henry Moore’s bulbous and undulating sculptures were designed to be seen outside and surrounded by nature. So we’re happy to say that Kew is displaying a huge collection of his works as they were intended at this mega exhibition. The world’s biggest ever exhibition of Moore will open at the botanical gardens, with 30 sculptures on show in the open air and more than 90 works including carvings and drawings displayed in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery. Several of his famous and iconic reclining figures will be on view, as well as more abstract and amorphous pieces like the massive bronze marvel ‘Large Two Forms’. 

The first major European exhibition of James McNeil Whistler’s work in 30 years arrives at Tate Britain in 2026. Known as a truly global aritst, The Victorian oil painter re-wrote many of the rules of art, and was an early adopter of ’art for art’s sake’. The retrospective brings together the artist’s world-famous paintings such as ‘Whistler’s Mother’ (Mr Bean fans will recognise this one, IYKYK) alongside rarely, or never seen, works. It includes exquisite portraits, drawings, prints, and designs, from as early as his teens in St Petersburg to the enigmatic late self-portraits. 

Just shy of a decade after it was first announced as part of the £1.1 billion development of Stratford’s East Bank cultural quarter, the long-awaited V&A East will be open to the public from late April. The 7,000-square-metre museum will bring together exhibits that speak to both east London’s creative heritage and the voices that are shaping contemporary culture across the globe today.

Haven’t had a chance to check it out yet? Head down to visit its Why We Make Galleries, a permanent display arranged into ten key themes addressing the most pressing issues in contemporary society. You can also grab tickets to the museum’s inaugural temporary exhibition The Music is Black: A British Story, which explores how Black British music has shaped culture in Britain and beyond.

Back for its 21st birthday, Foodies Festival rolls into Syon Park for a long weekend packed with chef demos, street food and full-throttle summer energy. Big names including Dhruv Baker, Thomas Frake and Mich Turner take to the stage with live cooking sessions full of insider tricks, crowd-pleasing recipes and plenty of inspiration to take back to your own kitchen. Across the festival, there’s a buzzing street food village, artisan producers, fiery chilli challenges and family-friendly fun, with enough tastings and tempting bites to keep you grazing all day. Then, as evening lands, live sets from Scouting for Girls, Boyzlife and Gareth Gates no less, turn it from foodie heaven into a proper summer party.

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One of the leading painters of 17th-century Spain, the first ever exhibition dedicated to Zurbarán is coming to the National Gallery. If you’re looking for a bit of solemn reflection, this exhibition could be the place for it – celebrated for their naturalism and emotional depth, Zurbarán’s paintings include stunning life-size depictions of saints, soaring altarpieces and contemplative still lifes. 

Six by Nico returns to Time Out with its latest tasting menu, heading straight to Seoul and drawing on a research trip that saw the team dive deep into the city’s food scene. Over three days, they moved through basement kitchens, chef-led tastings and cultural spaces that revealed just how layered and expressive Korean cooking can be. That journey now shapes a six-course menu built around memory, technique and bold flavour. Expect dishes that pull from tradition but land with a modern edge, each one tied back to moments from the trip that stuck long after returning to London. It’s immersive, confident cooking that turns travel into a tasting experience.

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Fashion brands at the pinnacle of hype culture – think A Bathing Ape, Kenzo and Human Made – will get a look in at the Design Museum in an exhibition dedicated to Japanese designer and OG hypebeast NIGO. Through more than 700 objects, with 600 from NIGO’s personal archive, the exhibition will follow the designer’s career from Harajuku to Paris and will include rarely before seen BAPE fashion and a recreation of NIGO’s teenage bedroom. Brands to feature will include Nike, Pepsi, Louis Vuitton, Snoopy, Uniqlo, Nintendo, Sesame Street and Disney. 

Three emerging US artists – Jenna Bliss, Buck Ellison and Jasmine Gregory – explore ideas of class, inheritance and assumed values, framed by their experiences of coming of age in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Through different mediums – moving image, photography and painting and assemblage – each artist examines what it means to enter adulthood in an era of financial collapse, incorporating themes of wealth inequity, art as an asset class, and what commodity culture looks like today. 

Artistic director Michelle Terry’s new thing for Globe summer seasons seem to be giving one slot over to a classic twentieth century play and let them have fun in the Elizabethan playhouse’s big, uncoventional space. Last year it was Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, and this year it’ll be young Bertold Brecht’s turn to make his debut as Elle While directs his 1939 anti-war classic Mother Courage and Her Children. Terry herself will take on the eponymous role of war profiteer Mother Courage, whose children are gradually killed off by the conflicts she herself profits from. All other casting is TBC.

After four decades of underuse, the Barbican has decided its time to resurrect its grand sculpture court which sits above the Concert Hall and is framed by the curve of Frobisher Crescent. To kick things off, the court will host a major public artwork by Colombian sculptor Delcy Morelos. Inspired by ancestral Andean cosmovisions, and drawing on minimalism and abstraction, Morelos’ installations are hand built from clay, soil, hay and plant seed. By embedding the loam with spices, including cinnamon and cloves, Morelos transforms her sculptures into multi-sensory environments.  

The Natural History Museum’s temporary 2026 exhibition offers a sop to the dinosaur-loving masses without technically being about dinosaurs, focussing instead on the weird, wonderful and terrifying world of prehistoric sea monsters. Think pliosaurs, think ichthyosaurs, think think mosasaurs – whose profile shot right up after being featured as the ultimate reptillian killer in Jurassic World. We’re not quite clear what this show will involve specifically at this stage, but the NHM’s temporary exhibitions are always a delight, far more spacious and with far more technologically advanced interactive exhibits than its delightful but creaky dinosaur room. 

Understand the history of HIV and the major global health challenge it still poses in the world today through stories of protest and care, photography, film and archival material in this new Wellcome Collection display. Across two rooms, Tenderness & Rage will explore the UK’s 1980-90s AIDS epidemic, contemporary experiences of HIV in the Global South and reveal how activist groups and volunteer-led organisations have supported and campaigned for those living with HIV. It will also spotlight the much-overlooked experience of women living with HIV in the UK and globally.