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London events in October
Your guide to the best stuff to do, see, eat and drink across London during October
The evenings are getting darker, the leaves are getting crunchy and everything tastes of pumpkin spice... it must be October. The Halloween parties might be a little smaller this year but that’s no reason to hibernate indoors. October in London means autumn is here and full of fun things to do. If you’re up for a fright, scare yourself silly with our guide to spooky London. October is packed with new openings, including the long awaited ‘Artemisia’ exhibition at the National Gallery, so get a load of our guide to the best events, things to do and cultural happenings throughout October 2020.
RECOMMENDED: The definitive London events calendar
Our October event highlights 2020
Halloween in London
When the days are a-darkenin’, we’ve started walking face-first into spider webs again and the shops are expecting an imminent order of pumpkin-related merchandise, it can only mean one thing: Halloween, Thursday October 31 2020, is almost upon us. Dust off your witch’s hat, rinse those vampire fangs and start honing your prosthetic-application skills. Nothing can possibly be scarier than the past eight months, but we’re willing to try...
Wigmore Hall Autumn Concert Series
Wigmore Hall is currently operating at 10 percent capacity but that hasn’t stopped it from programming more than a hundred concerts. Performances include operatic showcases, evenings with string-quartets, pianists, and even lutists!
Wetlands Unravelled
Not to be confused with the manicured Walthamstow Wetlands, this outdoor art exhibition is taking place in the reedbeds of the London Wetlands Centre in Barnes. The one with the otters. To mark its twentieth anniversary, the centre is carefully placing sculptures and sound installations among the watery habitat that you can view from a distance. Look out for Alec Stevens’s ‘That Sinking Feeling’, little houses that protrude from the lagoon, reminding us of rising water levels, while the ducks swim around them without a care in the world.
‘Talking Heads’ live
One of lockdown’s biggest TV highlights (after the frenzied days of ‘Tiger King’) was the BBC’s recommissioning of Alan Bennett’s landmark series of dramatic monologues, originally broadcast in 1988 and 1998. Now it is being brought to the stage. The Bridge Theatre, which worked with the BBC on the version, will be keeping the cast (which reads like a who’s who of London luvvies) and directors from eight of the televised plays for a season of live double bills. The small-screen resurrection of ‘Talking Heads’ felt timely and appropriate in the context of the pandemic, so its live incarnation should have even greater resonance.
The spookiest things to do in London
Get in the mood for Halloween
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