Things to do in London this week

The world’s oldest psychiatric hospital, Bethlem Royal Hospital, often referred to as Bedlam, looked after several famous patients, including Victorian painter Richard Dadd. Dadd, a former Royal Academy of Schools student and established painter, suffered from delusions whilst on a Middle Eastern tour in 1843, believing the Egyptian god Osiris was influencing him. On his return home, Dadd, convinced his father was the devil, ended up killing him with a knife before fleeing to France. First detained at Bethlem and later moved to Broadmoor Hospital, where he died, he produced some of his most celebrated works, like ‘The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke' whilst incarcerated. This survey exhibition includes more than 100 works, including rarely seen sketches and paintings and a series of watercolours made on his eastern travels. 

Homer’s The Odyssey first engaged Christopher Nolan when he was attached to direct Troy, 20-odd years ago, and he’s been stealth-adapting Western literature’s foundational text ever since. It’s definitely Nolan at his most formidable, a movie he could only make at this point in his career, with the full array of tools and treasure at his disposal. The ending, one of his very best. The thunderous near-three-hours of storm-tossed seas, clashing steel, vengeful dei ex machina, awe-inspiring monsters, and Oscar-bound A-listers takes unpacking and a second viewing will bring some of the themes and textures into sharper relief. Appreciation will only grow for Ludwig Göransson’s extraordinary expressionist score, the apocalyptic glow of van Hoytema’s nocturnal lighting, and Ellen Mirojnick’s opulent costumes. The results are mythical. 

Once again, London’s most ravey festival will take over Boston Manor Park with some of the biggest names in techno and house. Celebrating its 10th birthday this year, Junction 2 will span a mega two weekends with an absolutely stacked line-up featuring the godmothers and godfathers of electronic music alongside exciting contemporary talent. DJs announced for 2026 include Nina Kraviz, Adam Beyer, Franky Wah, Jeff Mills, Francesco del Garda, Gabrielle Kwarteng b2b Peach, I Hate Models, Miss Monique, Nicolas Lutz.  

On Saturday, central London will turn pink and blue as London Trans+ Pride celebrates its eighth year. Each year, it’s been getting bigger and more central to the city's Pride celebrations, offering a heartening display of queer solidarity at a time when trans rights are continually under threat. In previous years, a parade has marched through central London, from Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park Corner’s Wellington Arch. Since 2019, the event has sought to honour the memory of trans lives taken, uphold the next generation of trans revolutionaries and support crucial trans rights.  

At Impala, exec chef Meedu Saad (who has Egyptian heritage) reads north African cuisines through the adopted grammar of French and Thai kitchens. He wouldn’t be the first to filter a cuisine through Gallic techniques, but the latter, after seven years spent running nearby Kiln’s kitchen, is where it gets interesting. It’s Saad’s judicious control of heat and bitterness, and his willingness to push balance to its limits, that gives Impala’s fare its distinctive flavour profile. Fresh, verdant peas snap brightly amongst dry-aged raw sea bass, and surprisingly Frube-esque blasts of pink peppercorn and mashua root, as garum whips you back into adulthood. The harissa in a sublime squid salad is so vivid you can feel the sun drying the pepper on a Djerban rooftop, but it’s never too much. It’s a colossal, ambitious menu best tackled with a group of greedy pals. Originality is a genuinely rare thing to encounter in today’s TikTok-driven restaurant world, but this is one of the boldest restaurants in London. 

Somerset House Summer Series is back for another year. Held in the Edmond J. Safra Fountain courtyard, in the enclave of the iconic Neoclassical building, this open-air series of gigs has long held space for both exciting up-and-comers and well-known trailblazers from the UK and beyond. Spread out over 11 nights, this week catch veteran indie band The Cribs (Monday 20 July), Agnes Obel (Tuesday 21 July), ascendant art-rock outfit Black Country, New Road (Wednesday 22 July), Venna (Thursday 23 July), Raf-Saperra (Friday 24 July), psychedelic rockers The Flaming Lips (Saturday 25 July), and Benjamin Clementine (Sunday 26 July). Phew. 

As a rising star of New York’s avant-garde feminist art scene, there’s no knowing what brilliant work Ana Mendieta might still be producing if her career hadn’t been cut tragically short when she died in 1985 at the age of 36. This first major UK gallery exhibition on Mendieta explores her deep affinity with the natural world via her visceral, primal artworks spanning performance, sculpture, land art, photography and video. It features many pieces never exhibited in this country before, including several works from her iconic from her Siluetas series; ethereal, ephemeral, utterly haunting works that make the case that Mendieta is up there with the most important artists of the 20th century. 

Alfresco swimming season has officially arrived. To celebrate, Royal Victoria Docks is opening its open-water lido daily over three weeks for Summer Splash. And while other open water swimming can often come with a price tag, this watery oasis is free to use throughout the event. The lifeguard-supervised swimming spot also features sandpits, deckchairs and sunsafe areas to relax in. Head along to lane swim with a backdrop of stunning city views or look out for a programme of family-friendly activities. 

Director Simon Stone’s expansive adaptation of the Greek legend The Oresteia is trashy as hell and yet relentlessly gripping, its three-and-a-half hours whizzing by. The original story starts with one of the most infamous murders in myth, as Agamemnon sacrifices his own daughter Iphigenia to the gods in order to allow the vengeful Greeks to sail to Troy. Here, a non-linear structure maximises shock value in a way that clearly takes a leaf or two from the world of true crime podcasts. After a classic Stone opening scene that introduces us to dad Christopher (David Morrissey), mum Montie (Mary-Louise Park) and kids Augie (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Alice (Rosie Sheehy), we skip forward a decade to discover Christopher is dead and Augie is trying to convince a detective that he killed Montie in revenge. It’s Greek myth gone Saltburn, and incredibly fun. 

Another year, another spectacular line-up of classical music. This year, the orchestral extravaganza will feature 86 concerts across eight weeks, with over 3,000 artists taking to the stage, with the majority of the action taking place inside the grand surroundings of London’s Royal Albert Hall. There'll be the chance to hear visiting ensembles from all over the world, including The Met Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Mahler Academy Orchestra and the Spanish National Orchestra, as well as innumerable concerts and recitals from the classic music world's biggest stars. This week, look out for a late-night baroque concert, a collab between Mercury Prize-nominated singer-songwriter Nadine Shah and the Royal Northern Sinfonia and a Horrible Science Big Bang Prom. 

Watch people twist into gravity-defying shapes and perform experimental theatre at Ensemble Festival, a free two-day performance festival where some of the country’s most exciting artists will be performing circus, dance, and theatre. This year’s programme has been curated by Certain Blacks and will put a special emphasis on exploring identity and ecology through physical storytelling. 

Dig out your best cosplay for this annual festival, which brings a touch of Tokyo to west London. Hyper Japan is the UK’s largest celebration of Japanese culture, taking place at Hammersmith's Olympia Events space each summer. This year’s headline draws are performances from anime soundtrack regulars Queen Bee and TikTok dance stars avantgardey. Across three days, there’ll also be Japanese arts and crafts workshops, martial arts classes, performances from acclaimed Japanese musicians, a market with artworks and heritage crafts, lots of Japanese garb for sale and, of course, an irresistible array of Japanese food to sink your teeth into. 

With admirable chutzpah, London’s latest immersive exhibition offers not just a focus on a single event, but a journey through the entire history of human civilisation. Well, ‘entire’ is a bit much: rather than focus on heavily documented eras of humanity, Timewalk – a creation of the DEM Museums in Türkiye – is dedicated to using immersive tech to plunge you into a succession of semi-mythical ancient civilisations. Starting at Göbeklitepe in Türkiye – widely recognised as the world’s earliest communal gathering site – its various rooms will take you onward to Babylon, Ancient Egypt, the Maya, and Rapa Nui and more, with the idea being to present these vanished societies not as dusty relics but as living, breathing recreations of how they might have been.

Detour Discotheque is the travelling nightclub, which has made a name for itself by putting on club nights in highly remote locations such as the Swiss mountaintops, remote Scottish islands and Iceland’s Westfjords; its next party will be in the Italian town of Matera. Can’t make it that far? It’s hosting a party right here in London, taking over Somerset House, transforming the venue’s Setlist bar and restaurant and Thames-side terraces into a ‘disco time warp’. The venue will be packed with mirror balls and styled like the iconic nightclubs of ‘70s New York. Think The Loft meets Paradise Garage meets Studio 54, with the disco tunes to match. Expect spritzes and imported US beers on pour. And if all that dancing gets your stomach rumbling, the kitchen will be open until late serving tacos, pizza and salads. 

It feels like every choreographer is creating works inspired by raving these days, and acclaimed British choreographer – known for his tribal and high-octane style – Hofesh Shechter is one of them. Inspired by Berlin nightlife and rituals, Shechter’s new full-length work is a visceral exploration of rhythm and raw movement. We expect that his signature movement will lend itself perfectly to this piece that captures the energy of the dance floor. 

If you’re in the market for a meticulously accurate, 100 percent culturally sensitive drama about the events that led to the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand… then approach US playwright Rajiv Joseph’s play with caution. That’s not to say Joseph hasn’t done his research. His absurdist account of the recruitment and radicalisation of Ferdinand’s would-be assassins in the name of Yugoslav nationalism is very, very obviously not how it went down exactly. But this pointedly surreal play never pretends otherwise. This production – enhanced by a wonderful Es Devlin set that starts in the sewers and ends in a gilded train carriage – is simply so enjoyable. It’s a delicious cackle in the dark, at a subject that’s not becoming irrelevant anytime soon.

Edmond Rostan’s French classic is anything but stuffy in this RSC transfer. Co-adaptors Simon Evans (who also directs) and Debris Stevenson restore the work to 1640 France – a time when the country was stuck in the Thirty Years’ War – and yes, it comes with all the trimmings of that era (pocket swords! Mournful violin players!). It’s very much the romantic tragicomedy Rostand wrote, but despite its period setting, it feels wholly current. Adrien Lester’s Cyrano appears as a man of swaggering confidence and Susannah Fielding’s Roxane is sardonically chipper, with girl-next-door energy. It all makes for a five-star play, oozing with bittersweet longing and stirring down to its last jot. 

Popping up each summer on the steps where the Regent’s Canal passes Granary Square, Everyman’s Screen on the Canal is one of the city’s best loved outdoor cinemas, thanks to its atmospheric setting, eclectic programming and the fact that it doesn’t cost viewers a penny. Pop down on a sunny afternoon to catch live coverage from Wimbledon every day of the tournament, plus the usual mix of live sports, classic movies, family-friendly flicks and recent hits.

Tate Modern has sold more advance tickets for Frida Kahlo: The Making of an Icon than for any exhibition in the Tate gallery’s 128-year history. It’s not surprising. More than seventy years after her death at the age of 47, the Mexican artist remains a cultural phenomenon: a painter, fashion muse, feminist icon and, as the gift shop attests, a patron saint of tote bags and tea towels.This exhibition explores how Kahlo became one of the most recognisable artists of the 20th century and a source of inspiration for generations of artists who followed. The highlight is by far the first rooms, which feature 23 exquisite paintings and 11 works on paper by Kahlo. They are accompanied by photographs she sat for, her jewellery, and a selection of Indigenous Mexican clothing from Kahlo’s wardrobe. 

Tucked inside the Pan Pacific London hotel, Ginger Lily Bar & Lounge makes a very good case for slowing down over the weekend. Available on Fridays and Saturdays, the experience pairs elegant surroundings with half a bottle of Taittinger champagne, served as sunlight pours through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

On the table, expect freshly baked scones, delicate pastries and neat finger sandwiches prepared by the pastry team. A selection of Newby teas and tea-infused mocktails rounds things off nicely, creating an easy, indulgent way to spend an afternoon in the City.

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