Things to do in London this week

A quarter of a century ago, Tate Modern opened its doors for the very first time and it’s marking its anniversary this week with a series of workshops, talks, tours, free experiences, live music performances, DJ sets and food and drink offers. Witness live tarot reading as part of Meschac Gaba’s ‘Museum of Contemporary African Art’ exhibition, or watch a specially commissioned performance by Abbas Zahedi exploring ecological crisis and social justice. Marîa Magdalena Campos-Pons will lead a new performance responding to the building’s architecture and there’s plenty, plenty more. 

It’s been six years since the Lord Mayor’s Hot Air Balloon Regatta was able to take place, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic and, in 2022, 2023 and 2024, bad weather. Fingers crossed, then, the 2025 edition can take off without a hitch. The troupe will hopefully be able to take off this Sunday, May 11 (with some back-up dates in the calendar in case it ends up not being feasible this weekend.) Should they be able to take off (fingers crossed!) you’ll be able to spot them soaring past some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, from Buckingham Palace and the London Eye to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. The regatta isn’t just an excuse to brighten up London’s skyline, but part of a charity initiative that has raised more than £250,000 since 2015.

Returning with another array of non-fiction films, The Open City Documentary Festival is setting up camp at London cinemas this week. Barbican, Bertha DocHouse, Close-Up Film Centre, Curzon Soho, Genesis Cinema, ICA and even Tate Modern are all hosting the best in documentary filmmaking from around the world. This year’s edition will show 101 films and four Expanded Realities projects, from 21 different countries, including five world premieres and 16 UK premieres. 

After munching their way around Portugal and Spain, head chef Josh Dallaway, once of Sager + Wilde and former Bistro Freddie manager and sommelier, Sinead Murdoch came back to east London with bellies full of tapas and heads full of ideas. In a year-long residency at Cav – Tasca hits all the 2025 buzz points; there’s bold Basque cookery, an embarrassment of ferments, and a cocktail menu that features a couture martini fit for the racks at Dover Street Market. There’s something about the playful Tasca that makes it more appealing than other Iberian small-plate pretenders. Our only wish now is for this residency to become permanent. 

The home, migration, global displacement: these are all themes Do Ho Suh explores in his work, consisting of videos, drawings, and large translucent fabric installations of interiors, objects, walls and architectural structures. Often brightly coloured, skeletal and encompassing, this survey exhibition at Tate Modern will showcase three decades the celebrated Korean-born, London-based artist, including brand-new, site-specific works on display. 

Tucked just behind Greenwich station, Vintners Lanes isn’t your average bowling spot. Recently named Best in the World (seriously) for its jaw-dropping design, this boutique six-lane venue brings together vintage vibes, industrial-chic interiors, and top-notch food and drink. With this exclusive offer, you’ll get a game of bowling, a burger (beef, chicken, veggie or vegan), crispy fries and a beverage, including a pint, wine, cocktail or soft drink. It’s the perfect way to strike up some fun.

Enjoy a beverage, bowling and a burger at Vintners Lanes for £24.95, down from £33.50, only with Time Out Offers.

Patrick Marber’s reputation as a playwright was sealed with 1997’s Closer, but wowee his debut Dealer’s Choice is good. ‘1995’ screams a giant projection at the start of Matthew Dunster’s production, but this isn’t a nostalgia fest. It’s a remarkably prescient play about men, under pressure, playing poker. I’s a lean and thrilling beast that centres on a group of blokes who work in the restaurant in which the after hours poker games are played. Nobody depicts blokes on stage quite like Dunster, who is pretty much the Guy Ritchie of theatre directors and he’s in his element with this grimy thriller, getting the best out of his cast for what is, ultimately, an enjoyable story of terrible male desperation.

Despite recently winning what seemed like every single award that had ever been invented, and turning round the faltering fortunes of the Royal Court Theatre, there was never a guarantee that Mark Rosenblatt’s debut play about Roald Dahl’s antisemitism – and the deep trenches of dispute about Israel – would work in the West End. But it does work, brilliantly with John Lithgow stooping and scowling his way into Dahl, who in 1983, has a bad back, his house is being noisily renovated, is recently engaged, and has aalso just written a very antisemitic review of a book about Israel’s bombing of Lebanon. Aided by Nicholas Hytner’s crystalline production, where humour is never many lines away, he demands arguments play out, stink and vitriol and all, I guess in the hope that we can stop arguing them on repeat for the next forty years.

It’s a collab made for true film fanatics: US indie studio A24 is taking over The Prince Charles Cinema for A24/7, a week for a mini festival screening seven of its greatest hits. A24 has been behind some of the most exciting cult cinema of our generation and this is a chance to see rare director’s cuts as well as fan favourites. There’ll also be a pop-up shop selling A24 merch from 6.30pm-10.30pm each day. 

For two decades Ceramic Art London has been showcasing – and selling – the most exciting pottery from the UK and overseas. As ever, the work on show has been rigorously selected by a panel of experts at the Craft Potters Association resulting in a remarkable display of contemporary works that sets it apart from other ceramics fairs. Makers come from across the world and you can buy ones that take your fancy (prices start at well under £100 and go up to £10,000 for museum-quality pieces). A programme of talks on ceramics techniques and aesthetics by leading ceramicists is free with event entry. 

Treat yourself to a Mediterranean feast in the heart of Soho at Maresco, where Scottish seafood meets bold Spanish flavours. With this exclusive deal, you’ll get two courses, house sourdough and a glass of wine for under 20 quid – a serious steal in central London. Whether you're craving jamón ibérico, fresh octopus or rich paella, this buzzing spot brings sunshine to your plate without breaking the bank.

Get two courses with sourdough and wine, for £19.95 (originally £31), only with Time Out Offers.

Japan’s Edo period – from 1603 to 1868 – is thought to have been mostly a time of civic peace and development, allowing new art forms to flourish. In the later part of that era, Utagawa Hiroshige produced thousands of prints capturing the landscape, nature and daily life and became one of the country’s most celebrated artists. This new exhibition at the British Museum offers a rare chance to see his never-before-seen works up close (this is the first exhibition of his work in London for a quarter of a century), spanning Hiroshige’s 40-year career via prints, paintings, books and sketches.

To an extent, you know what you’re getting with a documentary film called Ocean With David Attenborough. And that is no complaint. What you’re getting is a well-researched, visually sumptuous celebration of nature and examination of the ways we’re ruining it. Attenborough, who turns 99 on the day of the film’s release, explains how there are still vast depths of the world’s oceans unexplored and how wildlife populations have been decimated by pollution and careless, excessive fishing. But this is not finger-wagging with some pretty pictures. Ocean concludes with significant notes of hope, and it doesn’t seem like forced hope either. Across the world, we see the experiments underway to restore the waters and prevent disaster. 

In UK and Ireland cinemas Thursday May 8.

Clown princess Natalie Palamides plays both halves of a fractious young couple – Mark and Christina – at the same time, with her outfits and wigs divided asymmetrically down the middle (Mark on the right, Christina on the left) in Weer. Add to that, it’s a parody of ‘90s rom coms: it’s set in 1996 and 1999 and the pair It’s a virtuoso piece of batshittery from Palamides. On a technical level it’s truly remarkable, but also goofy as hell, funny and ridiculous spectacle, with some delicious audience interactions and a high quotient of mad stuff (the finale is gloriously insane). 

Having begun life as a whimsical jape in a Sydney bar, The Empire Strips Back is indeed a Star Wars-themed bulesque show that takes up residence at Riverside Studios for a walloping three-and-a-half months. We’re not entirely clear if it’s simply pitching to the horny nerd market or if there’s a bit more to it than that. But if your main takeaway from the original trilogy was the Princess Leia bikini scene the you’re definitely in luck.

Discover Hackney’s fascinating past at this history festival packed with talks, walks and live events that'll show you the borough in a whole new light. Things kick off on Saturday at Round Chapel, with a day of talks exploring everything from cinema to migration to gentrification. On Sunday there’s a takeover of local National Trust property Sutton House, with punchy-sounding topics including ‘Invasion of the Middle Class Lefties’ and a pub quiz to test your local knowledge. 

Mohamed-Zain Dada’s new drama about a speed awareness course in Birmingham starts off in wilfully mundane Britcom territory, but ends up somewhere far more thrilling. Harleen, Samir and Faiza are a mismatched trio of British Asians who’ve each acquired nine points on their driving licences. This course is their last chance. Unfortunately, they have to contend with Nikesh Patel’s stupendously annoying Abz, the course leader. Despite the fact we never leave Tomás Palmer’s magnificently mundane hotel function room set, Dada takes us on quite a journey over 80 minutes. Things get tense. Then they get weird. It’s a thrill. 

Queer East Festival returns to London this spring with its biggest programme ever. This year, it’s expanding beyond cinema and into art and performance, showcasing theatre and dance, as well as film, from East and Southeast Asian makers. A vast programme of features, documentaries and shorts from 10 countries will be screened at venues including the Rio Cinema, BFI Southbank and ICA. Highlights include Crazy Love (Michio Okabe, 1968), an avant-garde cult classic, and We Are Here, (Zhao Jing, Shi Tou, 2015), a heartfelt documentary on lesbian advocacy. Look out for live and multisensory performances.