Top ten Easter activities in London
Self isolating doesn’t have to mean no socialising – here’s our top ten things to do over the Easter break in London
It’s going to be one of the strangest bank holiday weekends yet. London venues are closed, and we all have to stay indoors. But there are still four whole days to fill, and Time In does not have to equal boredom. Despite the unprecedented circumstances we find ourselves in, Londoners are still organising brilliant, innovative online events. So many of the things we usually fill our bank holidays with are going digital: market visits, art exhibitions, even music festivals. For the first bank holiday of 2020, Friday April 10 – Monday April 13, you can tune into a living room concert organised by the Royal Albert Hall, catch a show from Cirque du Soleil, take a tour of the Andy Warhol retrospective at Tate Modern and dance in your garden (or doorstep) to a Camp Bestival DJ set. It’s not the Easter we were expecting, but you can be damn sure we’re going to make the most of it (at a safe two-metre distance).
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Take part in Borough Market’s Easter Festival
Big plans for the first bank holiday of the year? Um, yeah, us neither. But if you’re not sure what to do with your four-day ‘weekend’, Borough Market is hosting a virtual festival to bring the springtime Easter vibes to you. There’ll be hot cross bun baking, plant growing workshops and drawing and storytelling activities for kids. How’s that for a wholesome bank holiday weekend?
Go on a virtual tour of the Tate’s Andy Warhol exhibition
The Easter weekend is normally a chance to catch exhibitions you keep meaning to make time for, only all the galleries have shut up shop. Thankfully, many of them have taken the show online, including Tate Modern, which recently launched a virtual experience of its massive Andy Warhol retrospective. The exhibition – which features stacks of Warhol’s boxes of Brillo pads, dozens of Marilyns and his uber-famous Elvises – will be presented as a free-to-view, curator-led tour. That soup can feels pretty relevant right now.
Rent the stage show of ’Fleabag’ for £4
‘Fleabag’ has returned, but this time, it’s to raise funds for UK charities on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic. The West End run of the ‘Fleabag’ theatre show is now available to stream for £4 and the proceeds will be split between National Emergencies Trust (NET), NHS Charities Together and Acting for Others. It’s an easy, enjoyable way to offer your support. Remember, people are all we’ve got.
Listen to a living room concert with the Royal Albert Hall
Last month, along with every other landmark performance venue in London, the Royal Albert Hall closed in response to the pandemic. It was its first official closure since the Second World War. While on its temporary hiatus, the giant oval building will be taking its ‘concerts’ straight to the living rooms of musicians for a new digital initiative called #RoyalAlbertHome. The programme of free, nightly live gigs includes composers Peter Gregson and Alexis Ffrench, tenor Alfie Boe and an Easter Monday performance from Hard-Fi frontman Richard Archer and singer-songwriter Krysten Cummings.
Get streaming for the Viral Film Festival
Missing the cinema? Viral Film Fest is trying to revive that spirit of communal film watching with a mass movie-watching-session organised via Instagram. Here’s how it’s going to play out: they pick the film, tell you the best place to watch it, and when it’s over, everyone meets up on Insta for an interactive discussion about it with the festival’s curators. Up next is ‘What’s Love Got to Do With it’ and ‘A Star is Born’ (not that one, the one with Judy Garland!).
What about Easter fun for little ones?
The best Easter activities for children
Make the Easter holidays memorable for the kids with our basket-load of brilliant events and ideas