Here’s The Resident’s drop for fun things to do in London this March; from cheap West End shows, film and culture festivals to supper clubs and foodies events…
Photo: Tate
1 Breakfast at The Barbary Next Door, Neal’s Yard
The Barbary Next Door has launched a brunch and breakfast menu that takes its cues from Moorish Spain and North African cooking, as well as European pavement cafes and continental breakfasts. There’s an assortment of pastries, baked in-house – Sfenj, Ras-el-hanout pumpkin bread served with a pumpkin and sunflower seed clotted cream. Date molasses granola, as well as maaqooda – a Moroccan tortilla and aioli with pickled peppers – and ‘roadside’ eggs are also on the menu.
Brunch Service: Thursday to Saturday 9am-2.30pm; Sunday 9am-4pm
Address: 16a Neal’s Yard, London, WC2H 9DP
Website: thebarbarynextdoor.co.uk
2 Ceilidh Jam Workshop, Southbank
The second dance class in the Southbank Centre’s Mix & Move programme is on this week, and this one is a Celidh Jam with guests Folk Dance Remixed. So get ready for a right ol’ knees up and to bust out traditional folk dance and contemporary dance moves. No experience is necessary, and you don’t need to bring a dance partner either, and will be hosted by dance teachers Natasha Khamjani and Damien Anyasi.
Date: Friday, March 18; 1pm-3pm
Tickets: Free, unticketed, just turn up.
Address: The Clore Ballroom, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX
Website: southbankcentre.co.uk
Gucci Pre-Fall 2019, V&A South Kensington. Photo: Gucci
The Barbary Next Door, Neal’s Yard. Photo: The Barbary Next Door
3 Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear
Celebrating the power, artistry and diversity of masculine attire, this exhibition trace how menswear has been fashioned and refashioned over the centuries and how designers, tailors and artists (as well as their clients and sitters) have constructed and performed masculinity to deconstruct it and start again. It features looks from Harris Reed, Gucci, Raf Simons, as well as paintings, photograph, film and performance.
Date: Opens March 19
Tickets: From £20
Address: Cromwell Road, South Kensington SW7 2RLb
Website: vam.ac.uk
4 To Kill A Mockingbird, West End
Adapted for the stage by Academy Award-winning Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing and The Social Network), Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize classic coming-of-age tale finally reopens in London. On at the Gielgud Theatre, To Kill a Mockingbird sees Atticus Finch (but perhaps not like in the book) and his daughter Scout take go against the social grain in America’s divided south of the 1960s.
Date: From March 10
Address: Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6AR
Cost: Tickets from £40
Website: tokillamockingbird.co.uk
5 Flesh & Buns, Kensington
To mark the opening of Flesh & Buns in Kensington, the Japanese restaurant will offer 50 per cent off food for much of this month. Serving up Japanese izakaya and Nilkkei-inspired dishes, expect to tuck into small plates such as chicken yakitori and smoked pork rib, sashimi, ceviche, maki and bao buns. Wash this all down with Japanese whisky, sake or beer or try a Peruvian Pisco Sour.
Date: March 11-31
Address: 1 Phillimore Gardens, W8 7QB
Website: fleshandbuns.com
Flesh & Buns, Kensington. Photo: Flesh & Buns
6 Carmen & Madam Butterfly, Richmond
Award-winning opera producer Ellen Kent returns to Richmond Theatre with two classic shows, Carmen and Madam Butterfly which features the artistic director and conductor for the National Municipal Opera and Ballet Theatre, Kiev, as well as 30 members of the national Ukrainian Orchestra. Carmen tells the story of a bewitching gypsy girl whose beauty lures a soldier to desertion, while Madam Butterfly tells the tale of a young Japanese woman who falls in love with an American naval lieutenant, and is the inspiration for the popular Miss Saigon.
Date: March 14-15; 7.30pm
Cost: Tickets from £13
Address: Richmond Theatre, Little Green TW9 1QJ
Website: atgtickets.com
7 Astronomy and Islam Talk, Greenwich
A family friendly activity, suitable for children seven-years-old and older, A Royal Observatory Greenwich astronomer will guide participants through the night sky, highlighting Arabic tales about characters and creatures that people imagined they saw by joining together the bright stars in that sky. The event is your chance to find out which stars astronomers still call by their original Arabic names and what some of those stars are famous for today. The astronomer presenting will also talk about the moon and why it seems to change shape over the course of a month.
Date: March 26; 10am-11.30am
Cost: £10/£5 adult/child
Address: Royal Observatory Greenwich, Blackheath Avenue SE10 8XJ
Website: rmg.co.uk
8 Forest-Bathing at Kew Gardens, Richmond
If you’re feeling stressed and need to wind-down, forest bathing, inspired by the Japanese art of Shinrin-yoku, is a way to disconnect from all the stress and faff of daily life. In the beautiful Kew Gardens, go on a sensory woodland walk alongside an expert guide who will lead participants as they defrag from the everyday. Organised in partnership with the Forest Bathing Institute, and meet at the Waterlily Pond 15 minutes before starting time.
Date: March 9,17, 24; 10.30am-1.30pm
Address: Arboretum, Kew Gardens (Lion Gate) TW9 3AE
Cost: £60, member discounts available
Website: kew.org
Phyllostachys angusta, Kew Gardens Richmond. Photo: Kew Gardens
Hannah Gadsby, Soho. Photo: The London Palladium
9 Hannah Gadsby, Soho
Funny and thought-provoking, award-winning Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby brings her new show to The London Palladium this March. After winning an Emmy and a Peabody and recording a show for Netflix, 2020 saw Hannah bunker down in her homeland down under pondering what would come next. That initial seed has now grown into a show, Body of Work, and this is your chance to see this A-grade writer and performer.
Date: March 15-19
Cost: Tickets from £34.15
Address: 8 Argyll Street, London W1F 7TF
Website: lwtheatres.co.uk
10 Anne-Marie Creamer Film, Holborn
An immersive film by contemporary artist Anne-Marie Creamer, Dear Friend, I Can No Longer Hear Your Voice reconstructs the bedchamber of Sir John Soane’s wife, Eliza, who died suddenly in 1815. Through CGI animation, sound and song, the film is a mediation on love and loss. There is also a programme of events along side the film which discuss memory and bereavement.
Date: March 9 – June 5; Wednesday to Sunday 10am-5pm
Cost: Free but ticketed
Address: Sir John Soane’s Museum, 3 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, WC2A 3BP
Website: soane.org
11 London Theatre Week, West End
One of the best times to book West End shows, here’s your chance to nab cheap tickets to more than 45 musicals. Tickets start from £15 and participating shows include Mamma Mia!,Tina: The Tina Turner Musical and new Dirty Dancing.
Date: Until March 6
Website: londontheatre.co.uk
Sir John Soane’s Museum, Holborn. Photo: Sir John Soane’s Museum
Disney’s The Lion King, West End. Photo: Deen van Meer
12 From the Ashes at KERB Counter, Shoreditch
KERB Counter, a new bar and test kitchen that will host a revolving roster of emerging food talents. Kicking the string of residencies off is From The Ashes (ex-temper), specialising in nose-to-tail barbeque. Try sharing dishes of the likes of Short Rib Barbacoa and Achiote Celeriac, as well as a selection of tacos including cochinita pibil, lamb and anchovy. Behind the bar, you’ve got Gipsy Hill Brewing Co, East London Liquor and Redemption Coffee.
Date: Until April 2
Address: 1 Bath Place, Shoreditch EC2A 3DA
Website: kerbcounter.com
13 Crafty Fox Market, Elephant & Castle
Returning for the first Saturday of every month, Crafty Fox Market has stalls from more than 30 independent makers and designers, selling their wares. Jewellery, natural body care, art and homeware will be on sale at the Mercato Metropolitano, so there will be plenty of food and drink options to see you through your browsing too.
Date: Saturday, March 5; 11am-5pm
Address: Mercato Metropolitano, 47 Newington Causeway, SE1 6BD
Website: craftyfoxmarket.co.uk
14 Pancake Day Feasting
Shrove Tuesday kicks off March, and not that anyone ever needs an excuse to eat pancakes, Pancake Day is one. Leadenhall Market and Greenwich Markets bring back their much-enjoyed Pancake Day races, and a swathe of restaurants around town will be serving pancakes for the occasion. Want more pancakes? Sam’s Riverside in Hammersmith will have a chicken, mushroom and spinach pancake for mains, and a blood orange and rhubarb crepe for dessert and Michelin-starred Benares Mayfair will have a traditional Goan desert pancake on the menu.
Date: Tuesday, March 1
Crafty Fox Market, Mercato Metropolitano, Elephant and Castle. Photo: Crafty Fox Market
Aquavit Pancake Day, St James’s Market. Photo: Aquavit
15 International Women’s Day
There’s plenty of ways to champion women in London in the name of International Women’s Day. Marylebone Village has a week long programme (March 1-8) featuring a series of interviews, in-conversations, and mentoring tips from business women in the Marylebone community. Michelin-starred La Dame de Pic has a series of cocktails celebrating prominent French women; ME London hosts photographic portrait exhibition WOMAN IS ART by Marta Lamovsek; and NOPI is celebrating the women in the Ottolenghi group with a seven-course menu that aims to open up a conversation about women who work in the hospitality and food industry.
Dates: IWD is March 8
16 Bar Douro Supper Club Series, City
Portugese wine bar and restaurant Bar Douro launches its Journey Through Portugal supper club series, Saturday, March 5. Designed to take diners through the country’s diverse wine regions and local cuisines, the first evening of the series looks at the Alentejo region, where bread, pork and olive oil are key ingredients, and dishes include pork with clams and a traditional egg yolk pudding. Can’t make Friday? That’s ok, because wines and dishes featured in the supper club will be available as specials at both the city and London Bridge restaurants.
Date: Saturday, March 5
Cost: £45 pp optional wine and cheese pairing upgrade
Address: Unit 3, 1 Finsbury Avenue EC2M 2PF
Website: bardouro.co.uk
17 Astronomy Photographer of the Year, Greenwich
In its 13th year, the winning and shortlisted images from this year’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition are on display at the National Maritime Museum. From distant stars to awesome aurorae, these wondrous visions of the cosmos reflect our enduring fascination with the night sky.
Date: Until August 7
Cost: £10 and concessions available
Address:National Maritime Museum, Romney Road SE10 9NF
Website: rmg.co.uk
Mariam Emirati as part of I am a Woman: Sovereign by Nature exhibition by Marta Lamovsek,, ME London, The Strand. Photo: Marta Lamovsek
Bar Douro, City. Photo: Bar Douro
18 WOW festival, South Bank
Southbank Centre’s Women of the World Festival is back, featuring a line up that celebrates women, girls and non-binary people for International Women’s Day. This huge festival includes in-conversations, online events, workshops and talks with a diverse range of performers, activists and figures including Marian Keyes, Bernadine Evaristo, Elizabeth Day, Pandora Sykes, Bridget Christie and Deborah Frances-White.
Date:March 6-12
Cost: Session individually ticketed starting from £3
Address: Online & Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX
Website: thewowfoundation.com
19 Banff Mountain Film Festival, Islington
For lovers of adventures in the great outdoors, Banff Mountain Film Festival comes to London, showcasing the world’s best adventure film-makers documenting extreme expeditions, untamed characters and remote, stunning scenery. Films include Exit the North Pole, in which polar explorers attempt to ski 1,500km across the Artic Ocean, via the North Pole in -40 weather, 24-hour darkness and the threat of polar bears to boot; Link Star which narrates the first ascent of one of the last unclimbed mountains in Pakistan’s Karakoram range; and Dream Mountain in which an elite climber returns her passion after the birth of her son to climb the Nepalese peak Cholatse.
Date: March 14-15; 17-19; 21-22; 24-25
Cost: From £16.71
Address: Union Chapel, Islington N1 2UN
Website: banff-uk.com
20 National Fragrance Week at Experimental Perfume Club, Seven Dials
If you’ve ever been curious about how fragrances are built and want to know more about the kind of notes you like, Experimental Perfume Club are offering blending consultations to mark National Fragrance Week. For the cost of the final 50ml fragrance (£125), find and create your perfect fragrance and learn a bit more about what your nose knows and likes in the process.
Dates: March 21-27
Address: 53 Monmouth Street, WC2H 9DG
Website: experimentalperfumeclub.com
Deborah Frances White WOW Festival Southbank Centre. Photo: Southbank Centre
The Royal Observatory’s Planetarium. Photo: National Maritime Museum
21 Gunpowder, Tower Bridge
Wake up to a slap-up morning meal, Goan-style. Gourmand Bib-awarded Indian restaurant has launched a breakfast menu inspired by the flavours of southern Indian coast. Dishes include a selection of omelettes packed with flavoursome combos; crab with grilled tomatoes, chilli and tomato, chilli coriander and ginger omelette or an omelet served in a aromatic coconut-based curry sauce. There’s also more substantial dishes that is a kind of Indian take on a fry-up, or lighter meals too, such as cardamom pancakes topped with caramelised banana and creme fraiche.
Date: From March 14
Time: Monday to Saturday 9am-11.30am
Address: 4 Duchess Walk SE1 2SD
Website: gunpowderrestaurants.com
22 Surrealism Beyond Borders, South Bank
This exhibition showcases the broad, international scope of the surrealist movement, featuring works made within a 60 year span, from 50 countries. It shows how Surrealism inspired and united artists from far flung and diverse locales, and how the movement took root in varying places at different times, offering artist the freedom to challenge authority and imagine a new world.
Date: Until August 29
Cost: £18; concessions available
Address: Tate Modern, Bankside London SE1 9TG
Website: tate.org.uk
23 The 1920s: Beyond the Roar, Richmond
The National Archives’ immersive exhibition gives audience members to explore early 20th century life. It will take the form of a typical 1920s street, with visitors guided through the politics, protests, women’s rights and design of the era and ending in a roaring 20s nightclub, and draw on the National Archives’ vast collection of records, artefacts and expert knowledge.
Date: Tuesday to Sunday, until June 11
Cost: Free, unticketed
Address: The National Archives, Kew, Richmond TW9 4DU
Website: nationalarchives.gov.uk
Dream Mountain Banff Mountain Film Festival, Islington. Photo: BFF
Koga Harue’s Sea, Surrealism Beyond Borders. Photo: Tate Modern
24 Affordable Art Fair, Battersea Park
With a host of galleries showcasing original artwork starting from £50, the Affordable Art Fair is for art lovers on big and small budgets. Both emerging and established galleries from the UK and further afield will have stalls at the fair, featuring sculpture, prints, photography, painting and mixed media works.
Date: March 10-13
Address: Battersea Evolution, Battersea Park, Queenstown Road SW11 4NJ
Cost: Tickets from £10
Website: affordableartfair.com
25 Indian Sun: Highlights from the Ravi Shankar Archive, South Bank
Perhaps best known to Brits as the man who taught sitar to The Beatles’ George Harrison, Ravi Shankar was a sitar master, composer, innovator and peacemaker. His career spanned decades, continents, musical genres and artforms and this display features archival pieces and film footage which capture the artist’s extraordinary life. As part of Shankar 100, a programme celebrating his 100th birthday in 2020.
Date: March 4-May 15
Cost: Free & unticketed
Address: Archive Studio, Level 2 Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX
Website: southbankcentre.co.uk
26 VAULT Festival, around London
After pandemic related disruption, Vault Festival is back. Championing independent performers and artists the massive programme features more than 600 shows and the festival is now in full swing. There’s comedic odes to the naughties, a diverse line up of comedians, improvised Shakespeare shows, plays and queer theatre.
Date: Running until the end of March, with a smattering of shows scheduled later
Cost: Shows individually ticketed
Address: Venues all around London
Website: vaultfestival.com
The 1920s: Beyond the Roar, Richmond. Photo: The National Archives
Affordable Art Fair, Battersea. Photo: Affordable Art Fair
27 Nordic Exposure, Highgate
Across March and April, Jacksons Lane welcomes Nordic circus and theatre artists for a programme of diverse family theatre that capture the Nordic sense of humour, sensibilities and outlook, and all tickets cost less then a tenner. Subjects range from toxic masculinity to couples counselling and feature acrobatics, visual storytelling, puppetry and a trip to Moonminvalley.
Date: March 5 – May 1
Cost: All tickets £10 or under
Address: Jacksons Lane, 269a Archway Road N6 5AA
Website: jacksonslane.org.uk
28 Hidden Masterpieces, Holborn
Usually kept locked away, this exhibition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see some of the treasures collected by Sir John Soane, the leading Regency architect and prolific collector. From medieval Books of Hours to Mughal miniatures and drawings by Piranesi, Robert Adam, William Chambers and Soane himself, these objects are rarely displayed due to their sensitivity to light. Want to know about about the objects on display? There’s a programme of talks and workshops accompanying the exhibition.
Date: March 9 – June 5; Wednesday to Sunday 10am-5pm
Cost: Free but ticketed
Address: Sir John Soane’s Museum, 3 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, WC2A 3BP
Website: soane.org
Gunpowder, London Bridge. Photo: Gunpowder
Mischief and Mystery in Moomin Valley. Nordic Exposure, Highgate. Photo: Get Lost and Found
Credit: Source link
