Events in London
» Whats On Events in London
Talks and discussions
* Celebrating Soyinka’s 90th birthday, nine-day celebration, including a display of his published works and photographs from his personal archive, films, live music, seminars, poetry; 22 July, Publishing Roundtable: African Creative Writing & Publishing in Global Market, Bankole Olayebi, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, Margaret Busby, Mike Abiola, Kabir Kareem-Bello; 23 July, The Future Is Now – A Decolonisation Intersection, panel discussion; 25 July, The Man Died, London premiere of a feature film inspired by Soyinka’s prison book, Africa Centre, 66 Great Suffolk Street, SE1 0BL until 27 July. Info: Africa Centre
Wednesday 24 July
* Their Borders, Our World, marking publication an anthology of essays on a variety of subjects by 12 authors (including Jehan Bseiso, Grace Blakeley, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Jessica Gaitán Johannessen, Lola Olufemi, Mahdi Sabbagh, Mirza Waheed and Zena Agha) who offer new ways of thinking about international solidarity, 7.45pm, from £15, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, part of You Belong Here.
* Expressions of Justice: Literature Vs. the Genocide in Gaza, panel discussion highlighting poetry in Gaza today, including readings on and from the genocide, 7-9pm, P21 Gallery, 21 Chalton Street, NW1. Info: P21 Gallery
Sunday 28 July
* 3EIB: Contextualising Spaces for Liberation, discussion on the practical, ethical and spatial challenges of envisioning a free Palestine, 2.45pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre. Info: Southbank Centre
Exhibitions
* Tavares Strachan: There is Light Somewhere, the Bahamian artist spotlights the lost stories of the people of the African Diaspora, £18, under-12s free, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, until 1 September. Info: Southbank Centre
+ Bahamian artists wants us to see the light
* Zanele Muholi, more than 280 photographs by the South African “visual activist” of her country’s Black lesbian, gay, trans, queer and intersex communities, including self-portraits, £18, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG, until 26 January. Info: Tate
+ Black LGBTQIA+ lives matter, shout Zanele Muholi’s photos
* Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King, the life and legacy of the maharaja, 1780-1839, Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, W1 until 20 October. Info: www.wallacecollection.org
+ Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King: glittering remnants of empire
* Gavin Jantjes: To Be Free! A Retrospective 1970 – 2023, more than 100 prints, drawings and paintings by the South African artist, £12.50/ £9.50 , Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX, until 1 September. Info: Exhibition
* House of Bondage, revisits South African photographer Ernest Cole’s Apartheid-era record, £6.50-£8, Photographers’ Gallery, Ramillies Street, W1 until 22 September. Info: Gallery
* Shadowlines, the world of Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide, £6.50/£8, Photographers’ Gallery, Ramillies Street, W1 until 22 September. Info: Gallery
* Antelope, Malawian, Oxford-based artist Samson Kambalu’s sculpture on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.
* Suspended States, Yinka Shonibare riffs on colonialism’s ecological impact, imperialism's legacy on conflict and peace attempts, Serpentine Galleries, Kensington Gardens, W2 3XA , until 1 September. Info: Serpentine
* Inspiration Africa: Stories Beyond the Artifacts, exploration of V&A galleries through the lens of African heritage. Free, every second Saturday of the month, V&A museum, Cromwell Avenue, SW7.
* Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence, an architectural style that, despite its British colonial beginnings in the 1940s, evolved into a symbol of a postcolonial future in West Africa and India, £14, Victoria & Albert Museum, Crowell Road, SW7 until 22 September. Info: V&A
+ How sunlight, humidity and independence made a new ism
* Heart of the Nation: Migration and the NHS, until 27 July, Migration Museum, Lewisham Shopping Centre, SE13 7HB. Info: Migration Museum
* Polly Braden: Leaving Ukraine, an intimate portrait of women forced to leave their homes following the Russian invasion in February 2022 — extraordinary journeys undertaken by mothers, daughters, teenagers and babies in arms, £12.75/ £10.50/ 21 & under, free, Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, WC1N 1AZ, until 1 September. Info: 7841 3600/ https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/
* Ibrahim Mahama: Purple Hibiscus, 2,000 square metres of pink and purple fabric woven and hand sewn by hundreds of craftspeople from Tamale in Ghana and embroidered with 100 ‘batakaris’ – robes worn by Ghanaian kings, free, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS, until 18 August. Info: Barbican
* Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music, celebration of the trailblazers and innovators that brought new music to the UK, and the layered Black experiences that have birthed a thriving musical culture and history, British Library, Euston Road, NW1 2DB until 26 August. Info: British Library
+ The music that changed Britain
* Raise the Roof: Building for Change exhibition, explores narratives and attitudes in the Royal Institute of British Architects’ hq, looking at gender, race and imperialism through new works, RIBA, 66 Portland Place, until 21 September. Info: RIBA
+ ‘One of the most racist things I’ve ever seen’
* Earth Photo, shortlisted images, free, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR until 21 August. Info: RGS
* Collecting and Empire, trail making connections between archaeology, anthropology and the British Empire. British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG.
* British Library, installation of 6,328 books celebrates the ongoing contributions made by immigrants to Britain. Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG.
Film
* Agent of Happiness, a journey through Bhutan meeting people from all walks of life, Curzon Bloomsbury, until 25 July
* Jat and Julier, stark opposites, Fateh Singh and Pooja reach Canada with dreams in their eyes. They cross paths and sparks fly - but life has a different plan, Vues Shepherd’s Bush, Westfield and Westfield Stratford City
* Bye Bye Tiberias, leaving her village to follow her dream of acting, Hiam Abbass also left behind her mother, grandmother and seven sisters. Thirty years later, her filmmaker daughter Lina returns with her to capture the stories passed on by four generations of daring Palestinian women, Cine Lumiere, until 17 July; Curzon Bloomsbury, Lexi, ICA until 18 July
* South Asian Heritage Month, programme includes 25 July, Polite Society, exuberant feminist action comedy that turns genre etiquette on its head while examining the complexities of life as a British-Pakistani teenager;
23 July, 3 August, Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, a daydreaming but discontented young teacher is posted to a remote Himalayan village; 26 July, Matangi/Maya/M.I.A, documentary chronicling the Sri Lankan singer’s remarkable journey from refugee to groundbreaking musician; 28 July, Blue Sunshine, a south Indian high school teacher who wants to transition from male to female has decisions to make when father proposes an arranged marriage; 29 July, 13 August, Original Copy, humorous and heartfelt 2015 documentary about the magic of film seen through a struggling Mumbai cinema; 30 July, 5 August, The Lunchbox, enchanting 2013 film about an accidental correspondence; 7 August, The Salt in our Waters, a young artist finds himself blamed for a environmental catastrophe in a Bangladesh village; 9 August, Shiraz: A Romance in India, 1928 silent spectacle about Mumtaz Mahal; 12 August, I Am Belmaya, rebellion, courage and hope as a young Nepali Dalit takes up a film camera to tell her story; 15 August, A Passage to India, 40th anniversary screening of David Lean's 1984 epic historical drama; 17 August, Girls Will Be Girls, a 16-year-old girl’s discovery of desire and romance in a strict Himalayan boarding school is disrupted by her mother who never got to come of age herself. Info: The Garden Cinema
+ South Asian film special: ‘Free to be me’
from Friday 19 July
* Zhang Yimou: A retrospective season. 31 July, Red Sorghum, sensational 1987 version of a bawdy and brutal novel + NEW DATE: 31 July; 20 August, Old Well, UK premier of a 1986 film about a university educated engineer who uses his training to find an operational water source for a village that is notorious for digging useless wells; NEW DATE: 29 July, 9 August, Ju Dou, a woman is newly wedded to a cruel dye mill owner who has murdered his previous two wives. She embarks on a clandestine affair with her husband’s adoptive nephew, setting in motion a deadly series of events; 24, 27 July, 5 August, Raise the Red Lantern, an educated woman is sold into marriage with a rich tyrant and has to negotiate a bewildering fortress of walls, gates, and chambers and three other wives; 26 July, 4, 15 August, The Story of Qiu Ju, a pregnant wife takes on a complex bureaucracy when she seeks justice from local and regional authorities after her husband is assaulted by the village chief; 2, 11, 21 August, To Live, a wealthy family is caught in the turmoil of the civil war and then the Cultural Revolution; 6, 12, 16 August, Shanghai Triad, gangster film set in the 1930s; 10, 18, 26 August, Not One Less, once-in-a-lifetime performance of 13-year-old Wei Minzhi as a teenager ordered to a remote and poverty-stricken village to work as a substitute teacher; 14, 23 August, 2 September, The Road Home, aa a mother wants a traditional burial for her husband, the story of their love affair unfolds in stunning colour cinematography; 17, 27, 30 August, Hero, a boundary pushing wuxia extravaganza, a richly romantic vision of history, and a somewhat controversial blockbuster; 20, 24, 29 August, House of Flying Daggers, a 9th century Tang Dynasty love-triangle with political machinations and deadly fight sequences. Garden Cinema
Wednesday 24 July
* Bye Bye Tiberias, leaving her village to follow her dream of acting, Hiam Abbass also left behind her mother, grandmother and seven sisters. Thirty years later, her filmmaker daughter Lina returns with her to capture the stories passed on by four generations of daring Palestinian women, Curzon Bloomsbury + 26 July, Garden Cinema;
Thursday 25 July
* Bhagwan Bharose, visually rich and engaging South Asian tale of an eight-year-old’s journey through faith and self-discovery + Q&A with director Shiladitya Bora, 6.15pm, £11.20-£13, National Film Theatre
* Snakeskin, Singaporean history is the backdrop for this multi-strand narrative exploring identity + intro by Hyun Jin Cho, BFI London Film Festival programmer, 6.20pm, £11.20-£13, National Film Theatre
* Polite Society, exuberant feminist action comedy, turns genre etiquette on its head whilst examining the complexities of navigating life as a British-Pakistani teenager, 3.30pm, Garden Cinema, part of Women Aren’t Funny season
Friday 26 July
* Faya Dayi, immersive documentary about the impact of the mystical drug khat on the Ethiopian communities that produce it, 6.15pm, National Film Theatre + 31 July, 8.35pm
from Friday 26 July
* The Echo, filmmaker Tatiana Huezo worked with three families in the Mexican village of El Eco to create this portrait of their everyday life, Curzon Bloomsbury
* Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to summit Mount Everest - now a single mother working at Whole Foods in Connecticut - returns to the mountain for another attempt, Curzon Bloomsbury until 29 July
Tuesday 30 July
* Persepolis, based on Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novels, this animation brings to life one girl’s longing for belonging and freedom, coming of age amidst the Iranian revolution, Lexi
Performance
* My Father’s Fable, in Faith Omole’s play, Peace discovers after her father’s death that she has a half-brother, Bolu, and invites him to England. But there are questions about his intentions, and desperate to keep her fractured family – and herself – together, Peace must face the fact that the answers she desperately seeks might just lead to everything falling apart,
£15- £25, Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Rd, W12 8LJ until 27 July. Info: Bush
+ It’s a (Nigerian-British) family affair
* London International Festival of Theatre. Programme includes 13-27 July, Echo: Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen, Nassim Soleimanpour and Omar Elerian, an uncharted theatrical odyssey through time and space, where unrehearsed brilliance meets climate crisis innovation, £23- £35. Info: LIFT Festival
* Echo (Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen), “asks us to confront what it feels like to be a immigrant in time, as much as in space … an experiment for the age of climate crisis”: a different performer each night (Including Benedict Wong, Adrian Lester, Jeremy O. Harris, Sheila Atim, Meera Syal, Mawaan Rizwan, Nick Mohammed) will star without a clue of what is going to be asked of them connected (perhaps) live from writer Nassim’s Soleimanpour’s flat in Berlin, from £15, Royal Court, Sloane Square, until 27 July. Info: Royal Court
* Death of England: The Plays, Clint Dyer and Roy Williams’ series of three state of the nation plays performed together for the first time. Watch one as a standalone experience or discover the connections between the plays as Michael, Delroy, Denise and Carly navigate the joys and challenges of what it means to be British in 2024, Soho Place, 4 Soho Place,Charing Cross Road, W1D 3BG, until 28 September. Info: Soho Place
* Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and US civil rights protester Rosa Parks are among those remembered in this musical, from £15, Other Palace Theatre, 12 Palace Street, SW1 until 8 September. Info: The Other Palace Theatre
* Oranges and Stones, told solely through physical action, a play that presents an image of Palestine spanning more than 75 years, Theatro Technis, Crowndale Road, NW1 1TT until 27 July. Info: Theatro Technis
Friday 26 July
* Single Black Femme: A performance lecture by RMB, Rashayla Marie Brown 6.30–7.45pm, £12-£8, Royal Academy, Burlington Gardens, W1S 3ET. Info: Royal Academy
Friday 26-Saturday 27 July
* Drum, in London’s BBC Broadcasting House, photographer James Barnor encounters broadcaster Mike Eghan for the first time: thrown together far from home, two rising Ghanaian creatives navigate their perception of identity, success, assimilation and home, 7.30pm, £10, New Diorama Theatre, 15 - 16 Triton Street, NW1 3BF. Info: New Diorama
Saturday 27-Sunday 28 July
* English Ako, a migrant boy searches for a grip in his identity — born in Manila, raised in England, a journey into adulthood as he battles between his Asian-ness and Britishness, seeking acceptance and a place he can call home, £12.50, Camden People’s Theatre, Hampstead Road, NW1 2PY. Info: CPT
from Monday 29 July
* That Boy Has No Shoes, visitors from Apartheid-South Africa want to tell you what they witnessed, £15 (South African theatre-maker Lara van Huyssteen pledges any profit will buy shoes for children in her hometown, George), Camden People’s Theatre, Hampstead Road, NW1 2PY until 3 August. Info: CPT
TV and radio
Tuesday 23 July
* Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners, presented by David Olusoga, 9.15pm, BBC 4
* The Words, play about an interpreter who meets a boy she helped gain asylum, 2.15pm, Radio4
* Crossing Continents, an inquiry into the meaning of the prop-Palestinian slogan “From the river to the sea”, 9pm, Radio 4
* Yellowface, serialisation of Rebecca F Kuang’s darkly funny mystery about a white American writer who steals her successful friend Athena Liu’s novel, 10.45pm, Radio 4
Wednesday 24 July
* The Battle to Beat Malaria, doc about a new vaccine, 11.05pm, BBC2
* Undercover OAP - The Mole Agent, a private investigator in Chile hires an elderly man to work as a mole at a retirement home where a client suspects the caretakers of elder abuse, 11.40pm, BBC4
* Yellowface, serialisation of Rebecca F Kuang’s darkly funny mystery about a white American writer who steals her successful friend Athena Liu’s novel, 10.45pm, Radio 4
Thursday 25 July
* Patagonia: Earth’s Secret Paradise, wildlife, 8pm, BBC4
* Yellowface, serialisation of Rebecca F Kuang’s darkly funny mystery about a white American writer who steals her successful friend Athena Liu’s novel, 10.45pm, Radio 4
Friday 26 July
* Yellowface, serialisation of Rebecca F Kuang’s darkly funny mystery about a white American writer who steals her successful friend Athena Liu’s novel, 10.45pm, Radio 4
Thanks to volunteer Daniel Nelson (editor of Eventslondon.org) for compiling this list.