It’s time to finally get back out there and really start enjoying the culture London has to offer. Here are the best art and theatre shows to catch this spring.
EXHIBITIONS
Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts
From talking clocks to sweeping hallways, the aesthetics of countless Disney cartoons from Sleeping Beauty to Cinderella can be traced back to the French 18th century. Stunning decorative artworks from the Wallace Collection and gorgeous international loans sit beside the ingenious creations of the Disney artists they inspired in this lavish exhibition recently at New York’s Met Museum.
Wallace Collection, April 6 to Oct 16; wallacecollection.org
Football: Designing the Beautiful Game
It’s the biggest sport in the world, and this mammoth new show digs into every aspect of how the world of football is designed, from stadia to shorts, boots to branding, with filmed interviews with and iconic objects relating to some of the greats of the game, such as Messi, Pelé, Maradona and George Best.
Design Museum, April 8 to Aug 29; designmuseum.org
Japan: Courts and Culture
Who knew? Turns out that the Royal Collection holds some of the most significant examples of Japanese art and design in the west. This show brings together highlights from this outstanding collection, including rare porcelain and lacquer, samurai armour, embroidered screens and diplomatic gifts from the reigns of James I to the present day for the first time.
Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, from April 8; rct.uk
The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Raphael
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in Britain to explore work from across the full career (even though it lasted only 20 years) of the prince of painters, with exquisite drawings, designs for architectural projects and glorious, ground-breaking and breathtakingly beautiful paintings.
National Gallery, April 9 to July 31; nationalgallery.org.uk
Walter Sickert
Spanning the six-decade career of one of Britain’s most distinctive, provocative (though probably not actually Jack the Ripper, as some have posited) and influential artists, this mammoth show will feature more than 150 of his works from over 70 public and private collections, from scenes of rowdy music halls to ground-breaking nudes.
Tate Britain, April 28 to Sept 18; tate.org.uk
Our Time on Earth
Looking out of the window at snow in spring makes this exhibition at the Barbican Curve seem even more urgent. A call to arms to live our time in full engagement with the amazing habitat we’ve been born into, it will explore radical, joyful ideas spanning art, science and activism.
Barbican, May 5 to Aug 29; barbican.org.uk
In the Air
From 3.5-billion-year-old fossilised bacteria that first introduced oxygen into the atmosphere to delicate porcelain sculptures of the glaciers that provide a record of the air and our impact on it, this new Wellcome Collection show explores the relationship between the air and earth and how we can clean it up.
Wellcome Collection, May 12 to Oct 16; wellcomecollection.org
Weird Sensation Feels Good
Used to getting your ASMR fix from YouTube videos? Well, no more. This exhibition at the Design Museum is the first to bring the strange, calming feeling experienced by millions online when they watch random people whispering on camera out of the screen and into RL. Which will hopefully be less creepy than it sounds to the rest of us.
Design Museum, from May 13; designmuseum.org
Cornelia Parker
The brilliant British artist best known for Cold Dark Matter (otherwise known as ‘the exploding shed’) gets a long-overdue survey exhibition of over 90 artworks (including two shown for the first time) spanning immersive installations, sculptures, film, photography and drawing. Parker transforms seemingly everyday objects, from silver tableware to video tapes confiscated by HM Customs and Excise, into extraordinary, allusive works of art exploring issues such as violence, human rights and environmental disaster.
Tate Britain, May 19 to Oct 16; tate.org.uk
Feminine Power: the divine to the demonic
Divine or demonic, sure, but never, ever dull - this new British Museum exhibition looks at how female power and authority has been viewed across eras and cultures, through the figures of goddesses, demons, witches, spirits and saints. Now I’ll ask you one more time: whose job do you think it is to put your socks in the wash?
British Museum, May 19 to Sept 25; britishmuseum.org
The Morgan Stanley Exhibition: Edvard Munch: Masterpieces from Bergen
Some 18 paintings from one of the world’s most important collections of art by Edvard Munch, assembled in the early 20th century by Norwegian industrialist Rasmus Meyer, are brought together outside Norway for the first time, including several of his remarkable 1890s works from the period during which he created The Scream.
Courtauld Gallery, May 27 to Sept 5; courtauld.ac.uk
THEATRE
The 47th
Oh Christ, not him again. We were trying to forget about those psychotic four years when Donald Trump was president, but now the ever-prolific Mike Bartlett has written a play about him. Like a stress dream, it imagines the 2024 presidential race with Trump once again in the running. The orange one will be played by champion shapeshifter Bertie Carvel, who won a haul of awards for playing Rupert Murdoch in James Graham’s Ink.
Old Vic, to May 28; buy tickets here
To Kill a Mockingbird
The book has sold 40 million copies and counting; London audiences have been waiting patiently to see Harper Lee’s novel on stage. Highly anticipated then delayed by the pandemic, Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation is finally here, with Rafe Spall taking on the plum role of Atticus Finch.
Gielgud, booking to Aug 13; buy tickets here
Daddy
At last, Londoners can see the work of Jeremy O. Harris, one of the most exciting playwrights to emerge over the last few years and one of the most lols people on Twitter. In 2018, his play Slave Play caused a sensation and transferred to Broadway. He followed it up with this play, about a young black artist who meets an older white art collector.
Almeida, to April 30; almeida.co.uk
The Burnt City
Punchdrunk is back and if you know, you know. The world’s most beguiling immersive theatre company have created another brand new world, inspired by the siege of Troy, in their new Woolwich home. Jump in: no single audience member will have the same experience.
One Cartridge Place, to August 28; punchdrunk.com
The Corn is Green
Set in rural North Wales, this major revival at the National Theatre surprisingly doesn’t have a role for Liam Payne. But it does star everyone’s favourite telly actress Nicola Walker as inspiring teacher Miss Moffatt, who wants to help young miners out of poverty by teaching them to read and write. It’s directed by Dominic Cooke, who gave the National one of its best shows last year with his heartwrenching revival of The Normal Heart.
National Theatre, April 7 to June 11; nationaltheatre.org.uk
Prima Facie
Fresh from putting Villanelle to bed, Bafta-winning star Jodie Comer will make her West End debut in this one-woman show. She’ll play a barrister who defends men accused of sexual assault, but everything changes when she experiences it herself. That the super-cool Self-Esteem is doing the music has only added to the buzz.
Harold Pinter Theatre, April 15 to June 18; buy tickets here
Jerusalem
It’s back, baby. Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem is perhaps the most celebrated play of the 21st century thus far, helped along by a definitive lead performance from Mark Rylance. Now’s your chance to see it again, with Rylance and Mackenzie Crook reprising their roles.
Apollo Theatre, April 16 to August 7; jerusalemtheplay.co.uk
Oklahoma!
Another exciting Broadway import arrives in London: this apparently rather dark and sexy revival of Oklahoma! was festooned with Tonys when it was staged in New York. Now comes the chance to see it here, with Anoushka Lucas and Arthur Darvill playing the leads.
Young Vic, April 26 to June 25; youngvic.org
My Fair Lady
Cor blimey, the patron saint of elocution lessons is back to face London audiences again. Bartlett Sher’s production transfers from Broadway to London with an exciting cast, including Dame Vanessa Redgrave as Mrs Higgins. Amara Okereke, who was so great in the Almeida’s recent Spring Awakening, plays Eliza; Downton Abbey star Harry Hadden-Paton plays Henry Higgins.
Coliseum, May 7 to August 27; buy tickets here
Legally Blonde
An underestimated fashionista gets into Harvard Law School to win back her boyf, only to discover she makes an amazing lawyer and he’s surplus to requirements. Elle Woods was the proto-feminist of Hollywood when Legally Blonde came out in 2001, and a 2007 musical version was a smash, but will it still stand up for its first major UK revival? It’ll be directed by Lucy Moss, one half of the brains behind Six the Musical.
Open Air Theatre, May 13 to July 2; openairtheatre.com
The Glass Menagerie
Amy Adams alert! The queen of ‘should have won an Oscar by now’ hits the London stage to star in this Tennessee Williams revival, directed by Jeremy Herrin. She’ll play the iconic role of Amanda Wingfield, whom Williams based on his own mother, an emotionally volatile woman endlessly projecting her own failed hopes onto her children.
