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Things to do in London: October 2017 edition

By Lucy Brooks on 26/9/2017

Fill drizzly days and darker nights with new restaurants, unmissable theatre, world-class art and compulsive new TV shows. Culture Whisper rounds up the very best things to eat, see and do this October.

Frieze and Frieze Masters, Regent's Park

Everybody Frieze!

Ah Frieze. The money, the outfits, the cocktails, the sniffing galleristas (head-colds, or otherwise). Oh, and the art. The biggest art fair in the world returns to London this October. Two colossal tents take over Regent's Park. One houses Frieze London, a showcase of over 160 of the world’s leading galleries, where newly-discovered artists share exhibition space with contemporary art's most respected names. Next door there’s Frieze Masters, a celebration of tradition and history stuffed with Old Masters and ornate antiques. Frieze is where highbrow meets glamour. Serious collectors dominate the first day, then the famous and fabulous descend. (Beyonce and Jay Z have been known to fly to London especially)

WHEN

05 Oct 2017 – 08 Oct 2017, 12:00 PM – 7:00 PM

WHERE

Frieze
Regent's Park, London, NW1 4NR

Natalie Dormer to star in Venus In Fur, London 2017

Women are from Venus

Sadomasochism and star power come to the London stage in a new production of Venus in Fur, starring Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones) and David Oakes (Victoria). The ‘spooky sexy comedy’ has already impressed in America. It's an intriguing 90-minute play revolving around an encounter between an actress and a director-cum-writer in modern Manhattan. As the pair enact scenes inspired by Sacher-Masoch's novel (rippling with domination, submission, and desire), the comedy explores eroticism and power.

WHEN

06 Oct 2017 – 09 Dec 2017, 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM

WHERE

Theatre Royal Haymarket
18 Suffolk Street, London, SW1Y 4HT

Couture cuisine

Glamorous chef Martha Ortiz brings authentic Mexican cuisine to a new level. ‘Couture’ tacos painted with flowers and herbs exemplify her very different approach. The menu is a series of ‘stories through flavours’ as much inspired by art and literature as by the ingredients, contemporary techniques and her country’s history. And, from the staff’s flower crowns to the bright interiors and glinting golden wallpaper, the whole aesthetic is like stepping into an extravagant Frida Kahlo painting.

WHEN

15 Sep 2017 – 31 Dec 2018, Open 6-11.30pm every evening, Monday to Friday lunch from 12-2.30pm, Saturday and Sunday lunch 11.30am-2.30pm

WHERE

Intercontinental London Park Lane
One Hamilton Place, Park Lane, London, W1J 7QY

Take it to The Bridge

Titans of the stage Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr, former artistic director and executive director of the National Theatre, have gathered a team of formidable talents to launch their new project: an ambitious, purpose-built 900-seat performance in London Bridge. The Bridge Theatre opens this month with a sharp new comedy. Rory Kinnear stars in the the semi-true story of Karl Marx when he was a young 'broke, restless and horny' revolutionary hiding away in Soho.

WHEN

18 Oct 2017 – 31 Dec 2017, 7:45 PM – 9:45 PM

WHERE

Bridge Theatre
One Tower Bridge, London, SE1 2UP

British Library, The History of Magic: Harry Potter illustration by Jim Kay © Bloomsbury Publishing.

Magic for muggles

The wonderful wizarding world of Harry Potter is coming to a muggle museum near you… The world's largest copyright library will play homage to The Boy Who Lived. Twenty years after Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was first published, JK Rowling's magical world is explored in a new exhibition at the British Library. Combining original material from Rowling, snippets from Bloomsbury publishers and a wealth of ancient wizarding artefacts from the library archives, the new exhibition offers the chance to swot up on magic for all those aspiring Hermione Grangers.

WHEN

20 Oct 2017 – 28 Feb 2018, Exhibition opening times tbc

WHERE

British Library
96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB

Stranger and stranger

Stranger Things, the crepuscular, spine-shivering thriller that was responsible for many of our cancelled plans last year returns. Season two is set one-year on, in 1984. And we've been promised serious nods to 80's pop culture, an even darker series than the first, and answers to those questions that have been with us since the end of season one – Eleven? Are you alright? Barb will you be getting some justice?

WHEN

27 Oct 2017 – 31 Jan 2018, 8:00 AM – 12:00 AM

WHERE

UK Netflix

Take your tastebuds to Barcelona

A little burst of Barcelona comes to Soho as new restaurant Rambla opens on Dean Street this month. Chef Victor Garvey celebrates Catalonian cuisine with a three part menu: Cru, or raw; Mar, which features fresh seafood; and Muntanya, which features foods inspired by the mountains. Expect dishes such as fresh Mediterranean sea urchin with Spanish lard toast, smoked roe sauce, crystallized veal jus, jumbo scallop, and bocata de butifarra negra – a Catalonian black pudding sandwich – with green apple slaw. With interiors reminiscent of a laid-back beach front spot, this might just be the best place to recapture those holiday vibes.

WHEN

04 Oct 2017 – 04 Oct 2018, 12:12 PM – 12:23 PM

WHERE

64 Dean Street, Soho, London W1D 4QG

Dalí vs Duchamp

At first glance, they're nothing alike. One was an anti-art, anti-aesthetic Dadaist prankster, who used visual puns, symbols and everyday objects to call into question the definition of art. The other was a Surrealist and exceptionally fine painter, preoccupied with the dream-world of the subliminal mind. But scratch the surface, and Salvador Dalí and Marcel Duchamp have more in common than you might think. This autumn, the Royal Academy will stage Dalí / Duchamp, a major exhibition of paintings, photographs and conceptual sculptures exploring the relationship between these art-world giants.

WHEN

07 Oct 2017 – 03 Jan 2018, Fridays until 10pm

WHERE

Royal Academy
Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BD

Eun-Me Ahn, Let Me Change Your Name photo Eunji Park

Under my Umbrella

Think of the places where you'd least expect to see a dance performance. Battersea Power Station? Check. Shoreditch Town Hall? Check. The wasteland that is Silvertown Quays in East London? Yep. All these sites, along with traditional dance venues such as Sadler’s Wells, will host performers taking part in the 2017 edition of the annual dance festival appropriately described as Dance Umbrella. With a mind-boggling range of dance events, all across the city, this vibrant and challenging festival has something for everyone.

WHEN

11 - 28 Oct 2017

WHERE

Various Locations

Style, substance and escapism

Director Luca Guadagnino’s latest film looks like exactly the sort of lush sun-drenched coming-of-age drama we will need to warm those chilly autumn nights. Adapted from André Aciman’s book, Call Me By Your Name is set in 1980s Italy and concerns the first romance of 17-year-old Elio: during a suggestively sweltering summer, Elio learns to navigate love’s turbulent tides with a 24-year-old academic who comes to stay at his parents’ villa. Rave reviews from Sundance festival describe a ‘ravishing’ and ‘heartbreaking’ snapshot of youth and love.

WHEN

From 27 Oct 2017

WHERE

In cinemas nationwide

Things to do in London: October 2017 edition

Fill drizzly days and darker nights with new restaurants, unmissable theatre, world-class art and compulsive new TV shows. Culture Whisper rounds up the very best things to eat, see and do this October.

Everybody Frieze!

Women are from Venus

Couture cuisine

Take it to The Bridge

Magic for muggles

Stranger and stranger

Take your tastebuds to Barcelona

Dalí vs Duchamp

Under my Umbrella

Style, substance and escapism

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Must-Visit Art Fairs: London & Europe 2019