Things to do in London this week

What to do and see in London this week, Monday 19 May to Friday 23 May: The coolest, cultural, current events in London as selected by the Culture Whisper team. 

London summer festival season begins

Dazed and confused by unexpected sunshine and wondering how to make the most of it while it lasts? In food festivals, London can hold its own, and we recommend you start with Shoreditch’s Urban Food Fest . Every Saturday night a street food night market springs up in Euro Car Parks on Shoreditch High Street, offering 15 different stalls, drinks and seating. Also on our radar: Street Feast London , who pioneered the concept, and are back at Dalston Yard every Friday and Saturday until September. 

The festival season is upon us and no area is too small or theme too niche. Take the  Clerkenwell Design Festival , now in its fifth year, which offers brands and professionals an opportunity to talk about and showcase their new work to each other and the public. For design-obsessives, it’s a great place to pick up ideas for statement furniture or the latest innovations in lighting. 

Tickets for the Proms, in London

Not so niche are tickets for the BBC Proms , which went on sale on Saturday 17 May. If you missed our heads up, never fear: promming tickets, sold on the day only, are available for all performances – just remember to turn up early to queue. Advance tickets are still available for the Proms in the Park, an open-air featuring the BBC Concert Orchestra along with Pumeza Matshikiza, Rufus Wainwright and Earth, Wind & Fire.

London Plays of the week

The Playhouse Theatre has taken pity on Londoners desperate to snag a ticket to the new stage adaptation of 1984 , a transfer from the Almeida which has wowed critics and audiences alike, and extended its run until 23 August. Can Rupert Goold, the Almeida's newest Artistic Director, do no wrong? It seems not, as far as London’s theatregoers are concerned, since he's scored hit after hit since his appointment late last year. 

Meanwhile at the Globe, tickets are still available for Antony and Cleopatra – considerably easier on the eye and stomach than the notoriously blood-curdling Titus still also showing at the Globe. Eve Best is Cleopatra, with Clive Wood as Antony. 

Visual arts feast

A visit to a new  Richard Long exhibition would take you off grid in more ways than one. His photographs, sculptures, paintings and typographical artworks draw his travels through landscape, both here, in the West Country and Scotland, and in wilder regions abroad. Opening on Friday 23 May at the Lisson Gallery. 

Heading deeper into the avant-garde, we bring you the ICA’s retrospective devoted to the Polish painter, sculptor and filmmaker Walerian Borowczyk , famous for his erotic feature films but also a pioneering animator. You can see more from this ‘unrepentent sensualist’ at the BFI (the season opens on Tuesday 20 May).

Waiting for La Palme D'or...

Considerably more shocking for many readers will be encountering Woody Allen acting in a film not directed by himself. In Fading Gigolo , director John Turturro also stars as the eponymous gigolo, while Allen plays the hard-up friend he’s subsidising with the proceeds. Critics are calling it ‘hand-made with love’ and it opens this Friday 23 May. 

Finally, Olivia Coleman is slowly but surely turning into one of those magnificent British character actresses we’re so good at (not that she can’t do sexy, as the ‘dressing up as a prostitute’ episode of Rev just went to prove). Her TV BAFTA for leading actress in Broadchurch has inspired this Culture Whisperer to buy the DVD and explore the dark side of Dorset. Too much sunshine can be bad for your health, you know. 

The Culture Whisper Team

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