What’s on in London this week: 7 - 13 April 2025
Discover our pick of events in London this week: 7 - 13 April 2025.
Holly Blakey: A Wound with Teeth & Phantom
Holly Blakey brings two powerful UK premieres to the Southbank Centre, each deeply rooted in personal experience. A Wound with Teeth explores the emotional terrain of memory loss, shaped by Blakey’s own encounters with forgetting. Through expressive choreography, the piece highlights the resilience of imagination when memory begins to fade. In Phantom, a cast of 10 dancers will perform a precise, ritualistic movement sequence, set against a textured soundscape of ethereal electronics and pulsing rhythms by Gwilym Gold. Developed in collaboration with Chopova Lowena, this intimate work reflects on the artist’s experience of miscarriage with sensitivity and depth.
Date: 9 - 11 April 2025. Duration: 1 hour 20 minutes. Location: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX. Price: from £22 +BF. Book now.
Holly Blakey: Phantom & A Wound With Teeth. Image credit Natasha Back.
Kit de Waal: The Best of Everything
Award-winning author Kit de Waal discusses her new novel, The Best of Everything, a moving story about love, loss, and unexpected connections, in conversation with Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo. The novel follows Paulette, a woman with her future meticulously planned—until her fiancé disappears from her life, leaving her to navigate love, motherhood, and the complexities of caring for others.
Date: 9 April 2025. Duration: approx. 1 hour 30 minutes.Time: 7.45pm. Location : Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall. Price: from £17. Book now.
Mette Ingvartsen: Skatepark
Skatepark by Mette Ingvartsen, taking place from 10 to 12 April 2025 at Sadler’s Wells East, will transform the stage into a dynamic skate ramp, where skaters and dancers will merge the worlds of skateboarding and choreography. Drawing inspiration from the roots of skateboarding and Ingvartsen’s personal passion for it, the performance will celebrate a community driven by perseverance and the desire to push boundaries. The show will open with a prelude, spotlighting the local skate community as they demonstrate their skills on the ramp, setting the tone for the innovative blend of movement that follows.
Date: 10 – 12 April 2025. Location: Sadler's Wells East, 101 Carpenters Rd, Stratford Cross, London E20 2AR. Price: from £15 + £4 building maintenance fee. Book now.
Mette Ingvartsen, Skatepark, Image Credit Pierre Gondard.
Spring Plant Fair 2025
The Spring Plant Fair 2025 at the Garden Museum, taking place on 13 April, brings together expert plant growers and specialist nurseries from across the UK, offering a selection of plants for gardens, balconies, and allotments. Visitors can browse stalls from nurseries like Great Dixter Nursery and Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens, while enjoying a series of engaging talks and workshops. Topics include youth-led nature recovery, sweet peas, urban fruit foraging, workers’ rights in land-related trades, and tips for setting up micro-nurseries. Curated by garden designer Susanna Grant, the Fair offers a unique opportunity to learn from experts and shop for rare plants.
Date: 13 April 2025. Opening hours: 10am - 4pm. Location: Garden Museum, 5 Lambeth Palace Rd, London SE1 7LB. Price: from £5 Standard/ £4 Friends. Book now.
Hampton Court Palace Tulip Festival 2025
The Hampton Court Palace Tulip Festival returns with over 100,000 tulips in bloom, creating one of the UK’s largest and most spectacular floral displays. Recognised as Britain’s Largest and Greatest Tulip Heritage Garden at the 2024 World Tulip Summit, this year’s festival offers a beautiful showcase of rare and historic tulip varieties. Visitors can explore 60 acres of royal gardens, admire tulips cascading from Tudor wine fountains and vintage carts, and see floating tulip bowls in the Great Fountain. The festival provides a perfect springtime escape in the iconic grounds of Henry VIII’s palace.
Date: 11 April - 5 May 2025. Opening hours: 10am - 5.30pm. Location: Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey, KT8 9AU. Price: from £28/ £14 adult/ child. Book now.
The Hampton Court Palace Tulip Festival returns with over 100,000 tulips on 11 April 2025.
Loraine James
Electronic music innovator Loraine James will embark on a special three-day residency at Café OTO in London, showcasing her wide-ranging sonic style. Each evening offers a unique performance, starting with her Whatever The Weather alias alongside Fereday, followed by an original soundtrack performance for an imagined film and a DJ set from Astrid Sonne. The residency concludes with a collaborative show featuring KMRU and support from Vivian Forever. Known for her intricate, genre-defying compositions that blend IDM, experimental beats, and personal storytelling, James has become a leading figure in electronic music, particularly through her work on the Hyperdub label. This residency offers a rare opportunity to experience her evolving sound in an intimate setting.
Date: 15 - 17 April 2025. Time: 7.30pm each night. Location: Café OTO, 18–22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL. Price: £20 (£18 advance, £12 members). Book now.
Jan Lisiecki Plays Beethoven
Renowned pianist Jan Lisiecki joins the London Philharmonic Orchestra for an evening of stirring classical music, featuring Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, a grand and majestic work dedicated to Archduke Rudolf. Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski leads the orchestra in Sibelius’s Second Symphony, a sweeping, powerful piece that captures the beauty and intensity of nature.
Date: 12 April 2025. Duration: approx. 2 hours 10 minutes. Location: Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX. Price: from £14.00 (Part of a Multi-buy offer).Book now.
Jan Lisiecki. Image credit Mathias Bothor.
Carmen at The Royal Opera House
Damiano Michieletto’s acclaimed production of Carmen returns to the Royal Opera House’s Main Stage from 9 April 2025, marking the 150th anniversary of the opera’s debut. This thrilling adaptation follows the passionate and dangerous affair between the free-spirited Carmen and police officer Don José. Aigul Akhmetshina and Freddie De Tommaso lead the cast in this revival.
Date: 9 April — 3 July 2025. Location: Royal Ballet and Opera, Bow St, London WC2E 9DD. Price: £25 - £270. Book now.
Cinema
One to One: John & Yoko
On show at the ICA this week, Kevin Macdonald’s documentary centres on the One to One Benefit Concert—John Lennon’s only full-length performance with Yoko Ono after leaving The Beatles in 1972. Using this event as a springboard, the film explores eighteen pivotal months in the lives of John and Yoko, capturing their arrival in the US, life in Greenwich Village, and evolving activism. Through a vivid collage of archival footage—from Vietnam War broadcasts to game shows and adverts—it recreates the world as the couple saw it. Featuring never-before-seen home videos and recordings, the film offers a fresh, intimate perspective on a transformative period for the iconic duo.
Date: 11 - 17 April 2025. Location: Institute of Contemporary Arts,The Mall,London SW1Y 5AH. Price: £10. Book now.
One to One: John & Yoko, dir. Kevin MacDonald.
Arts & Culture
Opening this week
Cartier Exhibition
The V&A will present its first major Cartier exhibition in nearly 30 years, featuring over 350 iconic pieces, including historic jewels worn by notable figures like Queen Elizabeth II and Rihanna. The exhibition will explore Cartier’s legacy of craftsmanship, creativity, and cultural influence, with highlights such as the Williamson Diamond brooch, panther designs, and the 1967 Crash wristwatch. Curated by Helen Molesworth and Rachel Garrahan, the exhibit will offer unique insight into the brand’s impact on design and fashion.
Date: 12 April – 16 November 2025. Location: V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL. Price: Weekday £27 / Weekend £29. Concessions available. Book now.
Tiara, Cartier London, 1937. Aquamarine, diamonds and platinum. Vincent Wulveryck, © Collection Cartier.
Nora Turato: pool7
The first UK solo exhibition by Amsterdam-based artist Nora Turato will open at the ICA this week. Featuring newly commissioned works across various media, the exhibition delves into the complexities of language and contemporary discourse. Turato draws from media, conversations, and online content to create bold installations and performances that highlight cultural absurdities and ideological shifts. A new performance addresses disembodiment and society’s fixation on surface image, prompting audiences to reflect on the widening gap between truth and perception.
Date: 9 April – 8 June 2025. Location: Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH. Price: from £6. All Members go free. Book now.
Nora Turato, pool7, 2025. Image courtesy the artist.
The Carracci Cartoons: Myths in the Making
The National Gallery’s exhibition The Carracci Cartoons: Myths in the Making explores two monumental preparatory drawings created by Annibale and Agostino Carracci for the Farnese Palace in Rome. These large charcoal works, designed for the palace’s grand fresco, reveal the brothers’ creative process and artistic influences, from antique sculptures to Michelangelo and Raphael. Featuring mythical sea creatures, gods, and dramatic waves, the exhibition offers a rare glimpse into the making of a Renaissance masterpiece and the techniques behind it.
Date: 10 April – 6 July 2025. Location: National Gallery , Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN. Price: Free. nationalgallery.org.uk.
Agostino Carracci. Cephalus carried off by Aurora in her Chariot about 1599. © The National Gallery, London.
#FLOFavourites: This Week
Amoako Boafo: I Do Not Come to You by Chance
Amoako Boafo: I Do Not Come to You by Chance, opening at Gagosian, marks the artist’s UK debut. The exhibition features new works that explore Black identity, community, and self-expression, with Boafo’s signature fingertip-painted portraits challenging stereotypes and celebrating his subjects. The show includes a recreation of Boafo’s childhood home courtyard and his first double-sided freestanding painting.
Date: 10 April - 24 May 2025. Location: Gagosian, 20 Grosvenor Hill, London W1K 3QD. Price: Free.
Amoako Boafo, Black Cycle, 2025, oil and paper transfer on canvas. © Amoako Boafo. Photo: Joe Humphrys
Ermias Ekube: ACCRA - Memories are we are stories
ACCRA - Memories are we are stories is a solo exhibition at Ed Cross Fine Art, exploring memory, identity, and belonging through paintings created during Ekube’s residency in Accra, Ghana. Combining personal history with the local fishing community’s stories, his work explores abstraction with realism, using motifs like the hourglass to reflect memory’s evolving nature. Ten percent of sales proceeds will be donated jointly by the artist and gallery to the dot.ateliers residency in Accra, Ghana.
Date: 3 April – 3 May 2025. Location: Ed Cross Fine Art, 3 Litchfield Street, London WC2H 9LW. Price: Free.
Baroque-O-Vision Redux by Bill Albertini at New Art Projects. Image credit MTotoe
Bill Albertini: Baroque-O-Vision Redux
Sculptor Bill Albertini’s first UK exhibition, Baroque-O-Vision Redux, is on display at New Art Projects. The site-specific installation features his ongoing Pipe Dream System, a modular body of work developed since 2017. Using 3D-printed, computer-modelled components, Albertini creates unique configurations tailored to each space. His work blends functional elements with decorative design, drawing inspiration from baroque aesthetics and early engineering styles.
Date: 3 April - 24 May 2025. Location: New Arts Projects, Ground Floor, 357 City Road,London, EC1V 1LR. Price: Free.
Installation view: Oliver Lee Jackson, Intimacies, Lisson Gallery London (4 April - 17 May 2025), © Oliver Lee Jackson, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.
Oliver Lee Jackson: Intimacies
Intimacies is Oliver Lee Jackson’s first exhibition in London and his debut with Lisson Gallery, marking a major milestone in the artist’s 90th year. The show presents a new body of paintings that continue his dynamic approach to abstraction and figuration, influenced by jazz, African art, European modernism, and his roots in the Black Artists Group. The pieces combine floating, abstract forms with echoes of classical figures and social unrest, reflecting memory, resilience, and protest that have defined his practice since the 1960s.
Date: 4 April – 17 May 2025. Location: Lisson Gallery, 27 Bell Street, London NW1 5BY. Price: Free.
#FLOFavourites: Pick of the Week
Free event of the week
Philharmonia Chamber Players: Spotlight on the Harp
Philharmonia Chamber Players will host a free early evening performance showcasing the harp at the Southbank Centre. Image credit Emma Richter.
Join the Philharmonia Chamber Players for a free early evening performance showcasing the harp. As part of the Philharmonia Orchestra Classical Season - Spring/Summer 2025, this concert features pieces by Debussy, Ravel, and Marjan Mozetich. Debussy’s composition, commissioned by Pleyel, and Ravel’s response for Erard harp, strings, and woodwind, both highlight the technical and expressive power of the harp.
Date: 10 April 2025. Duration: 45 minutes. Time: 6pm. Location: Royal Festival Hall,Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX. Price: Free. Book now.
Interview of the week
In conversation with Gabriele Beveridge
Artist Gabriele Beveridge with NEST (II) at Glassed in Dreams exhibition private view at 100 Bishopsgate, London. Image credit Isabel Infantes PA Media Assignments.
Gabriele Beveridge is an artist known for her sculptural, conceptual works that merge materials like hand-blown glass, photo chemicals, and found images. Her installations often feature shop display elements and distorted glass forms, addressing beauty, the body, and how both are presented and perceived in a world where natural and artificial elements increasingly intertwine.
Click here for our full interview.
Green space of the week
The Garden at 120
The Garden at 120, 120 Fenchurch Street. Image credit MTotoe.
The sunshine has returned to the city, making it the perfect time to enjoy the warmth at this urban oasis in the heart of London. Located 15 storeys up, The Garden at 120 offers exceptional 360-degree panoramic views of the city and beyond. Designed by the renowned German landscape architects Latz + Partner, the space features 85 Italian wisteria trees, over 30 fruit trees, and a striking 200ft-long flowing water feature.
Location: The Garden at 120, 120 Fenchurch Street, London, EC3M 5BA.
Food of the week
Opening this week: BOXHALL City
CGI of BOXHALL City, a new food hall from BOXPARK.
BOXHALL City, opening on 10 April 2025 at Metropolitan Arcade near Liverpool Street Station, is a new food hall from BOXPARK. Set in a restored Edwardian heritage arcade designed by Macaulay Sinclair, the venue will feature a variety of emerging and established food and drink brands. It will also include a kitchen space for culinary innovation and a rooftop bar, which will open later this year.
Date: 10 April 2025. Location: Metropolitan Arcade, 1-27, The Arcade, Liverpool St., City of London, London EC2M 7PN.
Cause of the week
Give & Take Day in the City of London
On Saturday 12 April at the Portsoken Community Centre, the City of London Recycling Team is hosting a Give and Take Day.
On Saturday 12 April at the Portsoken Community Centre, the City of London Recycling Team is hosting a Give and Take Day—a community event that promotes sustainable decluttering and reuse. The day is split into two parts: from 10am to 12pm, attendees can donate good-quality, reusable items such as clothes, toys, books, kitchenware, and electricals; then, from 1pm to 3pm, people are invited to browse and take home items for free. The ‘Take’ session is open to City of London residents from 1–2pm (with proof of residency), and to everyone from 2–3pm. There’s no limit on how much you can give or take, but participants are encouraged to be considerate so that all can benefit.
Date: 12 April 2025. Time: 10am - 3pm. Location: Portsoken Commuinity Centre, 20 Little Somerset Street, London, E1 8AH. Click here to discover more.
