Shoes at Sadler's Wells. Photo by Hugo Glendinning
It's a packed ol' week. Here are our choices for your cultural calendar
Be There First: London Shows Opening
We'll start with dance this week. Shoes at Sadler's Wells comes from the composer of Jerry Springer - The Opera, Richard Thomas, and promises to take you from the highs of the Louboutin heel to the lows of the Croc. A live band, 12 dancers, fours singers: press night tonight and we'll be there.
For the rest of London's theatre, it's a pretty packed week. Deathtrap opens at the Noel Coward Theatre tonight, as does Five Guys Named Moe at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. Tomorrow is the opening night for the return of Simon Stephen's Punk Rock at the Lyric Hammersmith: violence simmers beneath success in an English Grammar School. A new play, the first by a female writer at Shakespeare's Globe, Bedlam opens on Thursday; as does Love on the Dole at the Finborough Theatre, a taste of 30s Depression in Salford. Finally, we like the sound of The Human Comedy, a coming-of-age musical with a cast of 100, opening at the Young Vic on Monday.
Opera fans can see Jonathan Miller's modernised Cosi Fan Tutte at the Royal Opera House from Friday, or Miller's dolls'-house-set Don Pasquale at the same venue from Sunday.
For kids, you can check out a puppet-based Fantastic Mr Fox at the Little Angel Theatre from Saturday, or Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus, playing twice at the Lyric Hammersmith on Saturday.
Art fans can see Rachel Whiteread's Drawings at Tate Britain from tomorrow. Or if you're a photography fan mourning the closure of the Photographer's Gallery, cheer yourself up with the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Greenwich Observatory, or a trip back in time at Tate Britain. The Eadweard Muybridge exhibition is the first to look chronologically at the pioneering photographer and inventor of the zoopraxiscope. It opens on Wednesday, as does Raphael: Cartoons and Tapestries for the Sistine Chapel at the V&A. We also like the sound of Inspired by Soane - artists, architects and designers, (inc Damien Hirst, Daniel Libeskind, Manolo Blahnik and Vivienne Westwood) have made work inspired by the collector and his museum. The art is on display at John Soane's Museum from Friday.
London Shows Closing: Last Chance to See
Saturday is your last chance to see Aspects of Love at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Into The Woods at the Open Air Theatre, The Secret of Sherlock Holmes at the Duchess Theatre and Shoes at Sadler's Wells.
Welcome to Thebes closes at the National Theatre on Sunday. So too does Close Examintaion: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries at the National Gallery. Enjoy.
