Arts Ahead: What’s On In London 24 – 30 January

By Zoe Craig Last edited 146 months ago
Arts Ahead: What’s On In London 24 – 30 January

ART / EXHIBITIONS: The biggest show opening this week is probably Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam at the British Museum, opening on Thursday. The British Museum's latest blockbuster examines the pilgrimage to Mecca, a journey which is central the Muslim faith, and how it has evolved through history.

Other new shows opening this week include Jane McAdam Freud's sculpture of her father at the Freud Museum from tomorrow; The Artists' Eye: Mapping the Change about the developments in East London around the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Hackney Museum, also from tomorrow; and the intriguing-sounding Golden Spider Silk at the V&A: a display of large textiles woven from spider silk. (Did you know it’s believed Louis XIV had a full suit made from the stuff?!)

THEATRE: The Trial Of Ubu is this week’s first theatre recommendation. This new satirical play, at the Hampstead Theatre, sees an amoral megalomaniac brought before an international tribunal. It promises to be a funny and unsettling play. The Bee opens at the Soho Theatre on Thursday: Hideki Noda's acclaimed drama based on the short story, Plucking At Each Other. Also opening on Thursday is The House of Bernarda Alba at the Almeida Theatre, starring Iranian stage and screen star Shohreh Aghdashloo. On Friday, you can see Father Ted’s Ardal O’Hanlon in Conor McPherson’s Dublin-set drama Port Authority, at the Southwark Playhouse.

OPERA: Look out for Cosi Fan Tutte at the Royal Opera House from Friday. It's performed in Italian with English surtitles, and features contemporary staging; or Der Rosenkavalier at the London Coliseum, starring Sarah Connolly in the title role, with Sophie Bevan as the innocent Sophie.

JAZZ: Kings Place brings together three jazz heavyweights this weekend in a mini-series that goes beyond standard gig formats. The three headliners – trumpeter Jay Phelps, saxophonist and rapper Soweto Kinch (recently profiled here), and Latin pianist Alex Wilson – will all perform together as well as running their own very different gigs. Featuring a big band, concept album and concerto for the kora (the West African harp) this is as varied as modern jazz gets.

CLASSICAL: Young cellist Oliver Coates is an Artist in Residence at Southbank Centre, which means he gets to curate his own concerts under the title Harmonic Series (see the video below). On Sunday, Coates has put together an evening of classical, folk and electronic music, and poetry. And it's only a fiver.

DANCE: Choose between Ivan Putrov – Men In Motion at Sadler’s Wells (a celebration of the male form in motion), and La Fille Mal Gardee, a performance by the Russian State Ballet and the Orchestra of Siberia at the New Wimbledon Theatre.

Anything we've missed that you're really looking forward to seeing this week? Let us know in the comments below.

We have listings for ongoing shows at London’s top museums on our Museums and Galleries page

Last Updated 24 January 2012