Arts Ahead: What’s On In London 1-7 November

By Zoe Craig Last edited 148 months ago
Arts Ahead: What’s On In London 1-7 November

Our pick of the new theatre, opera, dance the art shows opening this week

Be There First: London Shows Opening

Tonight, Collaborators opens at the National Theatre, starring Home Secretary Simon Russell Beale and Nat Theatre regular Alex Jennings. It's the tale of a writer with a tricky commission from Stalin… Also opening tonight is Fanta Orange at the Finborough, inspired by a real-life Amnesty International report into modern Africa; and The Swallowing Dark at Theatre 503, a collision of fact, fiction and folklore exposing the lies we tell for the people we love.

A British Subject opens at the Arts Theatre tomorrow: a real-life story of an 18 year old accused of murder in Pakistan. The same night sees the opening of Three Days in May at the Trafalgar Studios: Warren Clarke playing Winston Churchill in a new play about three pivotal days in British history.

And Chicago reopens in at the Garrick Theatre on Monday. Stars featuring in the rehomed show include Ugly Betty and Darius Campbell, formerly Danesh.

Opera fans can check out a new chamber opera at the Linbury Studio based on Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness from tonight. La Sonnambula opens at the Royal Opera House tomorrow.

This week’s big ballet show is Manon at the Royal Opera House from Thursday. Or you can see a Double Bill by the Scottish Ballet at Sadler’s Wells also from Thursday.

Recommended art shows this week include The Lost Photographs of Captain Scott at the Atlas Gallery; The Photographers 2011 at Chris Beetles Fine Photographs; and Nocturnal by Snik at The Gallery in Redchurch Street. (All three open tomorrow.)

On Friday, you can choose between Twenty Years of Dazed and Confused Magazine at Somerset House; Sickboy: Heaven and Earth at Dray Walk in East London; and From Palestine to Israel: A Photographic Record of Destruction and State Formation at the Mosaic Rooms.

As fans of the John Soane Museum, we also recommend Liliane Lijn: Light Years, which is a sculpture display at the museum, open from Friday, and running until the end of the month.

Two exhibitions with a rock and roll theme open on Monday: Gibson Through the Lens in the British Music Experience at The O2, and Ronnie Wood: Faces, Time and Places at The Gallery in Cork Street.

Last Chance To See: London Shows Closing

Friday is the last performance of Der Fliegende Hollander at the Royal Opera House.

Saturday is your last chance to see Terror 2011 at the Soho Theatre; Saved at the Lyric Hammersmith; Bang Bang Bang at the Royal Court; Fit And Proper People at the Soho Theatre; How To Be Happy at the Orange Tree Theatre; and My City at the Almeida.

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

Below is a little preview of Snik's show at The Gallery on Redchurch Street in Shoreditch.

Snik, Nocturnal Preview from Two Tap on Vimeo.

Last Updated 01 November 2011