Arts Ahead: What’s On In London 28 February – 5 March

By Zoe Craig Last edited 145 months ago
Arts Ahead: What’s On In London 28 February – 5 March

What’s new on London’s cultural calendar this week:

THEATRE: Tonight, Ibsen’s The Lady From The Sea opens at the Rose Theatre over in Kingston, starring Joely Richardson. Tomorrow, Snookered at the Bush Theatre explores the secrets that are revealed after a mate dies; writer Ishy Din opens a window onto a strand of British Muslim life that often remains hidden. Thursday is the first night for supermodel-turned-actress Agyness Deyn to showcase her new career in François Archambault’s The Leisure Society at the Trafalgar Studios. It’s also the opening night of an exciting-sounding triple bill from Ockham's Razor at artsdepot. If you’re a fan of aerial theatre and circus-style fun, this is one show you won’t want to miss.

From Friday, you can pick between Chickenshed’s latest show, Shakespeare’s Island, with an all-singing, all-dancing cast of 180 putting the Bard on trial by the characters in his plays. Back in the West End, One Man Two Guvnors reopens again on Friday, this time with a new cast, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

DANCE: Ballet Black performs at the Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera House from tomorrow. Ballet Black are a troupe of just eight dancers who celebrate the talents of black and Asian dancers from around the world with innovative and inspirational dance. Our other dance recommendation for this week is BalletBoyz – The Talent at Sadler’s Wells: a mixed programme of three works, which returns following rave reviews last year. These boys are hot.

CLASSICAL: This weekend is all about Music Nation. Presented by the BBC and Olympics organisers, this UK-wide festival has been designed as a preview to the London 2012 Festival, which starts on 21 June. In London, Music Nation events take place in just about every venue you could think of, including a performance at the Roundhouse (as part of Reverb) by a choir made up of people who have experienced homelessness and an urban music programme at the Barbican that sees the BBC Symphony on stage with the likes of Ms Dynamite. The BBC Radio 3 website helpfully lays out what's on and as you can see, it is rather massive.

OPERA: Just the one recommendation for opera fans this week: the Guildhall School’s award-winning opera programme makes its Barbican debut with a performance of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

ART/ EXHIBITIONS: Thursday is the opening day of Geniuses of Modern British Sculpture: a free show at the Robert Bowman gallery, featuring Henry Moore, Eduardo Paolozzi and Jacob Epstein. There’s also a new exhibition opening in the Astronomy Centre at Greenwich on Thursday. Measuring the Universe marks a rare astronomical event, the 2012 transit of Venus. (You’ll have to wait 105 years for the next one.) This show looks at how in previous centuries, astronomers used these rare transits to try to gain some idea of the size of the universe. From Friday, you can check out All About Eve: The Photography of Eve Arnold at the Art Sensus gallery. Also opening on Friday is a new show by Edward Thomasson called Inside at the South London Gallery. The show features video and drawings from the Artist in Residence.

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

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

Last Updated 28 February 2012