What’s On this Week: December 4th – 11th
POW! Play On Words
The evening of spoken word and poetry returns.
POW! Play On Words is curated and compered by Lee Campbell, the evening will see performances from established performance poets as well as the opportunity for others to showcase their work in open mic slots.
It is a celebration of the beauty of language and the infinite possibilities that language has to impress, inform, move and entertain.
December 4
The Bridge Street Theatre
Dance and Draw
Watch dancers engage with the inspiring works of Helen Frankenthaler and Claude Monet, then move on to our studio to take part in a masterclass on capturing movement on paper.
December 4
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Neil Cowley
The pianist pushes out into the ambient, electronic and neo-classical waters of his debut solo album.
In 2021, Neil Cowley released Hall of Mirrors, a highly personal account of his relationship with his old friend the piano.
The album displays his embrace of a new musical direction (far from the jazz of the now-disbanded Neil Cowley Trio), incorporating electronic, ambient and neo-classical production.
December 4 to 5
Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall
Sleeping Beauty
Musical theatre and TV star Lee Mead will star as The Prince alongside theatre and dance phenomenon Bonnie Langford as The Good Fairy.
Once upon a time in a land far away, the beautiful Princess Aurora is given a 16th birthday present by her evil godmother Carabosse.
By pricking her finger on an enchanted spinning wheel she is placed under a cruel curse and forced to sleep for 100 years. Can true love survive and the handsome Prince Charming break the spell?
Can Aurora’s hilarious best friend Muddles help save the town and who will outwit the evil Enchantress and foil her wicked plans?
December 4 to January 2
Churchill Theatre
Hex
Deep in the wood, a lonely fairy longs for someone to bless. When she is summoned to the palace to help the princess sleep, her dream turns into a nightmare and her blessing becomes a curse.
Soon, she is plunged into a frantic, 100-year quest to somehow make everything right.
Rosalie Craig plays the fairy in this vividly original retelling of Sleeping Beauty – a mythic, big-hearted new musical that goes beyond the waking kiss.
December 4 to January 22
National Theatre
The English Chamber Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah
The English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Kraemer returns to Cadogan Hall to perform Handel’s oratorio Messiah.
The orchestra is joined by the choir of Royal Holloway and internationally acclaimed soloists Carolyn Sampson, Tim Mead, Andrew Staples and Matthew Brooks.
First performed in 1742, it has become tradition around the world for Messiah to be performed during the festive season.
December 5
Cadogan Hall
An Evening with Nigella Lawson
Spend an evening with Lawson as she celebrates Cook, Eat, Repeat – a delicious and delightful combination of recipes intertwined with narrative essays about food, all written in her engaging and insightful prose.
Live in conversation, Lawson explores how cooking is a personal, intuitive and connecting process, how one meal idea leads to another, and how one ingredient can spawn a multitude of ideas and recipes.
Whether asking ‘what is a recipe?’ or making ‘a loving defence of brown food’, Lawson’s wisdom about food and life comes to the fore.
December 5
Royal Festival Hall
The Last Nativity
It’s Christmas and adult siblings Laura, Blake and Mia are returning to the family home. But when the last-minute addition of Nana Sue means they’re a present short, they decide to pull all the stops out and recreate their childhood nativity play.~
Tensions arise, comedy ensues, and PowerPoint skills are tested as they try and recapture the magic of a childhood Christmas in The Last Nativity.
December 6 to 11
The POD
Polaroid
Polaroid is a modern, witty, drama and debut play that follows the journey of two young characters (Mot and Hannah) through their 20s as they tackle the ups and downs of growing up together.
It is an edgy, contemporary, coming of age story that touches on pressing issues such as abuse at university.
December 6 to 8
Canal Café Theatre
Hamlet and She
In 1741, Fanny Furnival first took the part of Hamlet at Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre.
In 2014, Maxine Peake was the first female Hamlet on a major stage in more than three decades and in 2018, Globe Artistic Director Michelle Terry was the first woman to play Hamlet on the Globe stage.
In this exciting event, we will hear these phenomenal women tell the story of Hamlet and She.
Join Maxine Peake and Michelle Terry in conversation with the Globe’s co-director of education, Professor Farah Karim-Cooper. This unique event will explore what it means to be a woman and take on Shakespeare’s iconic Prince.
December 7
The Globe
A exhibition called Stations by artist Lil Sullivan brings together more than 20 of her works, mostly completed since she survived a stroke in 2005.
Lil uses oil on board, inset, but also compositions of found objects from the streets to movingly play out themes of triumph over adversity and to create bridges reconnecting to spaces in time and land.
The show is in support of the London Stroke Choir, Out of the Blue which was founded by Lil and others in 2013. The choir was set up to help stroke survivors through song.
While the effects of stroke are often devastating, music has been proven to have a positive impact on rehabilitation.
People who can’t talk are usually able to sing with confidence and without stuttering.
The show runs until December 20 and is at Brixton Wings at Unit 4, Fairfax House, Overton Road, SW9 7JR from 1pm-4pm weekdays except Tuesdays and by arrangement, Sundays, 2pm-3pm.