Another weekend in the capital and there’s plenty to do and see.
If you took the bank holiday to relax why not head to Chinatown for the night and try its hottest new restaurant. Or, if you’re feeling a low-key Friday, enjoy the forecasted sunshine in one of London’s many parks with Arcade Fire’s new music or a good book – we have a recommendation below.
Here’s everything you could do in London this weekend.
Things to do in London this weekend (May 9-11)
See some art at the Ceramic Art London showcase
This has become one of the world’s leading pottery exhibitions, bringing together more than 120 exhibitors. Organised by the Craft Potters Association of Great Britain, the aim is to “place the spotlight directly on the makers, creating a vibrant celebration of global craftsmanship”. This year, creations will include striking decorative pieces alongside abstract designs supposed to challenge the imagination.
Eat at the new Song He Lou
The 250-year-old Chinese restaurant Song He Lou was founded in Suzhou during the early days of the Qing Dynasty. For the first time, the restaurant has opened in London, taking over a site at 22 Wardour Street in Chinatown. Regional specialities include “squirrel fish”, where a white fish — sea bass here — has been cut in a way that resembles a squirrel before being fried and served in sweet and sour sauce, and long, thin noodles in a dark broth, full of history and flavour.
Take a trip to the cinema and see these new movies
Ocean with David Attenborough, out now
Disney+
Sir David Attenborough is back. The veteran broadcaster (who has just turned 99) has returned for a feature-length documentary exploring the state of the world’s oceans. It’s not a rosy picture, unsurprisingly, and the show includes horrific footage of industrial fishing practices. Our Ocean review called it a “soul-stirring cry to action”. But there’s still plenty of joy to be found in dipping our heads below the waves and Attenborough’s voice is as comforting as ever.
Irish filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan returns with this bizarre but brilliant psychological thriller starring Nicolas Cage as a surfer returning to his childhood home in Australia, only to find the beach he once surfed is no longer open to him and guarded by strangely protective locals. It’s as stressful and tense as sunstroke, with Cage’s character slowly losing his mind as he is trapped in a car park, soon drinking from puddles and eating out of bins. Cage turns in one of his finest performances; a man coming undone. Few other actors could pull it off.
Visit the brand new Soho Theatre
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Soho Theatre Walthamstow – auditorium side view
David Levene
Soho Theatre’s Walthamstow outpost has finally opened after a six-year effort and is marking the event with Natalie Palamide’s excellent new show Weer. The LA comic earned rave reviews in the UK last year, so this is a chance to see one of the most exciting new acts in comedy and at a sparkling new venue. The 970-seat theatre has taken over from a former Granada cinema built in 1930. The focus is comedy, panto and film and Weer is the first of many stand-out happenings. Weer is on until May 10
Crooked Cross by Sally Carson
Crooked Cross by Sally Carson was first published in 1934 and is a gripping account of one family’s and one town’s startlingly precipitous descent into Nazism in six months of 1933 — and the resistance of one couple. The author was there in 1930s Bavaria and had German friends, so this is no caricature but utterly vivid. Bad weak characters succumb to the movement, but terrifyingly, so do nice decent people. The author can see the doom ahead; we know what was to come.
Listen to Arcade Fire’s new album Pink Elephant
The Canadian rockers release their seventh studio album following lead single Year of the Snake which dropped last month. The record is pared back, heavy on the guitars, but brings the same atmospheric spirit and humming vocals Win Butler and Régine Chassagne have become famous for. “It’s like, if you’re in a desert and you find a well. And you see one animal walk up — you know other animals are nearby, ’cause everyone’s coming to the same well,” said Butler of the music.
Pink Elephant by Arcade Fire
Book a festival for the future
Wide Awake Festival, Brockwell Park, May 23
Wide Awake always aims to kick off festival season with a bang and this year the bill might be the best yet. Headlining are Irish rap trio Kneecap, while CMAT, Peaches, Fat Dog and English Teacher are playing too. Wide Awake is billed as a big festival with “notes from the underground”, pooling emerging artists with bigger names and concentrating on young talent from the industry. It was born out of music nights at the likes of the Shacklewell Arms and Moth Club, two spaces that have played a “pivotal role in shaping the city’s cultural landscape”, say organisers.