My Westminster Day ★★ FREE


This second annual day featured an open air dance floor, several food stalls and presentations by community groups from across Westminster. There were performances in the bandstand and free face painting and arts and crafts for the children. It is a quiet family affair.

 Our score:  ☆☆ 

WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE:
Last Reviewed: June 2019
Paddington Recreation Ground, Maida Vale
Nearest tube: Maida Vale
Map & Location: Randolph Ave, Maida Vale, London W9 1PD, UK

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The Divine Mrs S ★★★ Hampstead Theatre | Mar 22 - Apr 27, 2024

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Sarah Siddons was the most influential actress of her day. She was famed for her portrayal of Lady Macbeth and has been credited with the creation of the modern notion of celebrity. Borrowing an epithet most often associated with Sarah Bernhardt, playwright April De Angelis contrasts how Mrs Siddons is celebrated on stage but is confined by both her gender and her marital status when off. She is patronised by her actor/manager brother and her money is taken by her estranged and philandering husband. In the theatre, Siddons may experience power over her audience, but in real life she is subject to the patriarchal hierarchy of her time. This point is made obviously and repeatedly throughout the play which presents the great tragedienne's life in an almost farcical style. While the show exists in a historical context it is not bound, linguistically or factually, by that reality. The plot and characters recall a Regency comedy. They are representations of types, bearing little relation...
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ABBA Voyage ★★★★★ ABBA Arena, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park | Extended Run

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When great music from the past meets mind boggling technology from the future, the result is ABBA Voyage . This is a concert like no other. In a purpose built arena designed specifically for the show, massive high resolution LED screens, advanced lighting, and surround sound are used to create a fully immersive ABBA concert experience. Although the group’s last appearance in London was at Wembley Arena in 1979, they return technologically in this extraordinary production. These are not holograms or AI generated performances. This is a meticulously animated concert based on real performances by the band themselves. To achieve this effect, the group came together and re-performed their music using motion capture technology. They partnered with top visual effects experts to digitally recreate their younger selves. While the show includes a live band and backup singers, the Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Anni-Frid seen on stage appear every bit as real as their original counterparts. One quick...
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Summer Exhibition 2026 ★★★★ Royal Academy of Arts | Jun 16 - Aug 23, 2026

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The theme of the 258th Summer Exhibition, “Interconnectedness,” makes tracing links between the works on display both a fascinating and at times overwhelming experience. While this year’s works on view appear to contain less overt political commentary and fewer instances of humour than is often typical of such events, both are still present in striking moments. Tim Shaw’s powerful portrayal of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Pin It On Them (Associated Artwork From the Installation: Shut It Piggy) (555) can be juxtaposed with the playful absurdity of Joey Rutherford’s Pickle With a Pearl Earring (1110) , reminding viewers of the range of tones running through the exhibition. Alongside these, there are the usual charming animal representations, including our favourite, the highly realistic cat in Thus Regard Palmerston (793) , as well as the standard attempts to shock and provoke, such as Tracey Emin’s There Is An End To Everything (674) . The collection continues to move between cur...
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St. Martin in-the-fields: Lunchtime Concerts ★★★★ FREE

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Maybe the best musical value in London. The lunchtime concerts at St. Martin's are always a wonderful way to escape the hustle and bustle that is London and the sensory overload that is Trafalgar Square. This is a beautiful setting with great acoustics, and a church pew hard enough to make sure you don't nod off. Reviewed by J.C.  Our score:    ☆☆☆☆  WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE: Mon & Fri: 1 pm - 1:45 pm ( occasionally Tues & Thurs)  St. Martin in-the-fields, Trafalgar Square Nearest tube: Charing Cross https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/whats-on
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Here Comes J. Edgar! A Comedy Musical ★★★★ King's Head Theatre | Jul 10 - Aug 16, 2026

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In 1994, writer Harry Shearer, best known for The Simpsons and This Is Spinal Tap , joined forces with Tom Leopold of Cheers and Seinfeld to create a radio satire about J. Edgar Hoover, the controversial director of the FBI for almost fifty years. Hoover became notorious for allegedly blackmailing successive presidents to secure his position, refusing to investigate organised crime in the United States, and relentlessly cultivating his own public image. Behind the façade of the fearless crime-fighting anti-communist crusader, however, lay a secret life, including a long-term relationship with fellow FBI agent Clyde Tolson and the enduring stories surrounding the famous photograph of Hoover in drag. Hoover was also a gambler associated with various mobsters. This is material ripe for satire, and Shearer and Leopold have the impeccable comic credentials to tackle it. For Here Comes J. Edgar! A Comedy Musical  they are joined by the award-winning composer Peter Matz, whose score pl...
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Hit Machine ★★★★★ Soho Theatre | Jul 8 - Aug 15, 2026

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Jonathan Caren's Hit Machine lives up to its title. Funny, moving and unexpectedly profound, it delivers both laughs and emotional punch while asking searching questions about family, memory and the price of turning pain into art. The play centres on two brothers bound together by childhood trauma and an enduring love of music, yet divided by the radically different ways they have learned to survive. Wes (Josh Radnor) is a high-powered music executive who has repressed the trauma of his upbringing beneath the polished armour of professional success in an industry famed for its ruthless politics. His younger brother Alex (Noah Galvin), by contrast, wears every wound on the surface. Unable to make peace with the past, he has drifted through life, his talent overshadowed by unresolved grief. When the brothers reunite, old resentments, shared memories and long-buried truths erupt with wit, tenderness and devastating honesty. Caren writes sibling relationships with remarkable precision...
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To Kill a Mockingbird ★★★★★ Wyndham’s Theatre | Jun 25 - Sep 12, 2026

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Many readers first encountered To Kill a Mockingbird in the classroom, where Harper Lee's novel has long been a staple of English literature courses. Its exploration of racism, morality and the loss of childhood innocence has become familiar territory for generations of students. The story also lives on through Robert Mulligan's celebrated 1962 film adaptation, in which Gregory Peck delivered his Academy Award-winning performance as Atticus Finch. His portrayal of the principled lawyer and widowed father who defends a Black man falsely accused of raping a white woman in 1930s Alabama remains one of cinema's defining performances. That legacy presents a formidable challenge for Aaron Sorkin's stage adaptation, as well as for Richard Coyle in the iconic role of Atticus. Happily, both rise to the occasion. Sorkin's adaptation remains faithful to the moral force of Lee's novel while giving the drama a powerful sense of urgency and theatrical momentum. Rather than f...
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Jesus Christ Superstar ★★★★ The London Palladium | Jun 20 - Sep 5, 2026

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Created by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jesus Christ Superstar first appeared as a concept album in 1970 before opening on Broadway in 1971. Since then, it has become one of the world's most enduring rock musicals, with countless stage revivals and a celebrated 1973 film adaptation. Telling the story of the final days of Jesus' life, it explores the complex relationships between Jesus, Judas, and Mary Magdalene. In this latest production, Sam Ryder, who represented the United Kingdom at Eurovision in 2022, takes on the title role. His soaring vocals are undeniably impressive and will delight his many fans, but his acting lacks the same confidence. Ryder appears far more at ease when holding a guitar or singing into a hand microphone than when simply inhabiting the character of Jesus. That reliance on hand-held and standing microphones is one of the production's more baffling choices. Although the cast wears headset microphones throughout, the additional ones repeatedl...
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Frida: The Making of an Icon ★★★★ Tate Modern | Jun 25, 2026 - Jan 3, 2027

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Frida: The Making of an Icon is as much about the creation of a legend as it is about the work of one of Mexico's most recognisable artists. Divided into eight thematic sections, the exhibition not only traces Frida Kahlo's artistic evolution but also interrogates the almost cult-like status she has acquired in the decades since her death. The opening galleries, "Construction/Self-Construction," establish the exhibition's central premise: Kahlo was engaged in a lifelong process of self-invention. Best known for her extraordinary self-portraits, she repeatedly recast her own image, blurring the boundaries between autobiography, performance and myth. It is precisely because of this process of self-fashioning that the exhibition's film footage of Kahlo becomes one of its highlights, offering a rare glimpse of the woman behind her carefully constructed personae. Having established Kahlo's lifelong project of self-invention, the exhibition next considers how o...
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HOLE! ★★★ Soho Theatre, London: Jul 17 - Aug 1, 2026 | Underbelly Cowgate, Edinburgh: Aug 5 - Aug 30, 2026

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The delightfully absurd premise of HOLE! centres on a bizarre sect of American Christians who believe that, to be saved at the apocalypse, they must wear a butt plug at all times. Against all expectations, they turn out to be right. The "Great Sucking" removes almost everyone else from Earth, leaving only the cult members and, from their perspective, a handful of questionable additional survivors. After an act of decidedly inappropriate behaviour, the prophet's son Luke and his best friend Connor are dispatched on a quest to rid the world of the butt plug wearers whose reasons for sporting the devices appear to be anything but religious. It is all gleefully outrageous fun, but the premise begins to wear thin and the jokes become increasingly predictable. However, Jake Brasch and Nadja Leonhard-Hooper are excellent as the two friends and the show's gallery of eccentric characters. They slip effortlessly between multiple roles while giving each character a distinct per...
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The City Life Magazine | Reviews & Ratings