Events on Thursday, May 15

Stag & Dagger

Festival: Performing Arts

Stag & Dagger

Thursday 15/5 @ Various locations

Though music festivals spanning multiple locations have been happening in Shoreditch since the days of the Hoxton fin (remember that?), the... 

Ongoing Events

<em>Peacocks &amp; Pinstripes</em>

Art: Photography

Peacocks & Pinstripes

Thursday 15/5 @ Fashion and Textile Museum

Made possible by the Fashion and Textile Museum and the Getty Images Gallery, Peacocks & Pinstripes explores the evolution of masculine... 

<em>The Story of the Supremes</em>

Art

The Story of the Supremes

Thursday 15/5 @ Victoria and Albert Museum

Relive the days of '60s doo-wop and soul at the Victoria & Albert Museum's latest exhibition. Hailed as one of the... 

An Absurd Genius: N.F. Simpson

Film

An Absurd Genius

Thursday 15/5 @ BFI Southbank

Long before Vic and Bob and The Mighty Boosh boys — even predating the Pythons — was N.F. "Wally" Simpson. This... 

Art

Still Another Place

Thursday 15/5 @ The Crypt, St Pancras Church

This group show explores the richness and diversity of artists' senses of place. Simon Dawe's dreamy landscapes draw from childhood idylls,... 

Adam Hinton: <em>Lovin' It</em>

Art: Photography

Adam Hinton

Thursday 15/5 @ HOST Gallery

Adam Hinton's latest photography series depicts Shanghai's aggressively productive capitalist society. Lovin' It takes the metropolis' fixation with commodity and consumerism... 

<em>The Year of Magical Thinking</em>

Theatre

The Year of Magical Thinking

Thursday 15/5 @ National Theatre

When writer Joan Didion's husband died suddenly at the end of 2003, in the midst of their only daughter's hospitalisation with... 

<em>Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book</em>

Art

Blood on Paper

Thursday 15/5 @ Victoria and Albert Museum

This new exhibition at the V&A offers visual art reworkings and interpretations of the humble paperback. The works on display range... 

Kew at the British Museum presents <em>China Landscape</em>

City Gems

China Landscape

Thursday 15/5 @ British Museum

Two of the capital's cultural powerhouses — the British Museum and Kew Gardens — join forces to provide insight into the... 

Alvin Langdon Coburn and Jane England

Art: Photography

Alvin Langdon Coburn and Jane England

Thursday 15/5 @ Ancient & Modern

Diminutive Whitecross Street gallery Ancient & Modern stage eccentric exhibitions that honour their name. In that tradition, the Alvin Langdon Coburn... 

<em>Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture</em>

Art

Skin + Bones

Thursday 15/5 @ Somerset House

Exploring the enduring love affair between two creative entities, Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture hits Somerset House's... 

Dan McDermott: <em>Second Focus</em>

Art

Dan McDermott

Thursday 15/5 @ Alon Zakaim Fine Art

So realistic are Dan McDermott's oil canvases, that if you squint at any of his paintings, you could easily be looking... 

Laura Buckley & Alexis Harding

Art

Laura Buckley & Alexis Harding

Thursday 15/5 @ Bruuns Bazaar

Laura Buckley and Alexis Harding's collection reduces the boundaries between art and artifice, between media and space. Respectively producing video installation... 

Nour el Huda Awad: <em>Alhambra</em>

Art

Nour el Huda Awad

Thursday 15/5 @ The Cochrane Theatre

Nour el Huda Awad offers a fresh interpretation of traditional Islamic art forms with his installation Alhambra. The solo exhibition features... 

<em>King Lear </em>

Theatre

King Lear

Thursday 15/5 @ Shakespeare's Globe

Shakespeare's most tragic of tragedies was in the limelight last year with the RSC's production starring Sir Ian McKellen. For the... 

Riceboy Sleeps

Art

Riceboy Sleeps

Thursday 15/5 @ The Agency Gallery

Experimental Icelandic band Sigur Rós have always mixed music and art to great effect. Here, art takes the lead with Riceboy... 

Mat Collishaw: <em>Deliverance</em>

Art

Mat Collishaw

Thursday 15/5 @ Spring Projects

For Deliverance, multimedia artist Mat Collishaw creates and deconstructs disaster scenes through a method of high-contrast, split-second projection. Collishaw applies coats... 

Spring Renaissance at Covent Garden

Festival: Performing Arts

Spring Renaissance

Thursday 15/5 @ Covent Garden Market Piazza

The bizarre weather may suggest the contrary, but spring has definitely sprung. To celebrate, Covent Garden Market is hosting this festival... 

Paul Sch&uuml;tze: <em>Twilight Science</em>

Art: Photography

Paul Schütze

Thursday 15/5 @ Alan Cristea Gallery

Australian sound artist and photographer Paul Schütze exhibits a dazzling set of images at the Alan Cristea Gallery. Twilight Science sees... 

Choral Club

Workshop/Class

Choral Club

Thursday 15/5 @ Queen Elizabeth Hall

Voice Lab founder and Southbank artist in residence Mary King opens up the Queen Elizabeth Hall to anyone who wants to... 

Walter Hanlon: <em>Jazz in London</em>

Art: Photography

Jazz in London

Thursday 15/5 @ National Portrait Gallery

Take a trip back to the dark, smoky jazz clubs of the '50s with Walter Hanlon's atmospheric exhibition. While working in... 

Charlotte Hopkins Hall: <em>The Thinking Thing</em>

Art

Charlotte Hopkins Hall

Thursday 15/5 @ Ferreira Projects

British-Swiss artist Charlotte Hopkins Hall's solo London debut explores the workings of the human mind — the title The Thinking Thing... 

<em>The Adam and Ron Show</em>

Art

The Adam and Ron Show

Thursday 15/5 @ Elms Lesters Painting Rooms

Roll up, roll up: The Adam and Ron Show is coming to town, bringing together two urban artists from either side... 

China Design Now

Art

China Design Now

Thursday 15/5 @ Victoria and Albert Museum

Celebrating China's return to the graphic-art world stage, China Design Now embarks on a three-part journey along the country's coastline. The... 

The Fashion in Film Festival: If Looks Could Kill &mdash; Cinema's Images of Fashion, Crime and Violence

Film

The Fashion in Film Festival

Thursday 15/5 @ Various locations

London's biennial Fashion in Film Festival casts costumes in the starring role of a genre-spanning cinematic showcase. In this, its second... 

Steve McCurry: <em>Asia</em>

Art: Photography

Steve McCurry

Thursday 15/5 @ Magnum Print Room

Photographer Steve McCurry — whose 1984 shot of a young Afghan girl with piercing green eyes has been etched into the... 

Clare Barclay: <em>Shifting Ground</em>

Art

Clare Barclay

Thursday 15/5 @ Camden Arts Centre

In her solo exhibition at Camden Arts Centre this month, Glaswegian installation artist Claire Barclay displays an array of deliciously subversive... 

Sinatra! The Voice on Screen

Film

Sinatra! The Voice on Screen

Thursday 15/5 @ National Film Theatre

Although better known for his pipes, Ol' Blue Eyes also starred in more than 50 films. Because he wasn't a conventional... 

Rob Ryan

Art

Rob Ryan

Thursday 15/5 @ Tatty Devine

Master papercutter Rob Ryan is the king of collaboration — he's produced an accessories collection for Paul Smith, a dress for... 

<em>May 68: Street Posters from the Paris Rebellion</em>

Art

Street Posters from the Paris Rebellion

Thursday 15/5 @ Hayward Gallery

With all of the protests and civil unrest going on, 1968 wasn't the best year to take a trip to Paris.... 

<em>Tell Me... Lies</em>

Theatre

Tell Me... Lies

Thursday 15/5 @ The Arts Theatre

The Arts Theatre premieres Tell Me… Lies, a powerful new drama by French playwright Carole-Anne Le Foll. The story follows a... 

<em>For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming & James Bond</em>

Art

For Your Eyes Only

Thursday 15/5 @ Imperial War Museum Park

Ian Fleming, the author responsible for birthing the shaken-not-stirred secret agent James Bond, receives his due in this new exhibition at... 

<em>Flashy & Trashy</em>

Art

Flashy & Trashy

Thursday 15/5 @ Novas Contemporary Urban Centre

In this age of eco-awareness, we're all about the recycling thing — especially when the waste is transformed into something as... 

<em>Angaza Afrika: African Art Now </em>

Art

Angaza Afrika

Thursday 15/5 @ October Gallery

If you can't afford a holiday this summer, transport yourself to another place with Angaza Afrika (Look Around Africa), a showcase... 

<em>Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia</em>

Art

Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia

Thursday 15/5 @ Tate Modern

It isn't often you see Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Francis Picabia — a conceptualist, a photographer and a poet, respectively... 

<em>Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art</em>

Art

Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art

Thursday 15/5 @ Barbican

In Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art, a group of (fictional) Martian curators hand-pick contemporary artworks by 115 Earthlings. As the "curators"... 

<em>Nought to Sixty</em>

Art

Nought to Sixty

Thursday 15/5 @ ICA

The ICA's ambitious new show brings together 60 early career artists from Britain and Ireland. In an exhibition spanning six months,... 

Jerwood Contemporary Painters

Art

Jerwood Contemporary Painters

Thursday 15/5 @ Jerwood Space

For its second annual exhibition, the Jerwood Charitable Foundation asked three well-respected artists and academics to choose 20 promising recent art-school... 

Theatre

BURST Festival

Thursday 15/5 @ Battersea Arts Centre

This year's BURST sees the Battersea Arts Centre host its largest-ever, month-long programme of experimental theatre performances. More than 30 shows... 

<em>The Street</em>

Art

The Street

Thursday 15/5 @ The Street Project Base

They may navigate us through our lives, but have you ever considered London's streets as the context for artistic interrogation? Over... 

Alison Jackson: <em>Seeing Is Deceiving</em>

Art: Photography

Alison Jackson

Thursday 15/5 @ Hamiltons Gallery

Ever since the publication of her book Private in 2003, Alison Jackson has been holding a mirror up to us and... 

<em>Double Perspective: Contemporary Art from Venezuela</em>

Art

Contemporary Art from Venezuela

Thursday 15/5 @ Maddox Arts Gallery

The Maddox Gallery presents the work of seven Venezuelans whose abstract works and landscapes present two opposing stances on the last... 

<em>Amazing Butterflies</em>

City Gems

Amazing Butterflies

Thursday 15/5 @ Natural History Museum

Nothing says "summer is here" like butterflies — just the sight of them fluttering around the park is enough to send... 

<em>Hide and Seek</em>

Theatre

Hide and Seek

Thursday 15/5 @ Blue Elephant Theatre

Tal Jakubowiczova is both playwright and director for this physical-theatre performance by the Shift Theatre ensemble. The piece follows a woman... 

Elizabethan Flagons from St Mary Woolnoth

Art

Elizabethan Flagons

Thursday 15/5 @ Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria & Albert's latest mini-exhibition features a set of Elizabethan flagons that return to the museum after 70 years abroad.... 

Jenny Pockley: <em>Dreamscapes</em>

Art

Jenny Pockley

Thursday 15/5 @ Sarah Myerscough Fine Art

Jenny Pockley's solo show at Sarah Myerscough Fine Art looks beyond the chaos of London's urban cacophony to present a meditative... 

Ryan Gander: <em>Heralded as the New Black</em>

Art

Ryan Gander

Thursday 15/5 @ South London Gallery

Some may spend their gap year soul-searching (that is, aimlessly wandering the globe or lolling about in a drunken stupor). But... 

<em>Richard Rogers & Architects:</em><em> </em><em>From the House to the City</em> <em> </em>

Art

Richard Rogers & Architects

Thursday 15/5 @ Design Museum

Modern, functional design has long been synonymous with architect Richard Rogers, who's stamped his distinctive imprint on buildings throughout Europe. To... 

<em>Pygmalion</em>

Theatre

Pygmalion

Thursday 15/5 @ The Old Vic

George Bernard Shaw's rags-to-riches tale was made famous by George Cukor's 1964 film musical My Fair Lady, which starred Rex Harrison... 

Ruth Hinkel-Pevzner: <em>The Car</em>

Art

Ruth Hinkel-Pevzner

Thursday 15/5 @ Nicholls & Clarke Building

Filmmaker Ruth Hinkel-Pevzner combed through Russian film archives to create her new video work, installed in the centre of a disused... 

Liliane Lijn: <em>Stardust</em>

Art

Liliane Lijn

Thursday 15/5 @ Riflemaker Gallery

Liliane Lijn's fascination with cosmic forces continues with Stardust. The kinetic artist explores the relationship between space and time by using... 

All Power to the Imagination! 1968 and Its Legacies

Film

All Power to the Imagination!

Thursday 15/5 @ Various locations

This expansive festival celebrates 1968's pivotal role in shaping the world as we know it with a rich slate of events,... 

In Focus feat. <em>Running Late</em>

Art: Photography

Running Late

Thursday 15/5 @ The Photographers' Gallery

Running Late, an unlikely collaboration between the Photographers' Gallery and Cuts hair salon, doesn't include snaps of hair being swept up... 

<em>Front of House</em>

Art

Front of House

Thursday 15/5 @ Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art

The title of the Parasol Unit's new collaborative exhibition refers, on the surface, to public spaces in theatres and concert halls.... 

Ken Currie: <em>Animals</em>

Art

Ken Currie

Thursday 15/5 @ Flowers East

Ken Currie investigates the fine line separating civilisation from savagery. With its near-chiaroscuro depictions of horses, mating elephants and human grotesques,... 

<em>Past-Forward</em>

Art

Past-Forward

Thursday 15/5 @ 176

French curator Vincent Honoré's exhibition at this fabulous NW5 art space explores conceptual art and manipulated media. Past-Forward features two specially... 

<em>Urban Art Show</em>

Art

Urban Art Show

Thursday 15/5 @ The Old Cinema

West London antiques emporium and former picture palace the Old Cinema exchanges old masters for young talent this weekend, when it... 

Soundings IV: Exploring the Score

Music: Classical

Soundings

Thursday 15/5 @ Austrian Cultural Forum

Tune in to contemporary instrumental music at the Austrian Cultural Forum's showcase for young composers and performers from Austria and the... 

<em>Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008</em>

Art: Photography

Vanity Fair Portraits

Thursday 15/5 @ National Portrait Gallery

Ever since it launched way back when, Vanity Fair has never failed to raise an eyebrow — least of all for... 

The Damask Rose Trust present <em>Colours of the Sun</em>

Art

The Damask Rose Trust present Colours of the Sun

Thursday 15/5 @ The Syrian Embassy

Colours of the Sun is a collection of embroidered panels depicting the impoverished Syrian town of Jabal Al Hoss, as seen... 

Mark Wright

Art

Mark Wright

Thursday 15/5 @ Carter Presents

A strangely serene beauty exudes from the putrid destruction and decay of Mark Wright's chaotic paintings. Drawing from ancient folklore, poetry... 

<em>Listening Post</em>

Art

Listening Post

Thursday 15/5 @ The Science Museum

Idle conversations on Facebook walls, MySpace comments and message forums may not feel as intimate after Listening Post arrives at the... 

<em>The City</em>

Theatre

The City

Thursday 15/5 @ Royal Court Theatre

If you're in the mood for social decay, morally repugnant characters and simmering violence, head to Royal Court Theatre, where Martin...