Things To Do
Guide
Things to do in London This Week: 1 June – 6 June
Looking for things to do in London this week? We've got you covered
If you’re looking for things to do in London this week, look no further. Whether you’re after a Monday night gig, a midweek matinee or an activity to keep the kids busy after school on Friday, this weekly guide is packed with fun activities to enjoy with your friends, family or on your own. Highlights from this week 1 June – 6 June) include an array of comedic acts, new hits on the West End, and the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships.
Theatre & Comedy
Tune into Matt Forde’s Political Party — live on stage
- Where: Duchess Theatre, 3-5 Catherine Street, London, WC2B 5LA.
- When: Monday 1 June
He’s an incisive comedian and broadcaster, currently Defying Calamity on his biggest-ever stand-up tour. But, this Monday, Matt Forde takes a break for a live session of his long-running podcast The Political Party in the West End, a regular feature in the Top 10 comedy podcasts, with past guests including Keir Starmer, Nicola Sturgeon and Sadiq Khan. For the final episode of the season, Forde keeps his finger on the pulse of British politics, inviting Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Lucy Powell for a fine-tuned mix of cutting comedy, political drama and in-depth converstation.
Get tickets to Matt Forde at Duchess Theatre
Find some common ground with comic Fortune Feimster
- Where: Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, London, E8 1EJ.
- When: Wednesday 3 June
You may know Fortune Feimster from Netflix comedy specials, such as Sweet & Salty and Good Fortune, both nominated for a Critics Choice Award. The comedian will also be returning to the small screen in July, this time with the Will Ferrell-starring series The Hawk. But what can be better than a face-to-face with Fortune? This Wednesday, Feimster is bringing her successful Takin’ Care of Biscuits Comedy Tour to the British capital to share with you hilariously relatable confessionals about finding common ground through comedy — conceived for good measure somewhere between Hooters and the Methodist church.
Get tickets to Fortune Feimster at Hackney Empire
Dive into the corridors of power at Churchill’s Urinal
- Where: King’s Head Theatre,
- When: Until 6 June
This is a comedy about politics — but maybe not exactly the way you imagine. Inspired by Rachel Reeves’ recent ordeal, comedian Rosie Holt takes on Westminster as the first Female Chancellor of the Excequer trying to take down the historical urinal in her private No. 11 office loo. Written by Holt with additional material by Stewart Lee, the spot-on Churchill’s Urinal is directed by Daniel Clarkson and and co-stars Michael Lambourne. We’re not sure how these particular 70 minutes of caustic political satire will end, but one thing is certain: that urinal is still in place.
Get tickets to Churchill’s Urinal at King’s Head Theatre
Make the most out of life — and death — at Beetlejuice The Musical
- Where: Prince Edward Theatre, Old Compton Street, London, W1D 4HS.
- When: Six days a week
Are you possessed with Tim Burton’s ‘80s immortal comedy classic? Get ready to juice up your life this week, as the hit Broadway stage adaptation of the film has just crossed over to the West End. Enter broody, black-clad teen Lydia Deetz, who has just moved into a home haunted by newly-deads Adam and Barbara Maitland — and she’s the only one who can actually see them. The unfortunate couple decide to invoke bio-exorcist, aka the “ghost with the most”, Beetlejuice to drive the Deetzes out, unleashing side-splitting chaos and calypso-fuelled catastrophy. Let the haunting begin.
Get tickets to Beetlejuice The Musical at Prince Edward Theatre
Walk down Avenue Q with NYC’s most mischievous puppets
- Where? Shaftesbury Theatre, 210 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8DP
- When: 13 April – 29 August
Puppet nudity. Lucy the Slut. Bad Idea Bear: multiple Tony Award winner Avenue Q is packed with outrageous comedy and irreverent characters — and, two decades on, it’s back in the West End for a felt-tastic revival. Follow young Princeton and his fuzzy neighbours on New York’s rundown Avenue Q as they face a triple whammy of work, love and paying the bills, brought to you by original Broadway director Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect, Shrek the Musical) and puppet designer Rick Lyon. Expect the gang to get down and dirty. The struggle is real.
Get tickets to Avenue Q at Shaftesbury Theatre
Roll back to Tudor England with timely comedy 1536
- Where? Ambassadors Theatre, West St, London WC2H 9ND.
- When: 2 May – 1 August
Royal and rural sensibilities collide in Tudor England in the strikingly resonant 1536. After a sold-out run at Almeida Theatre, the chillingly comic period play made its West End debut this May with a dusting of Hollywood glamour — Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment jumped on board the transfer as co-producers. Winner of the 2024 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, writer Ava Pickett’s debut burns with savage, timely wit as three childhood friends in Essex share the latest London gossip about King Henry VIII’s displeasure with his Queen, Anne Boleyn. But the violence in a world stacked against women suddenly feels alarmingly close…
Get tickets to 1536 at Ambassadors Theatre
Music & Nightlife
Release the hardcore beast with Gorilla Biscuits
- Where: Underworld Camden, 174 Camden High ST, London, NW1 0NE.
- When: Tuesday 2 June
They’re mainstays of NYC’s youth crew hardcore scene since the late ‘80s. But Gorilla Biscuits havent’s lost their flavour and they’ll be landing in London this Tuesday to feed your appetite for pure DIY punk mayhem. The band’s influential 1989 debut LP Start Today still throbs with uncompromising straight edge energy, and their current run of club shows brings them to the capital with special guests local hardcore crews Knuckledust and CLOBBER, along with Brighton’s AKU. Gear up for an epic mosh pit.
Get tickets to Gorilla Biscuits at Underworld Camden
Form A Perfect Circle for mighty alternative rock choruses
- Where: O2 Academy Brixton, 211 Stockwell Road, Brixton, London, SW9 9SL.
- When: 3 & 4 June
“Where am I going? How did I get here? How do I get back?”, wonder A Perfect Circle on brand-new track ‘Starless’, a sweeping wail of frustration for a world that has lost its moral compass. What we do know, is that the supergroup, led by guitarist-composer Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan, are coming to London for two shows this Wednesday and Thursday, before heading off to mainland Europe for their first tour in eight years. From their 2000 debut Mer de Noms to 2018’s Eat the Elephant, the alternative luminaries have only released four studio albums. But, when these do come, they set the rock world on fire.
Get tickets to O2 Academy Brixton
Get goosebump moments with Dermot Kennedy
- Where: The O2, Peninsula Square, Greenwich, London, SE10 0DX.
- When: Friday 5 June
Dermot Kennedy is the kind of heart-on-sleeve singer-songwriter that speaks straight to your soul; even if he sings to you from the massive O2 stage. Released back in April, his third album The Weight of the Woods stretches between doleful, raspy-voiced ballads and earworm alt-rock hooks partly inspired by the woods behind his home in Ireland. It went straight to the UK number one, making him the first Irish artist to top the charts with his first three studio album adding to Kennedy’s already hefty collection of arena-sized choruses to sing at the top of your lungs.
Get tickets to Dermot Kenney at The O2
Get your groove on with Sister Sledge
- Where: KOKO, Camden High St., London, NW1 7JE.
- When: 5 June
There’s good reason why people still sing and dance up a storm the moment ‘We Are Family’ comes on: an irresistible, groove-fuelled explosion of disco camaraderie, Sister Sledge’s infectious party-starter went gold in 1979, and it hasn’t lost its dance-floor lustre since. Kathy Sledge was just 16 when she recorded lead vocals, and 19 when she and her sisters took the charts and radio by storm. So get down and boogie in your shiniest outfit this Friday with Sister Sledge ft Kathy Sledge, a live vocal powerhouse who, nearly five decades later, keeps the timeless disco bangers and the bonding coming.
Get tickets to Sister Sledge at KOKO
Get into the Boyzone
- Where: Emirates Stadium, Queensland Road, Islington, London, N7 7AJ.
- When: 5 & 6 June
One of the world’s greatest boy bands officially bid fans farewell at their Thank You & Goodnight tour in 2018. But last year’s hit mini series Boyzone: No Matter What has inspired a much-awaited comeback this week, Two For The Road, a pair of harmoniously nostalgic two-and-a-half-hour performances, and the first stadium shows of their long, hit-packed career. The cameras will once again be rolling for a behind-the-scenes doc coming in 2026, capturing the music highs, and the inescapable tears. These heartbreakers continue to fill stadiums for a reason.
Get tickets to Boyzone at the Emirates Stadium
Embark on a pop-fuelled ABBA Voyage
- Where? ABBA Arena, 1 Pudding Mill Lane, London, E15 2RU
- When: Ongoing
ABBA’s last public performance took place on December 11, 1982. Sadly, we can’t send you back in time to see the pop supergroup in their prime, but we do have the next best thing. Blending state-of-the-art technology and some of the most beloved pop records in history, ABBA Voyage sees Sweden’s fab four return to the stage of a purpose-built arena, in truly spectacular fashion — as digital avatars. Join the glitter-studded gang and their 10-strong live crew on a jaw-dropping, 100-minute voyage, fuelled by back-to-back choruses that hit all the right notes for an evening of high-spirited singalongs and dancing.
Sport
Watch high-octane gunplay at VALORANT Masters
- Where: Copper Box Arena, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, E203HB.
- When: 6-21 June
Grab a seat for a barrage of adrenaline-pumping tactical shooter sessions, featuring an army of agents juggling strategy and masterful gunplay. The high-stakes second event of the 2026 VALORANT Champions Tour is kicking off in London this week, with points earned here bringing the top six teams a step closer to the VALORANT Champions 2026, hosted in Shanghai this autumn. The 12 best teams from VCT’s four International Leagues will be competing in two stages, Swiss and Playoffs. Find out who will leave with the trophy, and a dream in sight — and who will carry the weight of a curse.
Get tickets to VALORANT at Copper Box Arena
Family
Let your creativity blossom at Green Shoots!
- Where? Southwark Park Galleries, 1 Park Approach, Southwark Park, London, SE16 2UA
- When: 12 April – 11 October
A Grade II-listed park with a 150-year history in Bermondsey, Southwark Park offers peaceful moments to enjoy any time of year. But, this week and every second Saturday of the month, families have a fresh reason to visit, beyond the beautiful spring scenery. Join artists Abigail Hunt and Alexa Lowe at the Southwark Park Galleries for Green Shoots!, their free, drop-in family sessions exploring the flora and fauna in the garden of the Lake Gallery, then inviting kids to get down and dirty by creating their own eco-friendly masterpieces. Recommended for children up to 11.
Find out more about Green Shoots
Maximise the fun at Brockley Max 2026
- Where: Brockley, Ladywell, Crofton Park, Honor Oak.
- When: Until 6 June
Feel like joining a music bingo night? Foot-tap along a ukulele jam session? Watch an award-winning cartoonist respond to the current news on a witty comic strip mural? A massive celebration of south-east London communities and local art talent, Brockley Max festival is back in Lewisham on the first week of June like clockwork. Its 25th-anniversary edition culminates with free all-dayer Max in the Park this Saturday, a feast of music, storytelling, pop-up food stalls, kids workshops and more to lift your mood around the leafy Hilly Fields. You think one special band really brought the goods? Show your support with a tip on the official festival website.
Find out more about Brockley Max
Immersive Experiences
Dig into Ramses and the Pharaohs’ Gold at Battersea Power Station
- Where? NEON at Battersea Power Station, Circus Rd E, Nine Elms, London, SW11 8DQ
- When: Open daily
Tutankhamun may be the bigger name, but Ramses the Great and his influential 67-year reign catapulted Ancient Egypt to new heights 3000 years ago, through striking monuments, targeted military tactics and skilful diplomacy. Be transported back to the Valley of the Kings and Egypt’s golden age through 180 invaluable treasures, including the coffin of Ramses II, colossal sculptures, gold masks, animal mummies and priceless jewellery, that have travelled directly from the Egyptian Museum of Cairo to London.
They will be displayed alongside virtual reality experiences that give the journey fresh depth, for a limited time only.
Get tickets to Ramses and the Pharaohs’ Gold at Battersea Power Station
Time travel to 19th-century Paris at CHAT NOIR!
- Where? The Lost Estate, London W14 9PL
- When: Until 20 September
What if, for one night this week, you could leave London behind and step into the bohemian playground that was 1890s Montmartre? Enter CHAT NOIR! the birthplace of the world’s first cabaret, recreated by UK immersive masterminds The Lost Estate. A candlelit, velvet-clad, secret society of dancers, illusionists, musicians and mimes, with impresario Rudolphe Salis, at its pulsing core. A three-course banquet of French haute cuisine and naughty cocktails await for a delicious taste of Parisian Belle Époque. Just seat back, take a sip and let an anarchic mix of art and absinthe capture your senses. What happens in Paris, stays in Paris.
Step into a multi-sensory art experience at FRAMELESS
- Where? FRAMELESS, 6 Marble Arch, London W1H 7AP
- When: Open daily
When you really love a painting, you don’t want to just look at it — you want to live in it. An immersive experience redefining the concept of art exhibition as we know it, FRAMELESS assembles 42 famous artworks by great masters like Cezanne, Kandinsky, Dali, Klimt, Van Gogh and many more, turning each classic into a full-blown, multi-sensory spectacle. Across four distinct galleries, you can now step into a world Beyond Reality, see Colour in Motion, learn The Art of Abstraction and see stunning new perspectives of The World Around Us in a series of eye-popping displays that take each artwork to a whole new level.
Community & Culture
Get a feel for stage design at the National Theatre
- Where: Wolfson Gallery, National Theatre, London SE1 9PX.
- When: Until 6 June
Following a seven-week series of masterclasses with professional theatre designers, 13 young people aged 16-19 responded to Nigel Williams’ stage adaptation of Lord of the Flies by William Golding with their own design experiments and visual interpretations. For one final week, the free exhibition An Introduction to Stage Design gathers the scale models, costume drawings, collages and sculptural responses capturing each student’s visual concept and research process. Do you have a taste for theatre-making? Try one of the interactive models of the National Theatre’s three stages, inviting visitors of all ages to design too through play.
Find out more about what’s on at the National Theatre
Step inside a tunnel of soil and spices at the Barbican
- Where: Sculpture Court, Barbican Centre, Silk St, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS.
- When: Until 31 July
Inspired by ancestral Andean and Amazonian traditions, Colombian artist Delcy Morelos invites Londoners to reconnect with the earth at the heart of a utopic urban project for communal living, the Barbican. Her free-to-visit, 24-metre-wide installation origo (origin in Latin) is made of soil, clay and fragrant spices, its tunnels and shifting light offering fertile ground for exploration of “the delicate and powerful web of existence”. The first artwork to grace the centre’s Sculpture Court in 10 years, origo is also the most ambitious outdoor work featured in the space yet.
Find out more about what’s on at The Barbican
Gather around for free Songs On The Steps
- Where? Holland Park, London W8 6LU.
- When: 29 May – 31 July
Opera Holland Park is celebrating 30 years since its inception, and it’s kicking off a thrilling 2026 season this week, starting with Puccini’s gold rush drama La fanciulla del West. Baffled by Puccini? Then get a live taster of the talent and melodies on offer with the free Songs On The Steps 2026, a series of fortnightly 40-minute concerts inviting artists from the company to shuffle new picks and classics, for opera devotees and dog walkers alike. Nothing like an aria al fresco to elevate your lunchtime.
Find out more about Songs On The Steps
Experience wartime London through art
- Where? Imperial War Museum London, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ
- When: Until 1 November
During the Second World War, the British government commissioned artists to document how the war transformed the city and its people. Many of these works have now made their way into the Imperial War Museum’s Beauty and Destruction: Wartime London in Art, a free exhibition of paintings, drawings, photographs and oral histories zooming in on a city on fire, its residents lost, displaced, but also beautifully resilient. From St Paul’s Cathedral to the Docklands, see life in wartime London unfold in vivid detail — while kids can also engage with the artworks on a family-friendly ‘stamper’ trail.
Find out what’s on at the Imperial War Museum
Spot the wildlife at Islington’s hidden Gillespie Park
- Where? Gillespie Park, 10 Tannington Terrace, Gillespie Rd, London N5 1LE
- When: Open daily
It’s Islington’s largest nature reserve, yet still an unsung gem: you can discover Gillespie Park daily from 08:00 to dusk (unless there’s a match at the nearby Arsenal Emirates Stadium), and enjoy its ponds, paths and woodland at your own pace, among 244 species of plants, 94 species of birds and 24 types of butterflies, according to the local council. The park’s Ecology Centre also educates visitors on wildlife, gardening and sustainable living – so keep an eye out for free green fun as the weather warms up, from butterfly walks to drag story time.
Find out more about Gillespie Park
Rethink perceptions of ageing at The Coming of Age
- Where? Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE.
- When: 26 March 2026 – 29 November
A free museum and library known for its thoughtful exhibitions on the past, present and future of health, the Wellcome Collection tackles a much-talked-about topic in the age of biohacking and TikTok facial routines. Who gets to live longer and “age well”? Exploring how experiences of age are shaped by our environment, culture and society, The Coming of Age gathers 150 exhibits spanning art, science and pop culture. From 19th-century etchings to surreal digital works celebrating ‘auntie culture’, expect the unexpected; and you’ll never look at ageing the same way again.
Find out more about the Wellcome Collection
Relive the days of Cool Brittania at the Barbican
- Where? Barbican Music Library, Level 2, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS.
- When: Until 19 September
From music and fashion to football and food, there was no better place to be in the ‘90s than London. Enter the time capsule at 1996: 30 years on – The wildest year of Britain’s wildest decade, a free exhibition at the Barbican Music Library curated by author, broadcaster and former editor of The Sun Dominic Mohan, bringing together original costumes worn by the Spice Girls, previously unseen Oasis memorabilia, personal items from the likes of DJ Paul Oakenfold and more. Get rare peeks into art, dance culture and politics from a decade that oozed with cool — and keep an eye out for a series of Q&As with key figures of the time for a first-hand deep dive.
Find out more about Barbican Music Library
