Discover London

 “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life” – Samuel Johnson

Double Trouble

Shakespeare’s romantic comedies Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing, first paired as a double bill at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in 2014 to critical acclaim, are to make a brief comeback in the West End.

With Much Ado masquerading as Love’s Labour’s Won – a title that might refer to a lost work or is possibly an alternate name for the play – an ensemble cast performs both involving productions, which conjure an air of Downton Abbey glamour.

Love’s Labour’s Lost brings to life the carefree elegance of a pre-war Edwardian summer, while in Much Ado About Nothing, set after the First World War, life has changed forever. It’s a combination that sheds new light on these ever-popular plays.

The double bill runs from early December to 18 March 2017 at Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Let Them Entertain You

The tagline for the British Library’s Victorian Entertainments exhibition, There Will Be Fun, sounds like a promise. Based on the library’s Evanion collection, the archive of 19th-century conjuror Henry Evans, known as Evanion, the exhibition features a vivid array of richly decorative posters, handbills, advertisements and tickets. Such ephemeral material, relatively new at the time, wasn’t considered to be of lasting value back then, making the collection something special. Victorian Entertainment focuses on five entertainers including Evanion himself, whose performance for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert led to the self-appointed title of Royal Conjuror. A programme of live events will accompany the exhibition, including a special Late at the Library recapturing the heyday of Victorian entertainment.

In the Wings

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe returns to the London stage in a 50th anniversary production of Sir Tom Stoppard’s dazzling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Old Vic.

The mind-bending situation comedy, which stars the off-stage antics of Hamlet’s two unfortunate friends, launched Stoppard’s stellar career – he’s now widely regarded as Britain’s greatest living playwright – and debuted in London at the Old Vic in 1966.

With a household name as Rosencrantz and seasoned stage performer Joshua McGuire as Guildenstern tackling this brilliantly funny play by a national treasure, it looks set to be the firecracker production of the season. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead runs from 25 February to 29 April.

Clear as a Bell

A key member of the Bloomsbury Group, Vanessa Bell, the sister of Virginia Woolf, is often overshadowed by her famous sibling and infamous love affairs, but the first major solo exhibition of her work, which opens at Dulwich Picture Gallery on 8 February 2017, promises to bring the focus back to the art. Featuring around 100 oil paintings, in addition to fabrics, works on paper, photographs and related archival material, the exhibition will celebrate Bell’s pioneering work in portraiture, still life and landscape, particularly her experimental art in the 1910s. Abstract glimpses of the British landscape such as Studland Beach or the screen Tents and Figures, taken from a sketch Bell drew in Norfolk, appear alongside two of her striking self-portraits.

Night at the Museum

For an unforgettable winter’s evening, head to Sir John Soane’s Museum, an atmospheric treasure trove that has been preserved just as it was at the time of the architect’s death 180 years ago. On the first Tuesday evening of each month, visitors can wander through the former home of the man who built the Bank of England and Dulwich Picture Gallery in candlelight. It’s a remarkable collection, featuring antiquities, sculptures and paintings – including work by Hogarth, Turner and Canaletto and more than 30,000 architectural drawings. In addition to its regular Tuesday lates, the museum offers other special after-hours events usually in candlelight and with cocktails on offer.

Take Them to the Tower

With centuries of turbulent, era-defining history having taken place between its walls, it is no wonder the Tower of London is the UK’s most visited heritage attraction. This winter a trip to the Tower can be an even more evocative experience with a unique after-hours evening tour. On Sundays until March, Yeoman Warders – better known as Beefeaters – will walk you through some of the iconic site’s gruesome sights, such as Traitors’ Gate, the Scaffold and the Bloody Towers, while regaling spooky stories of past residents, royal gossip and the secrets kept within its ancient walls. Tours take place at 7pm on selected Sundays until 2 April, and last an hour and a half.