ENTERTAINMENT Things To Do March–May
Focus: BFI Flare Highlights Flare started life as Gays’ Own Pictures in 1986 , before changing to the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival two years later, and eventually BFI Flare LGBTQIA+ Film Festival. The name changes indicate how queer cinema has changed over the years, becoming more inclusive. It’s an honour to programme the 40 th anniversary of the festival.
PHOTO LONDON For its 11 th annual showing, the “Frieze of photography” shifts to a sizeable new home at the freshly redeveloped Olympia (worth some photos of its own, surely). As well as established London names, there will be exhibitions by galleries from Lima to Ljubljana, a new photobook prize in honour of the late Martin Parr and, for the first time, a film screening room. Olympia, May 13 – 17 . From £ 20 . photolondon.org
ART
1536 Ava Pickett’s sharply funny debut play, 1536 , finds three women in a field in Tudor Essex discussing Anne Boleyn’s execution. This West End transfer, directed by Lyndsey Turner ( Chimerica ) and starring Sex Education’s Tanya Reynolds among others, follows rave reviews during its sold- out run at the Almeida last year. Ambassadors Theatre, May 2 – August 1 . From £ 40 . 1536 onstage.com
By Grace Barber-Plentie, BFI festivals programmer
JARIPEO We’re screening this documentary fresh from this year’s Sundance and Berlinale film festivals. A dreamlike, meditative film, Jaripeo follows filmmaker Efraín Mojica returning to the small-town Mexican rodeos they grew up surrounded by – hypermasculine spaces that also offer surprising possibilities for queer community. March 21 , 6 . 40 pm, & March 22 , 4 . 40 pm
AKI SASAMOTO: GRILLED DIAGRAMS Cookery is at the heart of the first UK solo exhibition from Japanese artist Aki Sasamoto, who repurposes and reimagines everyday kitchen objects in playful sculptural displays. There’s even a huge functional griddle which Sasamoto herself will be manning in two special live performances towards the end of the show’s run. Studio Voltaire, until April 19 . Free (£ 5 for special performances). studiovoltaire.org THEATRE
MUSIC
CATHERINE OPIE: TO BE SEEN
GALA London’s festival season begins with a bank holiday bang as Peckham Rye is transformed into an al fresco club weekender with a line-up that spans DJ legends (Todd Edwards, Gilles Peterson), collaborators (John Talabot and Axel Boman’s Talaboman, and a team-up of Antal, Hunee and Palms Trax) and returning SE 15 heroes (Giggs, Chaos in the CBD). Peckham Rye Park, May 22 – 24 . From £ 55 . thisisgala.co.uk LITERATURE During this three-day literary takeover of Ally Pally, you’ll find Booker Prize winner Alan Hollinghurst discussing his latest novel, Our Evenings ; Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason introducing her book To Be Young, Gifted and Black , with musical interludes from two of her classical musician children; beloved local writer Michael Rosen marking his 80 th birthday; and much more besides. Alexandra Palace. April 23 – 26 . From £ 12 . 50 . alexandrapalace.com NORTH LONDON BOOK FESTIVAL
Opie has been shooting bold portraits across the US – of queer communities, high school footballers, surfers, families, protestors – for the past 30 years, but this is the first time a major retrospective has been hosted in the UK. It aims to demonstrate, in the words of the artist, that “everyone [ can ] begin to understand identity through being seen”. National Portrait Gallery, March 5 –May 31 . From £ 19 . 50 . npg.org.uk
THE WATERMELON WOMAN Cheryl Dunye’s landmark film, thought to be the first feature film directed by a Black lesbian, turns 30 this year. We’ve teamed up with Frameline Film Festival, the oldest LGBTQIA+ film festival in the world, to screen it. It’s still so funny, incisive and unique after all this time. March 20 , 12 . 55 pm
CULTURE
FOOD & DRINK
TEETH ’N‘ SMILES Less than a year after releasing her first book and co-curating the London Literature Festival, Rebecca Lucy Taylor – aka pop star Self Esteem – adds to her polymath credentials by making her West End debut in this major revival of David Hare’s pioneering “rebel play”, which first premiered in 1975 starring Helen Mirren. Duke of York’s Theatre, March 13 –June 6 . From £ 25 . teethnsmilesplay.com PHOTOGRAPHY
SKATE 50 One of the most eye-catching parts of the Southbank Centre’s 75 th anniversary extravaganza is this audio, video and photographic exhibition celebrating the generations of skaters who have gathered in the concrete undercroft of the Queen Elizabeth Hall for the past five decades, and the DIY culture that’s grown up around them. Southbank Centre, April 30 –June 21 . Free. southbankcentre.co.uk
FUTURE OF FOOD Previously a September fixture, the annual Regent Street and St James’s food festival is celebrating culinary creativity in May this year. As well as one-off collaborations, masterclasses and supper clubs, the area’s best restaurants (including some Heddon Street favourites) are serving special menus and offering discounted dining. Tickets go on sale March 31 . Various venues, Regent Street and St James’s, May 12 – 24 . regentstreetonline.com
LUNAR SWAY Nick Butler’s debut film is exactly the kind that goes down a storm at Flare. It’s a big, kooky American coming-of-age story about a small- town misfit who embarks on a series of wacky misadventures after the arrival of his birth mother. March 22 , 1 . 10 pm, & March 23 , 8 . 30 pm
NO SALGAS We’ve supported the brilliant Dominican director Victoria Linares Villegas at both Flare and the London Film Festival over the years, and we’re thrilled to have her back with her third feature film – a horror in which a mysterious entity is hunting down queer people. March 19 , 5 . 50 pm, & March 20 , 8 . 45 pm
JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN
GORDON PARKS: WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED Starting out with a $ 12 pawn- shop camera, Gordon Parks went on to become one of America’s best-known photographers, most notably documenting the struggle, resistance and resilience of Black Americans (he also directed the blaxploitation classic Shaft ). This timely exhibition, curated by lawyer and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson, marks 20 years since Parks’s death. Alison Jacques, March 5 –April 11 . Free. alisonjacques.com
The seven-time Tony Award- nominated show, written by US playwright Kimberly Belflower and directed by the acclaimed Danya Taymor, is a snappy feminist take on Arthur Miller’s The Crucible , which also happened to make its English debut at the Royal Court 70 years ago. It was a swift sellout, but a few same-day tickets will be released at 9 am each Monday during its run. Royal Court Theatre, March 20 –April 25 . From £ 15 . royalcourttheatre.com
WASHED UP This delightful debut from Isabel Daly is a romantic comedy with a twist: aspiring artist Morwenna has a meet-cute on a Cornish beach with the enigmatic Inga. The only problem? Inga is a selkie, a mythical creature with the ability to shapeshift between human and seal. March 25 , 8 . 50 pm, & March 28 , 12 . 45 pm
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