Top ten at the Southbank this week

Each week Annie from www.southbanklondon.com picks her top ten things to do on the Southbank.

1. The Linbury Prize. National Theatre. Mon – Sun

This prize is a turning-point in the careers of young designers, see the finalists’ designs exhibited for free at the National Theatre.

2. Re-Rite Be the Orchestra. Bargehouse. Tues – Sun

Conduct, play and step inside the Philharmonia’s first digital residency to the sounds of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.

3. X-perimentalist: Hugh Turvey x-ray artist. gallery@oxo. Wed – Sat

The artist Hugh Turvey exhibits his experiments with x-ray producing insightful contemporary images. More Info

4. Disney’s A Christmas Carol – An IMAX 3D Experience. BFI IMAX. Wed-Sun

A re-envisioned version of the classic Dickens tale featuring the talents of Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.

5. 11th BFM International Film Festival. BFI Southbank. Fri- Sun

The UK’s largest black world cinema event, back to BFI Southbank for the second year running.

6. London Creatives: Polish Roots. Topolski Century Fri – Sun

A temporary exhibition displaying portraits of Londoners with Polish origins, prominent in London’s creative world.

7. Uncle Vanya. Young Vic. Thurs – Sun.

This workshop production boldly reinterprets Chekhov’s story of frustrated longing and wasted lives for our work obsessed times.

8.The Big Flame. BFI Southbank. Thurs. 8.40pm

This gripping drama follows striking dockers as they take on their bosses, their union and the government to stage a worker takeover of the Liverpool docks. Filmed on location in a drama-documentary style, this is one of the definitive collaborations between Loach, producer Tony Garnett and writer Jim Allen.

9. Memories of Murder. BFI Southbank. Mon. 8.40pm

Korea’s first serial killer struck in the countryside around Hwaseong in the 1980s; he was never caught. Bong’s masterly reworking of the case centres on the bungled police investigation (the great Song Kang-Ho plays a thick-eared local cop) and identifies as prime suspect a man who looks like a leftist student-turned-manual worker.

10. Britten Sinfonia. Southbank Centre. Sat. 7.30pm

Following their acclaimed collaboration at Aldeburgh Festival in 2008 the partnership between Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Britten Sinfonia continues with this performance focused on the works of Haydn and Elliott Carter.

For more details on any of the above visit www.southbanklondon.com

Win tickets to the Gaymers Camden Crawl Live Launch

We have a pair of tickets to give away to one lucky LDNer to the super-exclusive Gaymers Camden Crawl Live Launch with War Child at brand new Camden Town venue The Blues Kitchen on 4th November.

The fundraising event, will include live performances from a variety of Camden rooted artists who have performed in previous years at the Crawl, including Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, The Holloways, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, Bleech, Man Like Me, Beans on Toast and surprise special guests. DJ sets will come from Russell Autokratz, Sean McLusky (1234) and Ed (ex-The Darkness).

To win: @reply to LDN on Twitter with a #CamdenCrawl

The Camden Crawl is sponsored by Gaymers who will also be choosing 3 new Twitter followers to each receive a case of Gaymers cider – http://twitter.com/gaymersmusic.

Top ten at the Southbank this week

Each week Annie from www.southbanklondon.com picks her top ten things to do on the Southbank.

1. Up. BFI IMAX. Tues. 1.45pm

A hilarious journey in a lost world filled with danger and surprise from Disney-Pixar in 3D!

2. The Pains of Youth. National Theatre. Mon-Thurs 7.30pm

A discontented post-war generation diagnose youth to be their sickness and do their best to destroy it. A shocking, erotically charged play

3. Halloween Flight. London Eye. All Week.

Take a Trick or Treat Flight with your witchy host, or hear spooky stories on a Tale of Two Witches river cruise.

4. 36 Pieces of Jade. gallery@oxo. Wed-Sat. 11am – 6pm.

A free exhibition of floral forms commissioned by P&O Cruises for the superliner “Azura”.

5. Halloween Slow Food Market. Southbank Centre Square. Fri – Sun. 11am – 6pm

Trick or treat… It’s time for apple-bobbing, pumpkins, tasty slow-cooked casseroles and sweet indulgences.

6. Everything to Declare: Celebrating 25 Years of Wasafiri. Southbank Centre. Sat.

The Magazine of International Contemporary Writing has charted a wave of writing that has changed the face of literature, publishing some of the world’s most distinguished writers and most exciting voices in contemporary writing. Hear key figures talk at Southbank Centre.

7. The twenty-four hour plays celebrity gala. The Old Vic. Sun.

40 acclaimed actors, directors and writers join forces to write, rehearse and perform six short plays in just 24 hours. It’s the ultimate theatrical challenge, culminating in a unique evening played out on one of the world’s most celebrated stages.

8. ScreenPlay in The Clore Ballroom. Southbank Centre. Sat.

Southbank Centre are offering you the chance to hear a performance of this sold-out concert featuring London Sinfonietta, Bang On A Can, Synergy Vocals and Steve Reich live on ScreenPlay

9. Citizen Kane. BFI Southbank. Fri 2.30pm

Welles’ monumental achievement famously views the controversial life of a media tycoon.

10. Porgy & Bess. Southbank Centre. Mon. 7pm.

This unforgettable work is given here as a concert performance by the remarkable Cape Town Opera company. ‘Cape Town Opera’s singers perform with pulsating energy and a supple naturalness’ (Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin).

For more details on any of the above visit www.southbanklondon.com

Top ten at the Southbank this week

Each week Annie from www.southbanklondon.com picks her top ten things to do on the Southbank.

1. Annie Get Your Gun. Young Vic. All Week. 7.30pm

The Young Vics big Christmas show continues, with Jane Horrocks, Julian Ovenden and multi-prize winning director Richard Jones unite to present a London revival of this great hit song-fest.

2. The Times BFI London Film Festival. BFI Southbank. Starts Wed.

Opening with Wes Anderson’s highly anticipated animation ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’, and closing with the world premiere of Sam Taylor-Wood’s ‘Nowhere Boy’.

3. Ed Ruscha Retrospective. The Hayward Gallery. Starts Wed.

The Hayward presents a major retrospective of Ruscha’s paintings in celebration of his 50-year career.

4. International Piano Series. Southbank Centre. Tues.

Opening the International Piano Series with a dazzling piano recital, Trpčeski performs a programme of Chopin Nocturnes, Haydn and Mozart.

5. The Godfather. BFI Southbank. Mon- Wed.

Often listed at the top of best-ever film polls, Francis Ford Coppola’s newly restored classic broke new ground in its focus on organised crime and paved the way for the ‘movie brat’ film-makers.

6. Sexploitation Part 2. BFI Southbank. Mon-Wed.

Concluding the season of cult erotica that dared to go where mainstream Hollywood wouldn’t.

7. ‘Three of the Best’ from Manchester’s 24:7 Festival. Young Vic. Thurs.

“Three of the Best” from Manchester’s 24:7 Festival will be showcased at the Young Vic this October. 24:7 is a springboard for new writing and acting talent in the North West.

8. Pinhole Photography Workshop. Topolski Century. Sun

A free Pinhole photography workshop for children aged 8-12 run by the artist Marta Kotlarska.

9. Deimantas Narkevičius. BFI Southbank. All Week.

For his first solo London exhibition and to coincide with the 20 years anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Lithuanian artist Deimantas Narkevičius has created a new work.

10. Concrete DJ Nights. Concrete. All Week.

Far from grey, Concrete is the hippest bar on South Bank. The regular DJ nights are a funky soundtrack to an evening out. Upcoming nights offer jazz, minimalism, electronica, glitchy beats, soul and disco.

For more details on any of the above visit www.southbanklondon.com

Top ten at the Southbank this week

Each week Annie from www.southbanklondon.com picks her top ten things to do on the Southbank.

1. Derek Marks at Bicha Gallery. Bicha. Starts Tues.

An exhibition of artist and lecturer Derek Marks’ work at Bicha Gallery, 7 Gabriel’s Wharf.

2. Kingston MA Graduation Show. Bargehouse. Wed- Sat

A free exhibition of work from Kingston’s faculty of art, design and architecture.

3. ROSL Annual Scholars Exhibition 2009. gallery@oxo. Starts 8 Thurs.

A free exhibition of sculpture, painting and works in mixed media.

4. Ulver. Southbank Centre. 9 Fri.

Conceptual artists who’ve exaggerated and blurred the lines between every musical form, winning praise for introducing folk, jazz, minimalism and filmic soundscapes to black metal.

5. Mountain Goats. Southbank Centre. 10 Sat.

The Mountain Goats are the musical endeavour of long-time favourite John Darnielle, one of the most imaginative lyricists of his generation.

6. Hitchon 09. Southbank Centre. 11 Sun.

A day of intergalactic entertainments with actor Simon Jones and the original cast celebrating 30 years of Douglas Adams’ classic British comedy.

7. Tosca. BFI IMAX. 10 Sat. 6pm

Live streamed Opera from the New York Met. Soprano Karita Mattila sings the title role for the first time outside her native Finland.

8. Berlin – Schönhauser Corner. BFI Southbank. 5 Mon. 6pm

East Germany’s answer to Rebel Without a Cause is a wonderfully atmospheric portrait of 1950s (post-war but pre-Wall) Berlin in which a gang of teenage delinquents with a taste for rock’n'roll decide to investigate whether the West is more to their liking.

9. Swedish Wildcats. BFI Southbank. 8 Thurs. 8.50pm

In a Copenhagen brothel where the girls parade in ritualistic ‘wild animal’ shows, clad in full body make-up and nothing else, the madame (a florid Diana Dors) pimps her two nieces.

10. Dear Summer Sister. BFI Southbank. 9 Fri. 8.40pm

Made immediately after the US handed Okinawa back to Japan, the last Sozo-sha production takes its look from the home movies that many Japanese shoot during vacations on the tropical islands.

For more details on any of the above visit www.southbanklondon.com

Top ten at the Southbank this week

Each week Annie from www.southbanklondon.com picks her top ten things to do on the Southbank.

1. Annie Get Your Gun. Young Vic. Starts Sat.

Jane Horrocks, Julian Ovenden and multi-prize winning director Richard Jones unite to present a London revival of Irving Berlin’s great hit song-fest, including favourites There’s No Business Like Show Business, Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better and The Girl That I Marry.

2. The Writing on the Wall. BFI Southbank. Fri-sun

BFI Southbank presents a three-part season that explores European identity, looking at how Europe arrived at its present state and stimulating reflection on its future.

3. Terezin . Theresienstadt. Southbank Centre. Wed.

Mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter performs music from the acclaimed recording of works by composers linked to the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

4. Blown Away: photography of Skandia Team. Wed-Sun.

Portraits and action photography of the Skandia Team GBR sailing squad by Rob Wilson. Free event

5. Captain Kidd’s Thames Barrier Tour. RIB Voyages. All Week

The only way to get up and close to the world’s largest moveable flood barriers. The ultimate London sightseeing excursion for Londoners and visitors.

6. Art Trolley. Topolski Century. Sat- Sun.

Art Trolley with art materials available free for those willing to go creative every weekend. Just help yourself!

7. Champagne Flight. London Eye. All week.

With views across the city at night and a chilled glass of Laurent-Perrier in hand, a champagne flight makes the perfect start to an evening, whatever the occasion.

8. Blue Scar. BFI Southbank, wed 30th. 6.20pm

Olwen Williams leaves her Welsh village and sweetheart Tom to take up a singing scholarship. Tom’s ambitions remain closer to home. Jill Craigie’s first feature film has a keen eye for the details of life of the villagers of South Wales, playing football and struggling against poverty.

9. La Haine. BFI Southbank. Wed 30th, 8.40pm

In the housing projects outside Paris, a young man has been beaten by police and hospitalised in the aftermath of a riot. His three friends kill time and wait for news on his condition, vowing revenge on the cops should he die.

10. Shopping at OXO Tower. All week

Visit OXO Tower for a one of a kind shopping experience with boutiques selling interiors, jewellery, gadgets and clothes, spend an afternoon browsing in style.

For more details on any of the above visit www.southbanklondon.com

Six things to do today in London

Celebrate the Autumn Equinox with the Druids

“Robed in white, members of the Druid Order gather on Primrose Hill to restate their allegiance to the universal principles on which their world view is based and accept life’s harvest through symbolic actions and words”. More here

Take part in a pub quiz with a difference

The weekly Tuesday quiz night at Islington’s The Old Queens Head is a million miles away from the usual anorak-fest. Jodie Harsh is your hostess along with Spider from Coronation Street.  Additions to the quiz format include “Kazoo-keoke”– guessing tunes played through a kazoo, and “Guess the punch” where teams have to work out the alcoholic ingredients of a cocktail. Winning team gets free shots as well as cash prizes, T-shirts and gift packages and there’s a weekly bonus question worth £100 that rolls over to the next week if unanswered. Registration starts from 7pm and entry is £2 per person.

Learn about East Timor

A talk by Irena Cristalis – one of a handful of journalists who stayed on to witness East Timor’s birth as an independent nation. More here

Enjoy some fantastic interior design

Food With Thought is an event showcasing interior products from a collective of six design companies held at Borough Market

Watch a fashion show live online

The Burrbery Spring/Summer womenswear show starts live at 6.30pm tonight here

Catch some free live music at Rough Trade East, Brick Lane

Christopher Owens and JR White are the core of San Francisco’s eccentric Girls, who give the mellow, sun-baked template of classic ’60s, West Coast pop a frazzled, lo-fi makeover, injecting it with jags of ’80s hardcore, Martin Denny-like lounge/exotica and ’50s surf pop to fine effect. More here

Top ten at the Southbank this week

Each week Annie from www.southbanklondon.com picks her top ten things to do on the Southbank.

1. Grotowski’s Last Performance. National Theatre. All Week. 9.30am – 11pm

Apocalypsis cum Figuris, in Photographs By Maurizio Buscarino. This free exhibition captures Grotowski’s last performance and his movement away from the theatre. Shot in 1979 in Milan, it is testament to an extraordinary feat of photography. 9.30am – 11pm Mon – Sat.

2. Shoot Nations 2009. gallery@oxo. Wed – Sun.

A free exhibition of the winners of a Global youth photography project with the theme ‘Growing Up in the 21st Century’.

3. Wendy Cop, Seamus Heaney and Guests. Southbank Centre. Tues.

For 80 years Faber and Faber have published poetry that has made history – Wendy Cope, Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, Daljit Nagra and Alice Oswald read from their works.

4. Rage. BFI Southbank. Fri- Sun

Sally Potter’s new film at BFI Southbank, offering a withering commentary on the worlds of fashion and the media.

5. Bonachela Dance Company. Southbank Centre. Fri-Sat

In a new dance collaboration with Italian composer Ezio Bosso, Rafael Bonachela delves into the world of signs and symbols that rule our everyday lives and spark our hidden memories.

6. The 4D Experience. London Eye. All Week.

A ticket for the London Eye now comes with the 4D experience, a mesmerizing film with wind, bubbles, snow and more!

7. Miss Julie. BFI Southbank. Sat. 4pm

Part of the Stage to Screen season, written in 1888, Strindberg’s study of class, sex and death was so radical that the work was not to be seen on the English stage until 1939.

8. Life Drawing Workshops. Topolski Century. Tues and Wed. 7-10pm

Life drawing workshops at Topolski Century are now twice weekly on Tuesday and Wednesday.

9. District 9. BFI IMAX. All Week.

Produced by Peter Jackson, see the new Alien flick on the biggest screen in the UK.

10. Leslie Caron in Conversation. BFI Southbank. Wed. 6.20pm

BFI welcomes the An American in Paris star to the stage to discuss her career.

For more details on any of the above visit www.southbanklondon.com

Top ten at the Southbank this week – 14th September to 20th September

Each week Annie from www.southbanklondon.com picks her top ten things to do on the Southbank.

1. Our Class. National Theatre. Starts 16th Sept

Polish playwright, Tadeusz Slobodzianek, confronts his country’s involvement in the atrocities of the last century and follows the one-time classmates into the next.

2. Transforming Passion into Products. Gallery@oxo. Wed- Sat. 16 – 19 Sep 09

An exhibition celebrating 20 years of Hidden Art assisting and promoting UK design talent. Free Event.

3.Inherit the Wind. The Old Vic. From 18th Sept

Considered one of the great American plays of the twentieth century, award winning director Trevor Nunn directs an outstanding cast including Kevin Spacey

4. Slow Food Market. Southbank Centre Square. Fri – Sun.

Slow Food assembles some of the country’s best producers of food and drink to celebrate the launch of nature’s new Autumn collection. Held alongside London Design Festival and London Fashion Week.

5. OXO Tower Wharf ‘On Show’. OXO Tower wharf and Gabriel’s Wharf. Fri-Sun

Discover innovative product design, fabulous fashion, exquisite jewellery, exciting exhibitions, fine dining and great views. Oxo Tower Wharf goes “On Show” to coincide with London Fashion Week, London Design Festival and London Open House.
Late evening browsing and shopping can be enjoyed on Friday, Saturday 19 September, as part of London Open House, there will be guided tours to the top of the art deco Oxo tower.

At neighbouring Gabriel’s Wharf take in a fashion show on Sunday 20 September [1pm, free] and enjoy “Architectural Views” exhibition of architectural images and ideas at Bicha Gallery.

6. Vocal Workshop with Mary King. Southbank Centre. Sun.

As part of The Bernstein Project, join voice expert Mary King to learn repertoire from the composer’s eclectic and passionate Mass.

7. Performance of Songs from West Side Story. Southbank Centre. Sun

A concert of West Side Story classics by Wyvil, Bonneville, Clapham Manor Primary Schools and Lilian Baylis Secondary School, joined by the Centre for Young Musicians Chamber Choir led by Southbank Centre Voicelab.

8. Mass Rally. Southabnk Centre. Sun.

Conductor Marin Alsop launches The Bernstein Project in spectacular style leading to this performance of music from Bernstein to Beethoven, with films of the composer’s life, members of the Bernstein family and life-long colleagues.

9. Rebel Without a Cause. BFI Southbank. Sun. 8.40pm

Revisit one of the most recognisable screen icons of the 20th century on the big screen

10. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. BFI Southbank. Sat. 6.30pm

Transcendently tongue-in-cheek sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll fable. Part of the BFI Sexploitation Season.

For more details on any of the above visit www.southbanklondon.com

Top ten at the Southbank this week – 7th September to 13th September

Each week Annie from www.southbanklondon.com picks her top ten things to do on the Southbank.

1. White Paper, Young Vic, Tues 8th. 7pm.

Show casing the best in British Black writing. A mother or monster whose desperate search for her biological parents brings the sins of the past to her mixed race children.

2. Lolita. National Theatre. All Week.

Richard Nelson adapts this controversial and classic tale by Vladimir Nabokov into a stunning 90 minute monologue

3. Public Faces Private Places. National theatre. All Week.

A free exhibition bringing together a selection of photographs which capture the insider’s view of figures including Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright, Vanessa Redgrave and Julie Christie.

4. Mother Courage and her Children. National Theatre. All Week.

Fiona Shaw returns to the National taking on the title role in Tony Kushner’s inventive and vigorous translation of Bertolt Brecht’s uncompromising masterpiece.

5. The Congo Allstars. Southbank Centre. Fri 11th. 10pm

With its four singers, three guitarists and a rock solid rhythm section Congo Allstars return to reclaim their crown as the finest dance band in Africa today.

6. The Mayor’s Thames Festival. 12-13th Sept.

From Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge and beyond, this spectacular celebration brings Londoners together at the very heart of the capital to dance, make sculptures, listen to music, watch movies, drink, sing, eat, sail on the Thames and dance in the streets.

7. London African Music Festival. Southbank Centre. 11 – 13 Sep 09

Since 2003 the London African Music Festival has been at the forefront of new African music and this year is no exception, with the festival featuring true legends

8. Emiliana Torrini. Southbank Centre. Sun 13th. 7.30pm

After her critically acclaimed 2008 album Me and Armini (Rough Trade), Emiliana Torrini plays a hugely anticipated gig at Southbank Centre.

9. This Working Life: King Coal. BFI Southbank. 8th- 13th Sept.

The drama of working down the pit and the powerful ties of mining communities have long provided rich subject matter for film-makers. BFI excavate some of the rich seams of coal on screen. For full listings click here

10. onedotzero. BFI Southbank. 9th – 12th Sept

onedotzero_adventures in motion returns following last year’s packed-out success, with a fresh medley of work to nourish, provoke and inspire our inner creative desires.

For more details on any of the above visit www.southbanklondon.com