Something For The Weekend: May 29-31
Dinner in the jungle, films with a full church choir, and a circus on the dark side. Welcome to your weekend less ordinary...
Words by Charlotte Cox
FILM: Backyard Cinema presents Romeo & Juliet.
As Shakespeare wrote: ‘Never was there a tale of more woe, than of Claire Danes, and her Leo’. . . OK, OK, he should have done at any rate, because surely we ALL remember Baz Luhrmann’s take on the Bard’s great tragedy. The moment that young Mr DiCaprio thinks his beloved is dead? Heartbreaking. And this weekend, the film is getting the Backyard Cinema treatment with screenings taking place in an atmospheric Marylebone church, complete with live choir. Yes, we said live choir. Can you imagine watching the fish-tank scene with a full-on choral rendition of ‘Kissing You’? You. Will. WEEP.
28-30 May; from £20 St Mary's Church, Wyndham Place, York St, W1H 1PQ backyardcinema.co.uk
MUSIC: We Are FSTVL
*Start of festival season klaxon* And we're off! Off to Essex in fact, for our first festival foray of the year. And this dance shindig, now in it's fifth year, promises 150 artists over 15 stages and sets by the likes of Carl Cox, Jamie Jones, Tall Paul, Steve Angello and Seth Troxler. Consider the benchmark set.
30-31 May; £69 day ticket, £125 weekend ticket Damyns Hall Aerodrome, Aveley Road, Upminster, Essex, RM14 2TN wearefstvl.com
FOOD: Summer Tales
To paraphrase Guns N’ Roses: welcome to the jungle, we’ve got street food and DJs. Because foodie market Night Tales’ summer incarnation is now on at Old Street’s Red Market, and the theme is tropical. Read: rope swings, hammocks, summery cocktail bars, top-name DJs and – of course – delicious street eats from the likes of Burger and Lobster, Nanny Bill’s meatballs and Italian faves Forza Win. Welcome to the jungle, indeed.
Fridays and Saturdays until 28 August; £4 entry before 9pm, £5 after 288-299 Old St, London EC1V 9DP nighttales.co.uk
NIGHTLIFE: The Dark Circus Party
Wave bye-bye to the ordinary, ta-ta to the traditional. For when you enter the velvet big top of the Dark Circus Party, anything could happen. Well, as long as it involves lion-tamers, snake charmers, sideshow freaks, burlesque shows, masque balls and trapeze artists, plus DJs, cocktails and dancing to the wee hours. OK, we go back to our initial assessment: ANYTHING could happen.
30 May, 9pm-3am; £25 One Embankment, 8 Victoria Embankment WC2R 2AB darkcircusparty.com
EVENT: Hope In Heels
Now, marathons, fun runs and the like are all well and good, but don’t you ever find yourself wishing they were just more STYLISH, darling? Then this is the event for you. It’s a 2.4km run, totter, or – sod it – full-on sashay around Battersea Park, all in (you guessed it) high heels. Sound tough? Help is on hand: buff butlers will be handing out refreshments and there’s a vodka jelly area to keep you going to the finish, plus pedis and foot rubs by way of recovery. And best of all? 100% of the proceeds go straight to charity HopeHIV.
30 May, 9am; £30 entry Battersea Park, London SW11 4NJ hopeinheels.co.uk
POP UP: Festival at Archer Street
What’s that? You didn’t get Glasto tickets? Well fear not, our unlucky friend, for the next best thing is here. This summer, the downstairs space at Soho’s Archer Street bar is transformed into your own glamping experience par excellence – decked out with private tents, a tour bus, wellington-wearing staff and festival-themed cocktails. All that’s missing is that strung-out druid doing interpretive dancing at the Stone Circle. You’ll have to bring your own one of those.
Now until end of August 3-4 Archer Street, London W1D 7AP archerstreet.co.uk
FILM: Man Up
Bear in mind, this is a British romcom. So when bumbling Simon Pegg mistakes improbably-beautiful-yet-inexplicably single Lake Bell for his blind date, we can't possibly imagine what happens next. But we bet it won't involve a series of slapstick set-pieces, gradual blossoming of love against the odds, some form of misunderstanding splitting them asunder, followed by a grand, theatrical declaration of love at the end. Nope. In fact, we'd probably say Simon Pegg just ends up with the girl he was SUPPOSED to meet for a date in the first place. Yeah, that’ll be it.
In cinemas from Friday
SHOPPING: The Carnaby Shopping Party
Wallet, meet The Carnaby Shopping Party. You're going to get on. In fact, with 20% off at hundreds of our favourite shops and restaurants – including A.P.C, The Kooples, Monki, Benefit, Cowshed, Senor Ceviche and Pizza Pilgrims – we'd say you're going to get on REAL well.
28 May, 5pm-9pm; register for your free ticket at carnaby.co.uk
ART: Central Saint Martins Show One
When you spend an afternoon checking out the degree shows at Central Saint Martins, you’d suppose you’d be seeing the next big things in the world of art, photography and all things creative. And you’d suppose right. Get yourself along to King’s Cross this weekend, spot the next Lucian Freud or Anthony Gormley (both former students, don’tcha know), make a note of the name. Then just sit back and brag about seeing their work first in years to come.
27-31 May, 12pm-6pm; free Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, King's Cross N1C 4AA events.arts.ac.uk
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