Unmissable Things To Do in London in November 2022
Forget the gunpowder, treason and plot: remember, remember that there’s more to this month than 5 November! We’re here to pick out the Unmissable Things To Do in London (and beyond) this November.
Win a To Do List badge (may not actually exist) by ticking off everything on this list – but do it safely!
NEW VENUE: The Lower Third | 26 Denmark Street
A recently launched venue in Soho, which promises to centre art in everything it hosts, from music to cocktails. This month, don’t miss Hex Girlfriend (8 November), Grace Ives (16 November) and muva of Earth (17 November) amongst a great November line-up.
Winter Festival | Southbank Centre | All Month & Beyond
Keeping you entertained through the darkest months, the Southbank Centre Winter Festival returns with its smorgasbord of distractions. November highlights include the arrival of several spectacular light/art installations: Fred Tschida: Sphere, Conrad Shawcross: Dark Heart, Jakob Kvist: Dichroic Sphere, Lisa Cheung & Alex J Tuckwood: STELA, and David Batchelor: Sixty Minute Spectrum.
Zombiegate | Theatre503 | Until 19 November | £6-£20
A debut play from writer Matthew Gabrielli, which aims to get “behind the headlines and hashtags of internet trolls, scrutinising mob mentality and myths around cancel culture”.
the wetsuitman | Rose Lipman Building | 2-13 November | Pay What You Can
If you’re into detective fiction and Nordic noir, the wetsuitman might be right up your street – a promenade performance which begins as a detective story, but becomes a (perennially) timely exploration of identity, prejudice and forced migration.
Cinzia Ruggeri: Cinzia says… | Goldsmiths CCA | From 5 November | FREE
Our local art gallery hosts the first major retrospective of Italian postmodernist artist and fashion designer Cinzia Ruggeri (1942–2019). For fans of boundary-pushing art and design which straddles performance and architecture.
Black Theatre Making and Censorship in the Archive | Live Streamed from Leeds Playhouse | 8 November | FREE
A panel discussion and performance exploring the history of Black theatre making in the Lord Chamberlain’s Plays collection, featuring stage readings from theatre manuscripts: Una Marson’s At What a Price (1933) and In Dahomey (1903).
Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story | Pleasance Theatre | 8-19 November | £15
Written and performed by Linus Karp, this mash-up of drag, multimedia, audience interaction and puppetry promises to reveal the hitherto untold – and totally untrue – tale of Diana’s extraordinary life!
Quiet Rebels | The Albany | 9-11 November | £14
A dystopian alternative England is the setting for this provocative dramatisation of hitherto forgotten stories of white working-class women who crossed the colour line to marry men of the Windrush generation, integrating film, movement & soundscapes.
Pitchfork Music Festival | Multiple Venues | 9-13 November
A multi-venue, eclectic music festival which pops up at some of London’s most iconic gig venues with a mind bending line-up of cutting edge sounds & styles.
@Disturbance | Ugly Duck Bermondsey | 10-12 November | £5-£10
Championing LGBTQIA+ performance, video and digital artists, @Disturbance hosts a week-long residency at Ugly Duck Bermondsey.
HOT QUEER MAGIC | Matchstick Piehouse | 11 November | From £10
This unique Deptford venue hosts the first edition of HOT QUEER MAGIC – promising a showcase of “raucous, seductive, hilarious, political, outrageous acts” – that line-up, led by host Pink Lotus, includes Pandora Carnage, Indy Nile, George the Dragon, Foxi Blue, Crystal Bollix, Sarjana Singh, Curly Chaos, Fae Wildfire & Rose XO.
OneTrackMinds | Wilton’s | 16 November | From £9
The beautiful Wilton’s Music Hall hosts the latest iteration of OneTrackMinds – this time around, the live storytelling event features music journalist and author Jude Rogers, BBC Radio London DJ Robert Elms, author and journalist Ted Kessler, novelist and poet Yara Rodrigues-Fowler, and author and journalist Marcus Berkmann.
Lara Ricote: GRL/LATNX/DEF | Soho Theatre | 17-19 November | From £15
Laura Rictoe’s debut hour-long show tackles “what it’s like to be Latin and deaf and a girl who’s now a woman at the same time”.
What You See When Your Eyes Are Closed / What You Don’t See When Your Eyes Are Open | Wellcome Collection | 17-19 November | FREE
A live performance piece about acts of seeing and being seen, featuring Cyclops – a furry monster who sees the world two-dimensionally through his single eye – and Mamoru – a human with two faces, looking forward and back, who sees the world through his four eyes.
Barbara Brownskirt: Hot Pop Socks | The RVT | 18 November | £10
We say: “Barbara Brownskirt (a character of Karen McLeod) is the best of anarchic comedy, shouting her way through some beautifully written, often cringe-fuelled poetry. To pivot from taking the piss to tugging on our heartstrings is a tall order, and Brownskirt does it with ease.” Check our our recent five-star review.
FABBA | Two Brewers | 20 November | From £10
A theatrical lip-sync concert – with burlesque, cabaret, clowning and more thrown in for good measure – as Lilly Snatchdragon, Kiki Mellek, Neil Kelso and Pi the Mime tell their ‘Fabba Story’.
An Evening with Miss Marple | British Library | 21 November | £15
If you’ve managed to snag a copy of the recently-released Marple: Twelve New Stories you might want to learn more about the eponymous sleuth. Here’s the opportunity, as Miss Jane Marple herself requests the pleasure of your company ‘at home’ with some of her favourite writers!
Frankie Thompson: Catts | Soho Theatre | 21-26 November | From £17
We said: “Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats is finally given the stage treatment it deserves, in the phenomenal Frankie Thompson’s hilariously absurd one woman love song to all things feline.” Check out our recent five-star review.
MOTHERLOAD! | Camden People’s Theatre | 24 & 25 November | £12
A dark comedy for the end of days – just what we need right now!
A Bloody History of Menopause | Old Operating Theatre | 24 November | £12
A presentation and discussion led by Dr Helen Foster, exploring how menopause has been seen through the ages up to the present day.
The Beautiful Octopus Club | The Albany | 25 November | Pay-What-You-Decide
Heart n Soul’s Beautiful Octopus Club returns to the Albany after an 11 year absence, with an exciting mix of live performance, radio and DJ’s.
The Kola Nut Does Not Speak English | Bush Theatre | From 28 November | From £12
Immersive storytelling, dance and song combine in this exploration of self-discovery and celebration of African theatre practices, written and performed by Tania Nwachukwu.
Did we forget something? We almost certainly did – please let us know in the comments below!
Occasionally the To Do List team are forced to work together.
Rupert likes: free, cheap & offbeat London, especially: cabaret, art, theatre, pop-ups, eating out, quirky films, museums, day trips, social enterprise & much more.
Stuart likes: nice pubs, film marathons, not doing real marathons, bad comedy, plays/musicals with shorter second halves, and the Oxford comma.
