
Unusual Things To Do In London This Week | 19-25 October 2015
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Unusual things to do in London this week including a live seance, an offbeat comedy special, free festivals & much more.
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Monday 19 – Sunday 25 October 2015
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THEATRE
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Absence by Vacuum Theatre | Battersea Arts Centre | Wed 21-Sat 24 Oct | 9pm | £12/9
Vacuum Theatre our favourite next generation theatre ensemble are back with Absence:
“A playful exploration of today’s preoccupation with ‘living in the moment’ using pop culture, dancing, iconic movies, philosophy and meditation.”
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La JohnJoseph | Hackney Picturehouse | Thu 22 Oct | 7.30pm | £8
La JohnJoseph presents a ‘maliciously satirical manifesto’ for modern Britain.
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COMEDY
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Crouch End Comedy Festival Gala | Hornsey Town Hall, Crouch End | Fri 23 Oct | 7pm | £12 (+ bkg fee)
A stellar line up including Reginald D Hunter, Roisin Conaty, Andrew Maxwell & Ria Lina comes together to celebrate ‘Downstairs at the Kings Head’ – one of the oldest comedy clubs in the UK
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Fred Strangebone’s Freakshow | Etcetera Theatre, Camden | Tue 20-Sun 25 Oct | 9pm | £11/10 (+ bkg fee)
Get ready for Halloween early with Fred Strangebone, who will take you on a tour of a circus sideshow and introduce you to the Freaks & their dark, hilarious back-stories.
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Heidi O’Loughlin: A Woman Talking | Soho Theatre | Thu 22-Sat 24 Oct | 8.45pm | £12.50/10
Meet New Zealander Heidi O’Loughlin and her divinely unconventional style at Soho Theatre.
Watch her hilarious reimagining of Doctor Who from Melbourne Comedy Festival here
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The Spectacular Spectrum of Now | Star of Kings, Kings Cross | Mon 19 Oct | 7.30pm | £5
Our favourite comedy night is unlike any other with supremely oddball and brilliantly talented line up of character comedy & short film exclusives. This week see Beth Vyse (We gave her ★★★★ at Ed Fringe), a sneak peek of the delightfully strange, Fred Strangebone ahead of his full show & loads of other offbeat acts.
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Spencer Jones is the Herbert | Soho Theatre | Wed 21-Sat 31 Oct | 7.30pm | £12.50/10
We honestly hadn’t seen an act like The Herbert before, until we stumbled upon the character at The Spectacular Spectrum of Now (featured above). It’s brilliantly bizarre buffoonery from a BAFTA-nominated star, Spencer Jones. Unmissable!
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MUSIC
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Lady Vendredi: Battle Cry! | Roundhouse | Thu 22-Fri 23 Oct | 8pm | £12.50 (+bkg fee)
‘Imagine Grace Jones in a live Blaxploitation movie directed by John Waters.’
This got us hooked and we couldn’t wait to enter the world of Lady Vendredi. Get ready for a hypnotic ritualistic kaleidoscope, driven by a pumping live soundtrack of traditional Haitian vodou grooves, experimental music, global bass, jazz and hip hop.
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FILM
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Estate: A Reverie | Artsadmin, Aldgate East | Fri 23 Oct | 7.30pm | £5
“Estate, a Reverie is a spirited celebration of extraordinary everyday humanity. Giving poetic expression to the passing of Hackney’s Haggerston Estate after 76 years, Andrea Luka Zimmerman’s film explores the death of a utopian dream, the reconfiguration of East London’s landscape and a group of people who refuse to be defined by economic or social brackets.”
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London Fields Free Film Festival | London Fields | Fri 23 Oct | 7.30pm | £5
The free film festival scene in London is burgeoning and this is a great chance to see some celluloid classics for free in London Fields. Our highlights are: 1996 double bill from The Bechtel Test Fest: The Craft & Scream & Set it Off featuring Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, Vivica A. Fox & Kimberly Elise.
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EVENTS
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The Magic of Music Hall Weekender | Wilton’s Music Hall, Shadwell/Tower Hill | Sat 24 & Sun 25 Oct | 10am-6pm | FREE
London’s ultimate hidden gem opens its weighty doors for a free celebration of music hall with live performances in the hall & stalls throughout the building.
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MARKET
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The Old Dalston Market | EPIC Dalston, 13-15 Stoke Newington High St | Sun 25 Oct | 11am-6pm | FREE
London’s biggest market packed full of unique treasures from the nicest independent traders in town.
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FESTIVALS
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Bloomsbury Festival 2015 | Various Locations | Thu 22-Sun 25 Oct | Lots of Free Events
A lovely chance to discover Bloomsbury’s streets, parks, museums, galleries, laboratories and public and private buildings with art, performance & more. Highlights include:
- Light Up Store Street (Fri 23 Oct, 6.30-9.30pm, Free): Discover the hidden community of Store Street brought alive with stunning fountains of water and fire, hanging drops of light by fire, light and pyrotechnic gurus pa-BOOM, and taken over by local artists, musicians and creative agents.
- Museum by Candlelight (Thu 22 Oct, £15): Step into the world of the Charles Dickens Museum by candlelight.
See highlights picked by the festival team here
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Future Artefacts | Shoreditch Studios, 37 Batemans Row | Fri 23-Sun 25 Oct | Free with Registration
This is the future arts fair with neo publishers, music, fashion & tech companies hawking their wares. See the future today.
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Inside Out Festival | Various Locations | Mon 19-Sat 24 Oct | Lots of Free Events
The Culture Capital Exchange has organised a corker of a festival showing just how much London’s universities contribute to the capital’s cultural heart. Highlights include:
- Bloodlines (pictured above, Tue 20 Oct, Free): A theatre piece that eschews the taboos of cancer and portrays the extreme bodily experience of someone going through the most aggressive cancer treatment: a stem cell transplant.
- The Art of Living (Tue 20 Oct, Free): Dr Dominic Johnson has written a new book about the history of performance art through the voices of it’s key players. Join artists such as Penny Arcade & Anne Bean to talk through this hidden history for free.
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ODDITIES
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Seance. An Interactive Illusion | Arch 468, | Sun 25 Oct | 8pm | £12/10 (+bkg fee)
Join Philipp Oberlohr as he makes a reconstruction of a Victorian seance live before your eyes.
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I am Joint Editor at To Do List. I like free, cheap & offbeat London, especially: cabaret, art, theatre, pop-ups, eating out, quirky films, museums, day trips, social enterprise & much more.