Seven Dials Playhouse is delighted to announce the first cohort of 2026 recipients of ‘first steps’ and ‘Next Step’ , two artist development initiatives launched last year as part of its wider commitment to supporting theatre-makers at all stages of their careers. These funded programmes offer space, time, and financial support for artists to explore bold new ideas, develop work-in-progress, and forge connections within the industry. The selected works span speculative and in

Each spring, Paris offers a moment where the art world pauses, reflects and recalibrates. In twenty twenty six, that moment arrives once again as Art Paris returns to the Grand Palais for its twenty eighth edition, bringing together more than one hundred and sixty galleries from over twenty countries for four days of dialogue, discovery and cultural exchange. Running from the ninth to the twelfth of April, with a VIP and press preview on the eighth, Art Paris continues to str

January has a particular way of draining energy. The festivities fade, daylight shortens, and motivation slips. This winter, a quarter of Brits admit to feeling at their lowest during the first month of the year, citing low mood, irritability and fatigue. With Blue Monday approaching, many are searching for ways to feel better without forcing themselves into punishing gym routines or cold evening runs. The answer, it seems, may lie somewhere far more playful. Across London, i

When the gaze of a lion or the silent wisdom of an elephant meets the canvas, something profound occurs. This is not merely representation, but revelation an exchange between species, between human and animal, crystallised in paint and intention. Such is what unfolds in the work of Josie Ryan, an artist whose practice sits at the intersection of beauty and advocacy, memory and meaning. From the moment one enters Josie’s creative world, it becomes clear that this is art with a

Following sell-out productions of Love in Action (2024) and A Night at the Kabuki  (2022) at Sadler’s Wells, Japanese theatre company NODA MAP will be returning to the venue 2 - 11 July with -320°F. Renowned for their high-quality, large-cast spectacles that combine music, drama and dance, NODA MAP once again present a new work written and directed by multi-award-winning Japanese artist Hideki Noda OBE. After reimagining The Brothers Karamazov in 2024 – resetting the Russian

January in London has its own rhythm. Cold pavements. Steamy breath. Trainers thudding against half-empty streets as the city shakes off December and gets moving again. This year, that familiar ritual comes with an unlikely motivator: bagels. Across the capital, runners are logging personal bests not just for bragging rights, but for breakfast. B Bagel has turned the post-run reward into something tangible, inviting Londoners to trade a PB for a free bagel, no matter the dist

Charting 12 years of European touring with one of the foremost experimental theatre groups of the time, Offstage: The Pip Simmons Theatre Group is a photographic record with over 200 black and white photos and written testimonials from the people who were there, including a foreword from Chris Jordan. Photos taken by company member and performer Sheila Burnett before she started her 40-year career in theatre photography, the book is a backstage insight into the productions. A

There are artists who make work to be looked at, and then there are artists who make work that looks back. Simona Ray belongs firmly to the latter. Through her practice under Sentient To Paint, Ray is building a body of work that is not concerned with decoration, trends, or surface-level beauty. Instead, it asks something far more uncomfortable and far more necessary: are we truly seeing ourselves and each other, or simply passing through? Image Credit: Honza Martinec Ray’s w

There is a word that now dominates British politics so completely it can justify almost anything, end almost any argument, and absolve almost everyone of responsibility. That word is safety. It is endlessly flexible. It can mean protecting children from genuine harm or protecting ministers from embarrassment. It can mean physical security or the far softer business of ensuring nobody feels unsettled. Crucially, it never needs defining. It is not measured, tested, or defended.

There is a particular kind of confidence required to work with history. Not the bravado of imitation, nor the nostalgia of replication, but the quieter assurance of knowing when to listen and when to reinterpret. At Saint Petersburg’s Evgenievsky residential quarter, Babayants Architects approach heritage not as something frozen in time, but as a living foundation for contemporary life. Set within a restored cultural landmark, the project reimagines public interiors as spaces

Meticulously researched, this historical play produced by a Liverpool-based theatre company is a Faustian re-imagining of the real-life story of Professor Gerhard Kittel, a renowned theologian who rose to the highest ranks of Third Reich academia. Family man and celebrated scholar, Kittel was a world authority on Jewish scripture, culture and history. He was admired by Christian and Jewish scholars at home and abroad. Yet in 1933, he joined the Nazi party and wrote his infamo

Priority on sale:  (venue members and Fane priority bookers) Thursday 18th December at 10am General On Sale: Friday 19th December at 10am www.fane.co.uk/the-archers   BBC Radio 4’s long-running drama ‘The Archers’ celebrates 75th anniversary and steps out of the studio for a new live theatrical experience,  touring the UK from June–November 2026. First airing on 1st January 1951, BBC Radio 4’s The Archers  is the world’s longest-running drama. Today Fane is delighted to annou

God, The Devil and Me  is a bold, darkly imaginative new play arriving at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre, London, from 6-10 January 2026, plunging audiences into the chaotic, tender inner world of Gabe - a music-obsessed teenager whose mind becomes a battleground for two intrusive voices: God and the Devil. Written by Fionnuala Donnelly and inspired by their own lived experience of psychosis, the play blends humour, discomfort and raw honesty to explore what it feels like when

Following a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe,  ROTUS : Receptionist of the United States transfers to London’s Park Theatre for its London debut. The show explores contemporary American conservatism through the fictional character of White House press aide Chastity Quirke. In this interview, the show’s creator, Leigh Douglas discusses refining the work for a London theatre audience, the evolving political landscape since the show’s debut, and how recent developments in

From rude fairy tales to gloriously silly chaos, Brick Lane Music Hall’s pantomimes have built a loyal following for their unapologetically grown-up take on the form. Writer and director Lucy Hayes is back for 2026 with Jack and His Giant Stalk  — a camp, farcical reimagining of the classic story that leans hard into audience complicity, joyful disorder and the anarchic spirit of British Music Hall. Following last year’s Pinocchio and His Wooden Whopper , Lucy talks to us abo