Anton Lesser at Wilton’s Music Hall
Actor Anton Lesser takes to the stage in two shows at Wilton’s Music Hall this month: Red Sky at Sunrise: Laurie Lee in Words and Music and A Beautiful Thread: Thomas Hardy in Words and Music. Red Sky at Sunrise follows Laurie Lee’s life as he wrote the much-loved Cider with Rosie trilogy. Anton Lesser plays the older Laurie Lee alongside Charlie Hamblett as his younger self.
Wonderful music by Orchestra of the Swan weaves around Lee’s writing, creating soundscapes from the lush Gloucestershire countryside from Cider With Rosie to the arid landscapes of Spain. A Beautiful Thread, performed by Anton Lesser, Lucia Bonbright, and Orchestra of the Swan, weaves Thomas Hardy’s life story with passages from his poetry and novels, including Far From the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, and Jude the Obscure. Â
There are just four performances of each show at the precious Wilton’s Music Hall, the oldest Grand Music Hall in the world, so book now.
Red Sky at Sunrise, 15–17 September 2025 and A Beautiful Thread, 18–20 September 2025 at Wilton’s Music Hall, Graces Alley, London.
Queen at Kings Place
Don’t miss your opportunity to see Queen, a play written entirely from Queen Victoria’s own words, in one performance only at King’s Place on 28 September. Queenisa revival of Katrina Hendrey’s acclaimed one-woman show An Evening with Queen Victoria that Prunella Scales performed for 28 years, premiering at The Old Vic in 1980.
This new adaptation by Julian Machin stars Olivier Award-winner Deborah Findlay as Queen Victoria accompanied by concert pianist Michael Dussek playing music the Queen would have known and loved.
This special performance features a voice recording of Prunella Scales as the elderly Queen Victoria. It is dedicated to her husband, actor Timothy West, who died last year; his memorial service takes place in London two days prior to the performance.
Queen, 28 September 2025 only, at King’s Place, York Way, London.
Paul McCartney at Gagosian
Rearview Mirror: Liverpool–London–Paris is an exhibition of photographs by Paul McCartney on show at Gagosian in London. The works chronicle McCartney and his fellow Beatles as their reputation spread beyond Liverpool between December 1963 and early February 1964.
This was when ‘Beatlemania’ entered the popular lexicon to describe the unprecedented mass hysteria that followed their every move.
The photos were taken by McCartney with a 35mm Pentax camera and offer an intimate account of the band as they toured across the UK and to Paris in the lead-up to their first visit to America.
Rearview Mirror: Liverpool–London–Paris is at Gagosian, Davies Street, London, to 4 October 2025.
It Takes a Village
Head out of London to visit the wonderful Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft as it celebrates its 40th birthday with a wonderful exhibition entitled It Takes a Village. The Museum collaborated with over 50 contributors to showcase items from its extraordinary collection of over 20,000 arts and craft objects with fresh perspectives.
Many of these items have never been on display before including works by Ethel Mairet, Eric Gill, Joseph Cribb, David Jones, and Amy Sawyer. It Takes a Village considers how artists’ legacies are shaped over time, questioning traditional narratives and offering new interpretations of their work.
Over the past year, the Museum has also partnered with the Methodist Survivors’ Advisory Group and the Methodist Modern Art Collection to co-curate the Eric Gill display in this exhibition. This is a significant achievement, being the first time a display acknowledging an artist’s abusive legacy has been shaped in direct collaboration with abuse survivors.Â
The Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft really is a wonderful example of excellence in a regional art gallery. Take your time to linger over these thoughtful and insightful displays.
It Takes a Village is at the Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, Lodge Hill Lane, Ditchling, East Sussex, Â to 1 February 2026.
Bexhill Art Weekender
Take a trip to picturesque Bexhill-on-Sea for the 2025 Bexhill Art Weekender. This new two-day Festival brings together a diverse group of artists, organisations, and practitioners to animate the town through a programme of exhibitions, performances, open studios, and public events.
There is a focus on how artists exist in the local ecology and together they imagine new possibilities for the town through various expressions of experimentation, commemoration, and celebration.
It is grounded in a bold creative proposition: to present high-calibre, ground breaking contemporary art in the heart of Bexhill-on-Sea, a coastal town facing long-standing economic challenges, yet rich in cultural history and civic pride.
Featuring site-specific installations, performances, open studios, radio broadcasts, and publishing launches, the Art Weekender will animate spaces across the town, from the sea-front to the station and from civic buildings to artist-led spaces.
Bexhill Art Weekender, 13–14 September 2025 at multiple venues across Bexill-on-Sea, East Sussex.
British Art Fair at Saatchi
See the flagship fair for modern and contemporary British art at the Saatchi Gallery in Sloane Square this month. There are more than 70 of the UK’s leading galleries and art dealers here showing works from celebrated artists including Frank Auerbach, Banksy, Tracey Emin, Barbara Hepworth, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, and Bridget Riley alongside new and emerging artists who are at the cutting edge of contemporary art.
This year’s Fair includes SOLO Contemporary curated by Zavier Ellis and dedicated to presenting the highest calibre of contemporary art with ten of Britain’s foremost contemporary art dealers and curators, each exhibiting the work of a single artist. This underscores the strength, breadth, and critical significance of contemporary artistic practice in Britain.
The Fair also features Digitalism, an innovative showcase of artists who are pushing the boundaries of contemporary art using technology including works across AI, AR, VR, digital sculpture, moving image, photography, and painting.
This is a great opportunity to experience immersive, future-facing works that reflect the evolving language of art in the digital age.
The British Art Fair is at Saatchi Gallery in Sloane Square 25–28 September 2025.
Downton Abbey Sale at Bonhams
Bonhams in New Bond Street is holding a major sale of props, costumes, and set pieces from the hugely popular television series Downton Abbey. It’s been 15 years since audiences first met the aristocratic Crawley family.
With more than 120 million viewers around the world, and multiple awards including Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and Primetime Emmys, it is one of the most popular programs in the history of British television.
Now you can buy a piece of Downton Abbey history from Lady Mary’s wedding dress (£3,000 – £5,000) to the Bell Wall from the Servants Hall (£5,000–£7,000). You could even drive home in a 1925 Sunbeam with a price estimate of £25,000–£35,000. It’s free to visit the Downton Abbey sale exhibition at Bonham’s. And don’t miss Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale in cinemas from September 12.
The Downton Abbey exhibition is at Bonhams New Bond Street to 16 September 2025. See the website to book free tickets.
Vincent Namatjira at Ames Yavuz
Ames Yavuz London presents the first solo European exhibition of celebrated Australian artist Vincent Namatjira with a showing of new paintings in the King Dingo series. These works reinterpret the conventions of imperial power from a contemporary Aboriginal perspective.
The dingo, an Australian wild dog, is presented as a monarch presiding over the Australian landscape with costuming and settings that draw from the visual language of British royalty. Approached with wit and subtlety, the works reverse the established hierarchies of ownership, placing Australian Indigenous land and wildlife in the seat of power.
The artist says that ‘King Dingo represents Aboriginal strength, pride and resilience, and respect for Country, culture, and Indigenous leadership past and present.’ Vincent Namatjira OAM is a leading Western Aranda artist and is recognized as one of Australia’s most important painters.
Vincent Namatjira is at Ames Yavuz, 31 Grosvenor Hill, London, from 12 September – 4 October 2025.
Chelsea Arts Festival
The elegant streets of Chelsea will come alive this month with the new Chelsea Arts Festival. This exciting three-day celebration of modern storytelling showcases Chelsea’s rich literary heritage and spotlights its place in London’s vibrant cultural landscape.
There is an extensive program of ticketed events across a variety of venues along with free outdoor performances in Sloane Square and down the Kings Road.Â
The much-loved food market returns to Saatchi Green on Saturday 20th and there’s an outdoor arts and crafts market on Sunday 21st in Duke of York Square.
Chelsea Arts Festival at multiple venues 18–21 September 2025
Film 100 at Greenwich
Celebrate 100 years of film with a day of movie magic and family fun at the Old Royal Naval College (ORNC) in  historic Greenwich. The ORNC has teamed up with Elstree Studios to mark their shared centenaries with a one-day Festival of Film filled with screenings, iconic film prop stations, and a Guinness World Records attempt, all set against the stunning backdrop of the ONRC, the UK’s most filmed heritage location.
The Festival is taking on the World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as screen characters. To take part, you must dress as one of 45 nominated characters across 30 productions that were filmed at the ORNC and Elstree Studios including Star Wars, Bridgerton, Batman and The Crown.
Check the ORNC website for details of the required prop and costume elements to qualify for the World Record attempt or just go along and enjoy the day.
Old Royal Naval College at Greenwich, 27 September 2025 with events and activities from 10am.
FACES
There’s always an opportunity to see a famous face from film and television live on stage in London. This month, see Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon in her London stage debut alongside Academy Award nominee Andrea Riseborough in Mary Page Marlowe at the Old Vic from 23 September; Brendan Gleeson stars in The Weir at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 12 September; Stephen Fry makes a fine Lady Bracknell in the National Theatre’s acclaimed production of The Importance of Being Earnest at the Noël Coward Theatre from 18 September; and it’s your last chance to see Martin Shaw as Sir Thomas Moore in A Man for All Seasons at the Harold Pinter Theatre, closing 6 September. And if you feel like a trip to Bath, you can see Selina Cadell, one of my favourite actors, alongside Douglas Hodge in Samuel Beckett’s dark comedy Endgame opening at the Theatre Royal in Bath on 4 September.