With Christmas creeping up on us, London's arts and theatre scene begins to slide into festive mayhem. Don't worry; your Londonist Fairy Godmother enters in a cloud of glitter stage right, to sort the handsome princes from the ugly sisters. If you can't stand panto, take the little ones to see The Gruffalo at the Duchess Theatre instead. It opens today. If you can't beg, borrow or steal a kid, head to the very......

Arts Ahead, Londonist's sporadic(!) weekly guide to getting you cultured is back this week, with exciting events breaking out all over the city. Openings in London this week: We've seen a few happy endings over the last couple of days (Lewis, Barack, Steven). Why not make a fourth with Mark Morris Dance Group's Romeo and Juliet which opens today at the Barbican? It's being performed as the composer, Sergey Prokofiev, originally intended complete with......

The Evening Standard kicked off the 08/09 British Theatre awards season announcing their longlist of theatrical heavy-weights, newcomers, regulars and Hollywood stars for the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Kevin Spacey and Kenneth Branagh fight it out for the best actor accolade; Kev for Speed-The-Plow at the Old Vic, Ken for Ivanov, currently at Wyndham's. Wanna be in their gang? Better get some Shakespeare into your repertoire. Alongside Branagh and Spacey in the best actor......

To round off this photo heavy day: James Nachtwey is planning to unveil his coverage of a "shocking and underreported global crisis" this evening. The photojournalist is projecting images from this top-secret story onto buildings across seven continents, and in London, the National Theatre's Lyttleton flytower is the venue. Could be interesting, or it could be an forgettable gimmick: in any case, if you're around the South Bank at 7.30 tonight, it may be worth......

The last production in this year’s £10 Travelex season saw Rebecca Lenkiewicz lift the “curse” of the Olivier Theatre at the National – that, since it’s opening in 1963, not a single original play by a living female playwright has ever been staged. While the Olivier defends this unfortunate fact as a question of probability (only a small fraction of the unsolicited plays they receive are by women writers) it nevertheless seems fitting that......

Akram Khan is a choreographer and dancer renowned for his audacious collaborations. Zero Degrees in 2005 explored cultural identities in a stark white box at Sadlers Wells. Sacred Monsters had ballerina Sylvie Guillem singing on stage and dwarfing Khan in the most elegant way possible. This foray with actress Juliet Binoche was risk filled from the start - their mission was to dare, to push their personal boundaries and create across their comfort zones.......

For those who stroll past the National Theatre on Sunday afternoons, wistfully gazing at the plays you're too busy to see, except on Sunday afternoons when the building is closed: good news! The National Theatre will be open for 3pm performances of War Horse and in-i in September then a few more specially selected shows for Sundays leading up to December. The Mezzanine restaurant is open for brunch (adding to your dining options along......

A 140 metre tower for a plot behind the National Theatre has received the stamp of approval from Hazel Blears, the less-than-lofty Secretary of State for Communities and Local Development. Doon Street Tower raised the hackles of English Heritage and others, who prefer their views from Somerset House and St James Park to be unsullied by highrises. Blears’ approval clears the way for the residential tower, which will stand considerably taller than the nearby......

This rainy, windy August is really making us yearn for a touch of Gallic charm to lift our summer mood. Of course, we're staying in London so news that the National Theatre is going francophile has got us all of a foux de fafa. If you remember, La Binoche is taking over this September with a headline-grabbing, highly anticipated original performance with contemporary dance superstar, Akram Khan, a retrospective of her prestigious film career......

London's cultural scene steams into August with an eclectic range of arty goings on. Those of you with art collections to refresh are in luck this week. Contemporary Arts Project's "Start You Collection" are offering a whole load of "highly collectible" art for under £200 from Friday, asking, "Without our art collections, how would we understand our cultural roots and trace its development to the present?" Indeed. And let's face it, if you can't......

There's plenty to entertain those of us in search of cultural enlightenment this week. London's arts scene is offering a really varied pick'n'mix bag of sticky sweet treats... Enjoy! Happy Birthday West Side Story! This groundbreaking dance musical opens tonight at Sadlers' Wells, 50 finger-clicking years since it first appeared. Without Jerome Robbins' legendary choreography, Londonist can't help think everything from MJ's Thriller to Britney's school uniform would've been rather different. Tomorrow night, you......

It's windy and wet again, so those jumpers inching towards the bottom of the wardrobe are back to the top of the pile. Ahead of the trend in woollens is the Great British Sheep, child of I Knit London, the city's shop and sanctuary for knitters. It is a project by our friends to promote UK sheep, wool and handknitting. Its first outing was at the Alternative Village Fete, part of the National Theatre's......

Akram Khan & Juliette Binoche by roll the dice We were fortunate to be in the company of the beautiful people on Friday when actress Juliette Binoche and dance star Akram Khan revealed their upcoming Franco-British collaboration for the National Theatre. The project - In-I - is under wraps in the sense that it's still being made but will see a dance theatre performance of some kind, vaguely based on personal experiences of love hit......

Today, we stumbled across 50s rocker film buff Mark Kermode and his splendid hair talking to camera in a lesser know National Theatre al-fresco stairwell. They picked one that didn't smell of wee. Spotted a celeb today? Share the goss in the comments.......

It's one of those weeks where you feel London's arts scene could end up totally overwhelming you if you're not careful. Strap yourselves in, there's masses going on... We'll start with outdoor opera. When was the last time we told you about watching world-class opera for free? We can't remember either. So, head to Trafalgar Square or Canary Wharf on Thursday and enjoy Verdi's Don Carlo free from 6pm on the big screens. There's......

Sure Wimbledon's started, but what if you couldn't give two hoots about tennis? Here's our round-up of what you should be getting excited about among London's cornucopia of current cultural offerings. Who needs tennis? What you really need is some swashbuckling flamenco swordfighting action with a Gipsy Kings soundtrack, right? Well, thank goodness for Zorro: The Musical, previewing from Monday at the Garrick. We can't help thinking it'll feel a little flat without a certain......

Last night London's Luvvieland came together for their annual award ceremony, the Oliviers. Having received 11 nominations across 10 categories, it looked like being Hairspray's night. And Londonist is happy to confirm what we already knew: the show is a deserved winner of the Best New Musical accolade. In addition, Leanne Jones (Best Actress in a Musical) rocks as the optimistic teen, Tracy Turnblad; Tracie Bennett (Best Supporting Role in a Musical) is similarly......

There's masses going on for us culture vultures to choose from this week. First Thursdays As it's the start of March, it's First Thursdays this week. More than 80 galleries and museums will be open til 9pm across East London. We recommend John Squire's (yes, him from the Stone Roses) Re-engineered Garments; alternatively, pretend you're an alien at the Barbican. The Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art opens this Thursday. East is East East London's......

There's something of a Valentine's theme to the Arts of choice taking place in the capital this week. But Londonist knows for every young Juliet embracing the idea of timeless romantic love, there's a Bridget hugging her near-empty vodka bottle, crooning to Chaka Khan. So, in the name of balance, here's a varied, half 'rom', half 'com' round-up for you all. Shows for Swingin' Lovers: Photographer Gregg Stone, has been taking snaps of kissing......

The Germaniaxx Isn't the weather glorious? Stand in the sunshine and it's definitely spring. This makes us happy! This means that we can walk in the park and get about town and not feel miserably wintry and therefore desperate to waste our hard earned on firelit pubs and woolly accessory buying. Well, not quite so much. We are, however, saving up our cash to spend on Creme Eggs and the rebuild Camden Market fund so......

This week’s events are top-heavy with poetry readings. Have our novelist friends squirreled themselves away to write tomes in their Christmas cards, we wonder? Monday: Head to the RADA Foyer Bar for a reading from the Poetry School’s third anthology, I am twenty people! All inferences to the contrary, there will actually be six, not twenty, new poets reading from their work. Free, 7.00pm. Tuesday: We were reminded last week that poetry isn’t just......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 22nd October 1809: The Croydon Canal, linking Croydon to Deptford via Forest Hill, is opened. Requiring 28 locks to overcome the gradients of the route, it would never become a commercial success, and would be closed just 37 years later. Tuesday – 23rd October 1731: A fire breaks out in Ashburnham House in Westminster, damaging much of the Cotton Library – a renowned collection of Middle English......

We're adamant that this week we're going to pretend it's still Summer. We're not content with sitting in watching the telly. We want to go out and play. But if we're going to do this every night this week, we're going to have to do it for very few pennies indeed. Here's the free stuff we've found this week: Tuesday: We tried really hard but we can't find you any free theatre for Tuesday.......

Now I'm the king of the swingers Oh, the jungle VIP I've reached the top and had to stop And that's what botherin' me I wanna be a man, mancub And stroll right into town And be just like the other men I'm tired of monkeyin' around! Theatre producers The Steam Industry may not have designed their live stage version of Disney's The Jungle Book to turn in to a singalong event but once......

It's not too late to enjoy London's outdoor events but it really has become a case of pouncing on any bit of fun going when the sun shines and hoping the rain stays away until the music stops. We've previously brought to your attention the Watch This Space festival which has been faithfully providing free outdoor performances outside the National Theatre since the beginning of July, but were frankly a bit lukewarm about it,......

If you were up in Edinburgh for the first week of the festival or are just back from that hedonistic week away then you’re probably feeling the pinch. You’ll not be able to go naughty Monday indie clubbing at Durr at The End. You can’t fork out to go to Cadogan Hall and watch the Charlie Chaplin triple bills with live music and celebrity hosts. Neither will you be getting a last minute ticket......

Anyone who has ever surfed the internet in a quest for enlightenment about British theatre will undoubtedly have come across the West End Whingers’ blog. By now, Andrew and Phil have become internet blogging stars, doing for theatre what Belle de Jour did for prostitution with only slightly less lubricant. Andrew and Phil have ranted against ticket prices, bar prices, fringe theatre and the general state of affairs since 2006, accumulating a huge fan......

If you're anything like Londonist, you're saving up to go on holiday somewhere sunny (well let's face it, it's not going to happen here any time soon). So, like us, you'll be watching the pennies this week. This means we can't go and see David Suchet at Theatre Royal Haymarket, or go and watch the new Simpsons Movie. We're very annoyed about this, so we've found some exciting free stuff to do instead: Monday:......

We mentioned the Watch This Space festival at the National Theatre just before it started but wasn't as enthusiastic as we were last year when the summer weather was hot enough to require dispensers full of free sunscreen. With all the rain and thick grey cloud that heralded the opening of this annual outdoor performance festival, we anticipated distribution of free umbrellas and cancelled performances... But look! At the time of writing, it isn't......

Contrary to the grey skies and what sounded like thunder twenty minutes ago, it is summer in London! And that means... the National Theatre's annual outdoor free summer festival Watch This Space is back for two and a half months of stuff to enjoy. Last year, we remember seeing the three lissom-limbed, fetching, female acrobats of Mimbre getting rained off their three storey climbing frame (see picture, right), a dragon made out of drums......