6 Things To See, Watch and Do in London This July 2023

From the performances to book to the Black Venus retrospective scheduled to be displayed at Somerset House, there’s no shortage of exciting things to do this month. Read on for our guide to the ones you should run, not walk to, first.

Watch

Soak up the sounds of Tina Turner and The Temptations:

London is notoriously oppressive most years from a temperature perspective and this month is forecasted to be no different, which makes it the ideal one to cool off in one of it’s numerous theatres and enjoy a play. Performers at the Prince Edward Theatre for instance, are set to take to the boards for Ain’t Too Proud, a musical which charts the rise of The Temptations, whilst TINA - The Tina Turner Musical will get your heart pumping at the Aldwych Theatre.

Addresses: (Prince Edward Theatre) Old Compton St, London W1D 4HS, (Aldwych Theatre) 49 Aldwych, London WC2B 4DF, Tickets and Information, (Prince Edward Theatre) https://www.princeedwardtheatre.co.uk/whats-on/aint-too-proud, (Aldwych Theatre) https://tinathemusical.com/uk/?tduid=Cj0KCQjwnf-kBhCnARIsAFlg493cE9xvhaX4zNjYyswQNXreG9JzWSACqfS3BGYAK2mAZBq03f_BAV0aAt8REALw_wcB&gclid=Cj0KCQjwnf-kBhCnARIsAFlg493cE9xvhaX4zNjYyswQNXreG9JzWSACqfS3BGYAK2mAZBq03f_BAV0aAt8REALw_wcB

A Film at The Luna Cinema:

This outdoor cinema, recognised as the UK’s best, offers a brilliantly unrepeatable moment to sit enjoy every Hollywood blockbuster from the classicism-enthused Great Gatsby to the indomitable Elvis, both of which can be watched against the background of Knebworth House on a larger-than-life screen.

Address: Knebworth Park, Stevenage SG1 2AX, Tickets and Information: https://www.thelunacinema.com

See

Tracey Emin’s “The Doors” at the reopened National Portrait Gallery.

Realised by Emin through her portraiture of 45 female visages, each hand-rendered in her inimitable gestural style, before been cast in bronze, this commissioned work is one which deliberately, reconfigures the gendered influential perspective within the creative space.“Women in history are greatly underrepresented” she said in a press release, “ I didn’t want to depict specific or identifiable figures. I felt like the doors of the National Portrait Gallery should represent every woman, every age and every culture throughout time.”Alongside this, more than 50 artworks, depicting and by women, were acquired by the NPG from a large-scale portrait of an English woman Lady Margaret Beaufort, which stretches back to circa 1510 to Peitaw (2017), by Khadija Saye, a British-Gambian artist who perished in the Grenfell Tower fire.

Address: Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD

Black Venus: Reclaiming Black Women in Visual Culture displayed by Somerset House.

An empowering retrospective brought-to-life by curator Aindrea Emelife, Black Venus traverses the “othering, fetishisation and reclamation of narratives around Black femininity”. Through it’s bringing together of 40 contemporary and predominantly photographic based works captured by a host of up-and-coming, along with established creatives such as Sonia Boyce, Zanele Muholi and Alberta Whittle.

Address: Strand, London WC2R 1LA, Opening: 20th July - 24th September 2023, Tickets and Information:https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/black-venus

Do

Make an appearance at Wimbledon.

It wouldn’t be Summer in London without Wimbledon, which made it’s featuring in our guide somewhat inevitable. Anticipated to run until the 16th of July, the tournament is a quintessential opportunity to dress up, sip on champion, indulge in strawberries and cream and of course enjoy a round of tennis.

Address: Church Road, London, SW19 5AG, Tickets and Information: https://www.wimbledon.com

Dance Like Nobody’s Watching at Fabric.

Fabric is gearing up to time warp us into the 90s with their first, weekend-long music festival, set to take place in a field on the outskirts of London, which means plenty of space to test out every weird, wonderful or wacky mood you’ve been keeping bottled up until now. Expect to be soundtracked by sets from Ricardo Villalobos, Seth Troxler, Djrum and Peach.

Address: Undisclosed as of yet, Opening 8th-9th July, Tickets and Information: https://www.fabriclondon.com/posts/exodus-our-first-ever-festival