May 1 – 8: Laughing Bears and Big Band Swing

Festival flyers Pic: New Cross and Deptford Free Film Festival

New Cross and Deptford Free Film Festival Flyers. Pic: Laura Raphael

 

There is plenty to do across the ELL Boroughs over the Bank Holiday weekend and beyond; from Big Band Swing in Croydon to free film in Lewisham, we’ve got you covered. Here is our pick of the line.

Lewisham

Free Film

The New Cross and Deptford Free Film Festival continues in intimate venues across the borough until Sunday 4th May. Highlights over the weekend include the Coen Brother's classic 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' in the Old Deptford Police Station on Friday evening at 7.15pm and the energetic 'Grease - The Bike Powered Sing Along' at Telegraph Hill upper park at 8pm on Sunday night. Full listings are available here.

Open Jam Session

Lewisham art space/collective 'DIG' in collaboration with Contrapunto Collective invite musicians to come and take part in a live improvised jam session on Thursday 8th May. Bring along your instruments, your dancing shoes and groove. DJ until late afterwards. £3 recommended donation.

Tower Hamlets

Urban Music and Arts Festival

Streetfest returns for its 7th year on Sunday 4th May at new venue, Forman's Fish Island, Bow East. The festival showcases the finest in Urban Art, Music and Dance. Headliners include Drum and Bass pioneer Goldie and rapper Miss Dynamite. Full line-up and more information here.

Scan Artists

The Bridge Theatre Company based out of London's famous BRIT School presents this touching piece of theatre about a group of cancer patients losing their inhibitions as they lose their hair. It runs at the Yard Theatre until Saturday 10th May. Tickets £7.50 (£5.00 with concession).

 Hackney

Blues in the Night

The musical concludes its run at the Hackney Empire on Sunday 4th May. Set in 1939 Chicago, the production features an all-star West End cast including Olivier Award winning Sharon D. Clarke, Paulette Ivory, and Clive Rowe, who come together to perform a stunning array of blues standards. Tickets range from £10-£25.

Bear Jokes

Andy Quirk hosts a night of free comedy, featuring a large line-up of fresh, up-and-coming comics at Pub on the Park at the London Fields on Tuesday 6th May.

Croydon

Lunchtime Concert

Acclaimed pianist, Joseph Tong performs Beethoven's 'Sonata in A Major', Ravel's 'Valses Nobles et Sentimentales', and Liszt's 'Mephisto Waltz No. 1' at a lunchtime concert in Fairfield Halls on Tuesday, 6th May. Tickets £5.

Crystal Palace Swing

The Big Beer Band, a seventeen-piece swing band will be doing a free performance in Crystal Palace Pub, the Crape & Grain, on Bank Holiday Monday 5th May at 8pm.

 

Leave a Reply