London Art Guide April 2026: best art, theatre and music

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London Art Guide April 2026 – quick links

Teeth ‘n’ Smiles

Before the New York Dolls, Debbie Harry, Kurt Cobain or The Sex Pistols, there was the fictional Maggie Frisby, the roaring voice of 1960s counterculture. Frisby is now broke and disillusioned and her youthful dreams of anarchic rebellion have collapsed into bitterness and chaos. Amid the wreckage of her life, Maggie vents her rage, fuelled by alcohol and frustration, and carried away on a voice that refuses to stay quiet.

Rebecca Lucy Taylor, better known to her music followers as Self Esteem, makes a passionate Maggie in this special 50th anniversary revival of David Hare’s trailblazing play, a role played by a young Helen Mirren at the Royal Court back in 1975. This is one to see.

Teeth ‘n’ Smiles is at Duke of York’s Theatre, London to 6 June 2026.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Yes, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the longest-running theatrical release in film history, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with original cast members Barry Bostwick (the iconic Brad Majors), Nell Campbell (the effervescent Columbia) and Patricia Quinn (the incomparable Magenta) visiting 13 cities across the UK and appearing together for the time first time in The Rocky Horror Picture Show 50th Anniversary Spectacular Tour. See a screening of a new 4K print of the movie with a Shadow Cast performing scenes from the movie ‘live’ on stage.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show 50th Anniversary Spectacular Tour is at The Dominion Theatre, London on 19 April 2026.

Conspiracies

Conspiracies presents works by four contemporary visual artists – Hannah Black, Caspar Heinemann, Sam Keogh and Shenece Oretha – and explores how conspiracy theories have shapeshifted across cultural and political history.

Offering seductive fictions that claim to expose the hidden workings of power, conspiracies are prevalent now but have always been part of the conversation. They are often tied to people believing that their fate and fortune is shaped by covert forces. Conspiracy theories can drive political campaigns, cultivate moral panic, and promote racism and hatred. The history of conspiracy is also the history of radical movements and dissent against authority and exploitation. This fascinating and thought provoking exhibition at the Warburg Institute, part of the School of Advanced Study at the University of London, is one that’s very much in tune with the zeitgeist of today.

Conspiracies is at the Warburg Institute, Woburn Square until 1 May 2026.

FACE 2026

Nicola Hicks, Head of Aesop. Courtesy: the artist.

It’s always special to visit the Garrison Chapel at the historic Chelsea Barracks. This month, you can see FACE 2026, the annual exhibition by the Society of Portrait Sculptors, which features work by the world’s leading contemporary practitioners.

The only forum of its kind for contemporary sculpture in the UK, there are around 100 works on display. Several prizes for excellence will be awarded, including the prestigious £5000 Sedlecka Award for the Best Three-Dimensional Human Portrait. One of this year’s highlights is sure to be Head of Aesop by Nicola Hicks, one of Britain’s leading contemporary figurative artists.

The exhibition shines a spotlight on three distinct categories of sculpture – portrait, figure and relief – with work in all shapes and sizes. While many of the pieces are made using traditional sculptural materials like plaster, marble and bronze, today’s sculptors are also working with more unusual, sustainable products. Last year’s Sedlecka Award recipient, Deanne Doddington Mize, used felted Welsh wool to make her winning work.

FACE 2026 is at the Garrison Chapel, Chelsea Barracks from 13 to 26 April 2026.

Legacy of Light

Legacy of Light: 200 Years of Photography celebrates the 200th anniversary of the creation of the world’s first photograph. In 1826, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce produced what is widely recognised as the first permanent photograph, a heliograph on a pewter plate requiring an eight-hour exposure, known as View from the Window at Le Gras. It was an achievement that fundamentally transformed the way the world could be recorded, interpreted and remembered. This exhibition traces the extraordinary journey of photography, from its earliest experiments to its continuing relevance today, and includes the gallery’s own masterpieces and some of the most famous photographs ever taken.

Exhibition highlights include rare vintage prints and print portfolios, museum-quality estate editions, and photo books from the Atlas collections by legendary photographers whose work shaped the course of photographic history.

Legacy of Light: 200 Years of Photography is at Atlas Gallery, London until 30 May 2026.

Cambridge Literary Festival

The Cambridge Literary Festival is at the heart of the city’s cultural life. The festival welcomes a wide range of wordsmiths who enthrall, entertain, educate and sometimes enrage the audience. This year’s festival hosts 56 events, opening with prize-winning author Andrew Miller discussing his book The Land in Winter.

Other highlights include Dame Margaret Drabble, an Honorary Patron of the festival, who will talk about the books that have inspired her life and work; Sir Alan Hollinghurst on the books that engaged him from his early life in Gloucestershire and Dorset to a writer’s life in London; and Deborah Levy, acclaimed novelist, playwright and poet, who will give the annual A Room of One’s Own lecture at the Cambridge Union.

The Cambridge Literary Festival is at various venues across Cambridge from 22 to 26 April 2026.

Conceptual Art and Christine Kozlov

American artist Christine Kozlov reshaped the possibilities of art in 1960s New York, emerging as a central voice in the radical wave of conceptual art. This new exhibition traces her inventive practice from the mid 1960s to the late 1970s, placing her work alongside that of her peers to reveal the experimental and collaborative spirit of the era. Using everyday objects such as typewriters, sound recorders and office supplies, Kozlov challenged the very idea of the art object, creating works that were both intellectually provocative and visually inventive. This exhibition includes her collaborations with The Red Krayola, as well as Art & Language, Joan Jonas and Robert Rauschenberg. Kozlov moved to the UK in 1977 and the last of her works in this exhibition was made as a response to the first Gulf War.

Conceptual Art and Christine Kozlov is at Raven Row, London to 26 April 2026.

The Art of Fugue

The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, renowned for its spirited reimagining of the Baroque, joins forces with Brisbane’s premier acrobatic ensemble Circa in a performance that defies our expectations of mind and body, music and movement. These gravity-defying acrobatics bring a new emphasis to Johann Sebastian Bach’s intriguing The Art of Fugue, a work that still puzzles musicologists. It has even been described as ‘one of the finest flowerings of polyphonic music’. Feel the complex structure and intellectual depth of the music through the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s vibrant interpretation, as the dynamic choreography of Circa, led by Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz, captivates your senses and leads you to dizzying heights. There are three performances only at Southbank, so book now.

The Art of Fugue is at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank from 24 to 25 April 2026.

London Soundtrack Festival

London’s first dedicated festival celebrating the music of film, television and games, The London Soundtrack Festival, returns this month for four days of concerts, masterclasses, screenings and talks. The opening night concert at the Barbican, Homegrown Heroes – From Bond to Thunderbirds, is a brilliant celebration of British film and TV music. This will be the debut performance of the London Soundtrack Festival Orchestra, a new bespoke ensemble made up of world-class session players who have performed on countless soundtrack recordings, and led by conductor Ben Foster. Another festival highlight is sure to be An Evening at Downton Abbey, staged in the historic surrounds of the Great Hall at Central Hall Westminster.

The London Soundtrack Festival is at various venues across London from 9 to 12 April 2026.

Famous faces on London stages

Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Photo: Alexandre Blassard.

There’s always an opportunity to see a famous face from film and television live on stage in London. This month, Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner turn up the heat in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Southbank’s Lyttelton Theatre; Griff Rhys Jones is Jim Hacker in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister at Apollo Theatre; Hugh Bonneville and Maggie Siff are superb in Shadowlands at Aldwych Theatre; Cynthia Erivo gives a marathon solo performance in Dracula at the Noël Coward Theatre; Rosamund Pike is back in a new run of Inter Alia at Wyndham’s Theatre; Niamh Cusack stars with Jeroen Frank Kales in Vincent in Brixton at Richmond’s Orange Tree Theatre to 18 April; and American actor Mason Alexander Park gives a hilarious performance as Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh Mary! at The Trafalgar Theatre.