National Park City | Rebel Sounds | Sweet Sorrow | Floating Film Festival | TT Liquor....
Summer is in full swing, and our weekly entertainment guide is packed to the brim with ideas for enjoying the capital in all its sunny splendour. This week we celebrate our green spaces with the National Park City Festival, jump aboard the Floating Film Festival and get a taste for Middle Eastern Mexican cuisine.
VISIT one of London’s breath-taking green spaces in celebration of National Park City Festival, a nine-day homage to the capital’s woods, parks, gardens and wetlands from 20-28 July. With 48 per cent of London being green space, you can expect a fun-filled programme of events exploring and celebrating everything green and wild in the city. Theatre productions, stunning rooftop parties and exclusive openings, musical installations, photography exhibitions, sports events, walking tours, outdoor cinemas, bat walks, family nature clubs, and Dj sets will bring green spaces to life. Now, let’s just hope the weather is on side!
For the full programme and more information, visit http://www.nationalparkcity.london/festival and follow @LondonNPC on Twitter for updates.
SEE Rebel Sounds at the Imperial War Museum. How much do you like music? Enough to risk your life for it? As part of IWM’s Culture Under Attack season, this new exhibit tells the stories of the brave and pioneering artists from around the world who have risked everything to protect their culture, and to resist, rebel and speak out against persecution and oppressive regimes. From swing and jazz music in Nazi Germany to punk in Northern Ireland in the 70’s, techno in Serbia in the 90’s to blues in present day Islamist rule Mali, Rebel Sounds draws on four unique stories of resistance using personal accounts, photographs, memorabilia and music. It shows how artists have frequently placed their love of music above their own personal safety to help reinforce their cultural identity and defy iron-fist dictatorships and the chaos of conflict. As part of the new showcase, the museum is also playing host to Rebel Sounds Live, a free series of live interventions with musicians and activists who have risked their lives in times of war, exile and censorship.
Rebel Sounds at IWM London is open until 5 January 2020. Find out more at www.iwm.org.uk and follow the museum on Twitter @I_W_M.
LISTEN to Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls, the new audiobook narrated by Rory Kinnear. This long-awaited novel comes a decade after his critically acclaimed bestseller One Day and is a poignant coming-of-age story about 16 year-old Charlie’s life-changing summer love affair. The highly immersive audio edition offers an absorbing and unique experience for listeners, who can lose themselves in the author's mesmerising writing. Hot off the back of his role in BBC drama Years and Years, Nicholls says Kinnear’s narration offers a whole, surprising new version that’s "hidden away inside the printed text", while creating a sense of performance and heightening the lyricism. He says “Rory is one of the few actors who excels at both comedy and drama and Sweet Sorrow is poised somewhere between the two." The perfect summer listening experience, lie back in the grass and escape into the bitter-sweet dream of summer love.
Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls, narrated by Rory Kinnear, is produced by W.F. Howes and is available from various online retailers. Listen to a sample here and follow @WFHowes on Twitter.
WATCH a hit film while floating on a pontoon at this year’s Floating Film Festival, which returns to St Katherine’s Dock in London this Tuesday 16-28 July. Home to the only yachting marina in central London, the 190 year-old docks offer stunning surroundings for a giant outdoor cinema screen. From family favourites to recent blockbusters, films on show this year include Aquaman, A Star is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Greatest Showman, Mary Poppins Returns and Mamma Mia! and Here We Go Again, among others. You’re invited to pull up a deck chair or snuggle up on a beanbag as you board the floating platform, with drinks and snacks in hand courtesy of Benugo.
Tickets are £12. For more information, visit, http://www.skdocks.co.uk and follow @StKats on Twitter for updates.
DINE at Shoreditch-based cocktail bar TT Liquor, for a special Middle Eastern Mexican supper club in celebration of National Tequila Day on 24 July. Persian-welsh chef Leyli Joon will serve up a five-course meal on its brand new roof-top with views overlooking East London and the City. The menu includes beef short rib, chipotle & ancho chilli in a Persian lime taco with amba sauce, BBQ King Prawns in a habanero and harissa pineapple carpaccio, and white chocolate cremeux, grapefruit and a granita. The feast will be paired with an Ocho cocktail, and there will be a talk on the history of Ocho for those wanting to learn more about its flavours and origins.
Tickets are £65. For more information, visit https://ttliquor.co.uk and follow @ttliquor and @leyli_h85 for updates.
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