Art, Theatre, Music & Shows

This year's 'Polish Carols at Westminster Cathedral' concert will take place on Saturday 19th December at 2.30pm. Following on from last year's capacity filled Cathedral, this year's event promises to be equally captivating and full of Christmas joy. It will feature - The Ave Verum Choir conducted by Jurek Pockert. The Fiołki Choir conducted by Jadwiga Słomka and accompanied by The Ambica Ensemb... Read More

What links the Bash St Kids, Charlie Chaplin, the northern Catholic missionaries and martyrs, a Romantic Jesuit chronicler of the Lake District who inspired William Wordsworth, the first gaslit streets in England and Pugin's transformational Victorian Gothic Revival movement? These questions will be addressed in an exciting collaborative year-long exhibition opening on Saturday, 31 October, in Sto... Read More

A new play about the Jesuit priest, poet and martyr St Robert Southwell SJ will receive its world premiere in London this November. Shakespeare's Cousin, written and directed by Jonathan Moore, explores the interrogation of Southwell by Sir Richard Topcliffe, the notorious Elizabethan priest-hunter and torturer who pursued Catholics during the reign of Elizabeth I. The play will run at the White B... Read More

Walk in the footsteps of the saints, one song at a time. Radio Maria UK is delighted to invite you to Footsteps of the Saints, Songs of the Ages, a fundraising concert on Friday 23rd October at 7.30pm at the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception (Farm Street Church) in the heart of Mayfair. This special Radio Maria UK concert brings together two remarkable musicians for an evening of beauti... Read More

Over 100 works by the troubled genius Richard Dadd are presented in this absorbing exhibition. He spent over 20 years in Bethlem, ending his days in Broadmoor in 1886. His most celebrated fantasy works crammed full of fairies verging on the macabre were painted in the asylum. He also painted portraits and vivid scenes inspired by his travels. Dadd was born in Chatham in 1817. The family moved to L... Read More

Catholic actor Kenneth Michael, will be directing a new play in the Lambeth Fringe Festival this weekend. 'Painting with Water' by Richard Banks, follows the story of Harold Graves, a dying retired literature professor, and his unexpected friendship with a young woman named Willow. Performances are at the Bread and Roses Theatre, 68 Clapham Manor Street, London SW4 6DZ Clapham, on Saturday 10 Oct... Read More

Vivaldi's beloved Four Seasons is a hugely popular and familiar work - dare one suggest possibly over-familiar? The baroque masterpiece, as recomposed by Max Richter in an avant garde and minimalist vein over ten years ago now, jolts us into a re-acquaintance with Vivaldi's music. Mystery Ensemble's playing of the Richter re-imagining in Portsmouth's Anglican Cathedral last Friday was a delightful... Read More

Reformation: The Cultural impact - A Panel discussion moderated by writer, arts broadcaster and critic Mark Lawson will take place in the Aula Magna at Farm Street Jesuit Centre on 1 November, at 3pm, to mark the world premiere of Jonathan Moore's play about Saint Robert Southwell SJ, 'Shakespeare's Cousin.' Special guests on the panel will be: Clare Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith, Indepe... Read More

El Parnaso Hyspano will be holding three spiritual music workshops in London in October, learning songs that pilgrims have sung on their way to Santiago de Compostela and other places of pilgrimage for many years. After the three sessions, participants will join in a mini-pilgrimage from Farm Street to Spanish Place singing these songs on the way. Pilgrims sang these songs in different times and ... Read More

Musicians from two Catholic schools in Wimbledon: Ursuline High School and Wimbledon College are joining together for a concert which promises to raise the roof in aid of Christians in the Holy Land. The concert, being held at Sacred Heart Church, Edge Hill, SW19 4LU, at 7.30pm on Thursday 1st October, will support Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)'s work in the Holy Land - Jerusalem, Bethlehem and ... Read More

Woe to the hypocritical holy men, Christ warned, 'Because you are like to whitened sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all filthiness.' The celebrated actor Mark Rylance is currently appearing as just such an impostor in Tartuffe, Molière's hilarious satire against religious hypocrisy. With characteristic brio, he plays Pastor Blake, an oi... Read More

The Gesualdo Six thrilled the Proms audience at the Albert Hall in a late-night Prom last Wednesday. The sweet-voiced singers sang sacred songs medieval and early modern, along with a new creation from their director Owain Park which itself had venerable roots. Dressed in dark suits and white shirts, the six men were generally still, occasionally changing position or leaving the stage momentarily.... Read More

Learn traditional songs sung by pilgrims and join in a mini-pilgrimage from Farm Street to Spanish Place singing these songs on the way. Pilgrims sang these songs in different times and places, reflecting their experience of pilgrimage. We will use these songs to connect with the experience of pilgrimage in our own lives. No prior musical experience is needed, the sessions are open to all. Learn... Read More

Winston Churchill was a great statesman, soldier, and writer. He had many interests and hobbies including painting which became a vital part of his life during World War I. 'Painting is complete as a distraction," he explained, "I know of nothing which, without exhausting the body, more entirely absorbs the mind.' The Wallace Collection, London, displays nearly 60 of his works in this absorbing ex... Read More