A Midsummer Night’s Dream, often associated with high summer, fits comfortably into the Christmas pantomime’s shoes. Whimsical costumes, many jokes, lovable personalities, and buffoonery; much like panto, there’s a wedding at the end. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most familiar plays, transferring from a recent run at Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Radio Rooftop bar, Aldwych
Located above the former Marconi House on where the BBC broadcast their first radio programs in 1922, Radio Rooftop bar keeps the electromagnetic legacy alive in a skyline space inspired by hotel bars of Tokyo and Singapore.
Bette and Joan, Park Theatre, Finsbury Park
To paraphrase Sunset Boulevard’s Norma Desmond, “I am big. It’s the pictures that got smaller,” Bette and Joan could do with a bigger stage so more people can enjoy this wonderful show.
Hera, Greek restaurant launch, Stratford Cross
The Hera restaurant experience is a modern sophisticated setting bound to appeal to female friends seeking upmarket dining in Stratford. The goddess Hera presides over hearth and home, thus Hera aims to be “a gathering place where guests feel part of extended family.” These glass towers of E20 nod more to Dubai than the Aegean and the approach – for now at least – still resembles a building site. Doubtless, when Sadler’s Wells East and Everyman Stratford open, Hera will be matriarch at the heart of a lively leisure destination.
Sunday roast at The Marquee Moon, Dalston
Most dining tables inside had signs denoting they’d been prebooked thus you’d be wise to do the same on Sundays. Couples can also eat at tall tables with bar stools closer to the DJ booth. Children and dogs were present although it’s definitely more “street” than pub-meets-soft-play-area (thank goodness). The Marquee Moon is a new moon but the East London fashionistas look like they will wax lyrical about it.
Duvale’s, Riverside East, Stratford – Sunday Roast in East London
if you come knowing that this is a bright modern café-style venue with huge windows rather than somewhere intimate with rugs and armchairs to hide in a corner you can enjoy a hearty Sunday roast before going back outside.