From the Editor
* British playwright Caryl Churchill has withdrawn a play from the Donmar Warehouse in protest over the theatre’s support from Barclays, accused of providinmg financial support to nine arms companies supplying weapons to Israel. More than 300 theatre workers have signed an open letter backing Churchill and urging the theatre to cut ties with the bank. Full story
Daniel Nelson london.globalevents@gmail.com X: @EventsNelson
TALKS AND MEETINGS
Friday 18 July
* The island nations creating a comeback from climate disaster: film and book launch, Rashmee Roshan Lall, Avinash Persaud, Jack Corbett, Emily Wilkinson, Sarah Howard, 6.30pm, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Overseas Development Institute
Saturday 19 July
* East and South East Asian literary festival: Seeing Ghosts: Pio Abad & Susan Barker, 12.15pm; Epic Intimacies: Tash Aw & Will Harris, 3pm; Language and Lineage: Poetry Reading, 4.30pm; Love in the Time of Tech: Elaine Castillo & John Lau, 5.45pm, Southband Centre, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX. Info: Festival
Sunday 20 July
* Make Them Pay, demo: tax the super-rich, protect workers, not billionaires, make polluters pay, central London. Info: Global Justice Now
EXHIBITIONS
* Unsilenced: Sexual Violence in Conflict, exhibits include sexual slavery of ‘Comfort Women Corps’ in World War Two and of Yazidi women and girls by ISIS in 2014, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road SE1 6HZ until 2 November. Info: War Museum
+ Sexual violence in conflict: ‘The cheapest weapon known to man’
* Thirst: In Search of Freshwater, from ancient Mesopotamia and Victorian London to modern-day Nepal and Singapore, the exhibition combines art, science, history, technology and indigenous knowledge to deepen understanding of our relationships with freshwater, free, Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE until 1 February 2026. Info: Wellcome
+ Thirst: an exhibition bridge over troubled water
* Ancient India: living traditions, the origins of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist sacred art in the nature spirits of ancient India – and how they live on 2,000 years later, from £16, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG until 19 October. Info: Museum
+ Starring role for snakes in Ancient India exhibition
* Mumbai + London: new perspectives on the ancient world, small show focussed on Greek god Dionysius and India’s Vishnu, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG until 11 January 2026. Info: Exhibition
* Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times In An Instant), Mexican artist Teresa Margolles’ cuboid on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square is a memorial to trans people worldwide
* Jose Maria Valasco: A View of Mexico, first UK show of work by the Mexican artist, from £12, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square WC2N 5DN until 17 August. Info: Gallery
* Collecting and Empire, trail making connections between archaeology, anthropology and the British Empire, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1. Info: British Museum
* British Library, installation of 6,328 books marks the contributions of migrants to UK, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1. Info: Installation/ 7887 8888
* Inspiration Africa: Stories Beyond the Artifacts, exploration of V&A galleries through the lens of African heritage, free, second Saturday of every month, V&A, Cromwell Road, SW7. Info: V&A tou
* African Deeds, showcases a collection that includes diaries, cassette interviews, videos, photos and documents of three generations of family history, inspired by grandfather Thomas’ land title deeds brought from West Africa in 1901, Black Cultural Archives, 1 Windrush Square, SW2 1EF. Info: BCA
* Target Queen, large-scale commission by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
* Esther Mahlangu: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, brightly coloured geometric paintings rooted in South African Ndebele culture, free, Serpentine North, until 28 September. Info: Serpentine
* Women of the World Unite: the United Nations decade for women and transnational feminisms 1975 to now, London School of Economics Library, Houghton Street, WC2 until 22 August. Info: LSE
* Making Egypt, exploring ancient Egypt's creativity and how it continues to influence art, design and popular culture today, £10, Young V&A, Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9PA. Info: V&A
* Arpita Singh: Remembering, her first solo exhibition outside India, she draws from Bengali folk art and Indian stories, interwoven with experiences of social upheaval and global conflict, free, Serpentine North W2 2AR, until 27 July
* Eileen Perrier: A Thousand Small Stories and Dianne Minnicucci: Belonging and Beyond, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA, until 13 September. Info: Rivington Place
* Ghazaleh Avarzamani and Ali Ahadi: Freudian Typo, photography, sculpture, video work and found objects by two Iranian-Canadian artists which playfully critique Britain’s imperial past and how it manifests today, tracing connections between historical sources and current events in politics and finance, free, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre until 31 August. Info: Hayward
* Earth Photo 2025, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. until 17 August. Info: RGS
* Said Dicko: Tracing Shadows, the multimedia artist from Burkina Faso paints over his prints to create unique work, free, Photographers Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, W1F 7LW until 7 September. Info: tpg.org.uk
* 0710 Journeys, Wayne Campbell’s photographs of Gaza protests in Britain and the everyday landscape of the occupied West Bank, £5, P21 Gallery, 21 Chalton Street NW1 1JD until 5 September. Info: P21
ARTS OPPORTUNITIES
* One World Media invites applications for its 2025 Fellowship & Grants, supporting filmmakers and journalists from the global south. Deadline: 20 August.
* Ten years after Good Chance was formed in the Calais Jungle refugee camp, it is launching Stage Door 10 - a national programme placing 10 creatives from refugee backgrounds in paid roles across 10 of the UK’s leading theatres and arts organisations.
* Applications are open until 23 July or a mentorship programme aimed at supporting migrant theatre-makers at the onset of their careers. Details at Project Europa.
* The Woven Voices Prize for Playwriting is a chance for migrant playwrights in the UK to have their work read, shared and developed. The winner will get £3,500, and a further three weeks of paid development time. There are also prizes for up to four runners-up. Applications close on 27 July.
* Theatro Technis and Hyphen Artist Collective’s offer free in-person & online writing sessions + community chats for hyphenated & global majority creatives.
* Artist Surgeries at the Gate Theatre: on the second Thursday of every month.
* As Yet Unscene is a year-round programme initiative to find and develop scripts in early stages of development. it includes workshops, rehearsed readings and fully-rehearsed performances of longer extracts. Details here
* Poets - submissions are invited for the PEN Heaney Prize 2025. For collections published between 1 July and 31 December the submission window closes on 31 August
* The Royal Court Theatre has launched The Writers’ Card, part of its programme of helping playwrights. It offers mentoring, networking, funding opportunities, events, and use of resources in the building, subsidised meals and free script printing. For more information, visit https://royalcourttheatre.com/playwriting
* The Royal Court has also launched a London-wide playwrights award for 13-18-year-olds.
* Theatre in the Pound: The Cockpit Theatre’s monthly scratch night enables performers to try out 10-15 minutes of new work + a short Q&A. Also classes, workshops, readings, advice sessions, support & performance opportunities.
* Papatango hopes its new Playwrights’ Studio will be a home for playwrights of all levels of experience. It aims to be a joined-up, sustained writing package with a variety of free advantages, including digital workshops, lone-to-one, and thousands of pounds in open-access funding.
* Riverside Studios is offering a regular drop-in playwriting group: “Whether you’re working on a script and want creative inspiration, you're intrigued by the idea of writing a play, or simply want a creative outlet, these monthly meet-ups are informal, fun and open to everyone.” It has also launched songwriting sessions.
* Citizens of the World, a choir that grew out of the Calais “Jungle” and has 50 members from 30 countries, welcomes newcomers. It rehearses on Wednesday evenings. Details on the website
FILM
* Sudan, Remember Us, documentary that captures the hope and accomplishment following dictator Omar al Bashir’s fall and the oppression of the military crackdown and subsequent civil war, Lexi until 18 July
+ Remember the Sudanese protesters who thought their time had come
* Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, documentary that examines the evidence of destruction across Gaza’s medical infrastructure, ICA, The Mall, until 19 July
* Safar Film Festival, it’s over, but several films (Cinema of War in Lebanon, Reprisal, Panoptic) via Aflamuna online
* Apocalypse in the Tropics, exposes how apocalyptic theology fuels the far right and threatens Brazil’s democracy, Curzon Bloomsbury until 23 July
* Celluloid Festival, archival gems including films by Hou-Hsiao Hsien, Edward Yang, Stanley Kwan, and many more, ICA until 20 July.
* London Indian Film Festival, until 23 July. Programme includes 18 July, Village Rockstars 2, an Assamese teenager pursues her dreams of being in a rock band while coping with rural life and tradition; 19 July, New Brit Asian Shorts + discussion; 20 July, The Mahabharata, restoration of UK theatre director Peter Brook’s version; 22 July, Pyre, quirky love story in a changing Himalayan society; 23 July, Boong, a mischievous Manipuri school boy’s quest to re-unite his mother and father. Info: Programme
* South Asian Heritage Month, themed ‘Roots to Routes’. Films include Heat and Dust, A River Called Titas, Nidhanaya, Badnam Basti, Manthan (The Churning), I’m British But…; Shambhala, LGBTQ+ shorts; The Cinema Travellers; Movies, Memories, Magic, Garden cinema until 7 August
* The Brink of Dreams, in a remote village in southern Egypt, a group of girls form a street theatre troupe, challenging their families and neighbours with their brilliantly devised street performances, Curzon Bloomsbury until 22 July
* Gold Songs, Mozambican films, ICA, The Mall until 25 July
Saturday 19 July
* Tamango, an enslaved African man plans a shipboard rebellion and wants the captain’s sexual slave to help + intro by season curator Miriam Bale, 8.40pm, National Film Theatre
* Record of War, marking 90 years since the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, a live montage from the Fascist Italian Path of the Heroes, and the Soviet Russian film Abyssinia, conjuring a unique third film that only exists for the duration of the programme, 2pm, £13, Barbican
Sunday 20 July
* Grandfather and grandson/ Flowing with the current, two evocative short documentaries capture the quiet tension between tradition and transformation in Vietnam, between staying rooted and being swept along by the currents of development, 3pm, £15, Rich Mix
Tuesday 22 July
* Sambizanga, when a tractor driver from Luanda is arrested by Portuguese authorities, his wife – with their baby – sets out to find him. The brewing rebellion against Portuguese colonisation is witnessed weeks before the uprising of the Angolan independence movement, 8.40pm, National Film Theatre
PERFORMANCE
* Talawa Firsts Festival 2025, “groundbreaking Black British new work”, including double-bills:There's a Mouse in the Kitchen, staged reading by Cal-l Jonel; Small Revolutions by Savannah Acquah, My Father, The Addict by Valerie Isaiah Sadoh. Until 19 July. Info: www.talaw.com
* ESEA Encounters, a celebration of East and South East Asian arts and culture, spanning performances, music, poetry, literature, art and a pop-up market, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX. Info: Encounters
TV and RADIO
Saturday 12 July
* Half Of A Yellow Sun, dramatisation of Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie’s Nigeria civil war novel, 3pm, Radio 4
Sunday 13 July
* Live Aid at 40: When Rock’n’Roll Took on the World, last in series about the star-studded 1985 fundraiser, 9pm, BBC2
* Mahabharata Now, last in serialisation of the Indian epic poem, 3pm, Radio 4
Monday 14 July
* Nicholas Shakespeare Remembers - Mario Vargas Llosa, 10.30pm, BBC4
* The Novelist Who Would Be President, follows Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa during his 1990 presidential campaign, 10.45pm, BBC4
* Brick Lane, drama set in In 1980s London about a young Bangladeshi woman, becalmed in her arranged marriage, who is sparked into life,1.50am, Film4
Wednesday 16 July
* Live Aid at 40: When Rock’n’Roll Took on the World, last in series about the star-studded 1985 fundraiser, 11pm, BBC2
Friday 18 July
* Central Intelligence, this episode of the drama about the CIA is focused on the space race, 2.15pm, Radio 4