Shubbak Festival returns
Photo of Milk, ‘the largest Palestine production in UK for 25 years’: Christophe Raynaud de Lage
SHUBBAK FESTIVAL 2025: AN EXPLOSIVE PROGRAMME OF ARAB AND SWANA ARTISTRY ACROSS LONDON
LONDON, UK — Shubbak Festival, the UK’s largest biennial celebration of contemporary Arab and South West Asian & North African (SWANA) culture, returns for its 2025 edition from 23 May to 15 June.
It features performances, exhibitions, and community-driven events.
The festival launches with The People’s Catwalk at the Southbank Centre on 23 May, presented by 3EIB in collaboration with Creative Space Beirut, Nol Collective, Nafs Space, and Trashy Clothing. This showcase of SWANA fashion features designs modelled by community members of all ages, shapes, sizes, and (dis)abilities—celebrating boldness, inclusivity, and cultural pride.
On 24 and 25 May, Shubbak brings MILK مِلك to the Southbank Centre, a visually striking theatrical production by Palestine's Khashabi Ensemble, directed by Bashar Murkus and Khulood Basel. Marking the largest Palestinian theatre production staged in the UK in over 25 years, MILK explores the cycles of catastrophe and survival through a narrative of rupture and repetition.
Throughout its three-week run, Shubbak 2025 will transform public squares, galleries, theatres, gardens, and digital spaces into powerful sites of connection and transformation. Highlights of the theatre and performance programme include:
Ali Chahrour’s The Love Behind My Eyes (24 May, The Lowry & 28 May, The Place): a dance exploration of love and longing, inspired by Arabic lyrical poetry.
Salim Djaferi’s Koulounisation (23 & 24 May, Battersea Arts Centre): documentary theatre piece interrogating the power of language and its role in shaping historical narratives.
PalArts Fest x Shubbak (26 May – 2 June, Theatro Technis): A curated programme of Palestinian theatre including Application 39 and Return to Palestine.
The Visual Arts Programme will feature Yasemin Hassan’s Talking Textures at Coal Drops Yard, celebrating SWANA beauty and identity, as well as The Art of the Palestinian Poster at P21 Gallery and Sarah Al-Sarraj’s Limbs of the Lunar Disc at Mimosa House.
Music lovers performances, include the return of Punks for Palestine at New Cross Inn on 26 May, and the grand finale by oud virtuoso Naseer Shamma at the Barbican on 15 June.
For a full list of events and ticket information, visit www.shubbakfestival.co.uk.