Spooky Halloween decor is everywhere this weekend, and there are plenty of horrifying things to do to celebrate the ghoulish festival, from the pumpkin trail and autumn crafts workshops at Morden Hall Park to a Marriage Massacre party at the Pod Bar in Wimbledon – read Sew White’s blog on the best venues to celebrate.
If you’d like a moody, atmospheric Halloween night that is not drenched in fake blood, try the Sound Lounge in Tooting which is hosting one of its excellent Americana sessions. Visiting US star, Hannah Aldridge, brings her dark brand of folk, supported by Jetbone. Tickets £9/£10. While you’re there, sign the petition in support of the Sound Lounge, a brilliant, crowd-funded arts centre, community resource and vegan cafe that is now under threat from developers.
London Symphony
By coincidence you can glimpse Hannah White and Keiron Marshall, the young couple who run the Sound Lounge, in a brilliant new film that pays homage to London and its inhabitants. Filmed in black and white and expertly playing with the viewer’s sense of history, London Symphony is a silent movie in four movements set to an original score by the composer James McWilliam. It is a moving and engaging experience with plenty to recognise: not just your favourite parts of the centre of town, but glimpses of Merton from the Wimbledon Windmill to Merton Abbey Mills. Read our interview with the director here.
London Symphony is being screened at the Sree Ghanapathy Temple in Wimbledon on Saturday 28 October, with McWilliam’s original score performed live by the Covent Garden Sinfonia. After the screening the filmmakers will be present to take part in an audience discussion. Tickets £5.90.
How much do you know about Admiral Lord Nelson’s strong and amorous Merton connections? Find out more with a National Trust walk that begins at South Wimbledon Tube state at 2pm on Sunday, finishing in the Potting Shed Cafe at Morden Hall Park with a cup of tea and a slice of cake. (Must have been Horatio’s favourite teatime snack.) Tickets £10.
Kevin McNally as King Lear among the homeless in the searing production by Shakespeare’s Globe
At 3pm on Sunday 29 October head to Southside House in Wimbledon for an unusual opportunity to listen to classical music being rehearsed and to have tea with the performers: the Möbius Ensemble are preparing for a concert at the Wigmore Hall, and hope that by inviting the public to join a rehearsal they can get to know their audience better. Tickets £6/£3, including tea.
On Sunday evening, why not visit refurbished New Wimbledon Studio Theatre for a screening of the radical and challenging production of King Lear staged at Shakespeare’s Globe, which imagines Shakespeare’s searing portrayal of cruelty, arbitrariness and old age as a show put on by a motley group of homeless people. Tickets £18.70/£17.
And for a cheery start to the weekend, the Laughing Boy Comedy Club holds its monthly session at New Wimbledon Studio Theatre on Friday. Tickets £16.50/£11.
Barrie Rutter as the bank manager Fuller in Northern Broadsides’ production of For Love Or Money
Coming Up:
It’s the end of an era when Barrie Rutter brings his Northern Broadsides theatre company to Rose Theatre Kingston next week with For Love Or Money, a classic satire given a feisty new spin as a 1920s Yorkshire farce. Read why.
About The Author
Jenny Booth
Jenny was a news journalist for The Times. An ex-teacher, mum, gardener and art lover, there’s nothing she doesn’t know about the local culture scene…