Rewrite
From new retrospectives on Tilda Swinton, Virgil Abloh and Mark Leckey to anticipated theatre productions, here’s everything to bookmark for an excellent September
Tilda Swinton – Ongoing at Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam: September 28, 2025 – February 8, 2026
Amsterdam’s Eye Filmmuseum is about to open an entire exhibition dedicated to Tilda Swinton, and we can’t wait. A deeply personal show co-coordinated by Swinton herself, the exhibition will focus on the Scottish actor and fashion icon’s many extraordinary creative collaborations. It will feature new and existing work by eight of her artistic partners and close friends, namely Pedro Almodóvar, Luca Guadagnino, Joanna Hogg, Derek Jarman, Jim Jarmusch, Olivier Saillard, Tim Walker and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Expect a multimedia reconstruction of Swinton’s 1980s London apartment, an intimate new portrait by Guadagnino in the form of short film and a sculpture, and never-before-seen Super-8 footage shot by Jarman, capturing a young Swinton in full performance mode.
Close Enough at C/O Berlin: September 27, 2025 – January 28, 2026
Robert Capa, the co-founder of Magnum Photos agency, once said, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” He was commenting upon war photography, but his statement can be interpreted in a variety of ways – a subject set to be explored in C/O Berlin’s upcoming exhibition, Close Enough: Perspectives by Women Photographers of Magnum. As its title suggests, the exhibit will consist of works by 12 women photographers from the acclaimed agency – including Newsha Tavakolian, Hannah Price, Susan Meiselas, Cristina de Middel and Alessandra Sanguinetti – all united by a central theme: their investigation into “the complex mix of spatial, emotional, and social distance between the photographer and the subject.”
Girls at MoMu, Antwerp: September 27, 2025 – February 1, 2026
How has girlhood been represented? How is it remembered? And how does the idea of “the girl” continue to shape visual culture and fashion? These are the questions that Girls, the upcoming show at MoMu in Antwerp, will set out to answer. Featuring work by a diverse range of artists, fashion designers, filmmakers and photographers – from Meret Oppenheim and Alice Neel to Sofia Coppola, Simone Rocha, Micaiah Carter and Frida Orupabo – it will shine a light on “the emotional, psychological and political depth” that girlhood as a topic can elicit, one that shuns stereotypes, pushes boundaries and incites change.
Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion at Barbican, London: September 25, 2025 – January 25, 2026
Dirt and decay in fashion is nothing new, as fans of Vivienne Westwood, Martin Margiela, Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan – who is so wedded to an earthy aesthetic that he buried his graduate collection, digging up the garments just before presenting them – will know. But in recent years fashion has only got dirtier, with young designers like Paolo Carzana and Elena Velez championing deliberately tarnished and tattered looks, and Demna opting for a mud pit over a conventional runway for Balenciaga’s S/S23 show. Soon, the Barbican will showcase fashion’s muckiest moments – old and new – exploring the way in which designers have co-opted dirt and decay to rebel against conventional beauty standards and glossy digital-age perfection.
UK AIDS Memorial Quilt at Charleston, East Sussex: September 14–21, 2025
If you missed your chance to view the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt in full when it went on display at the Tate Modern in June, don’t miss the opportunity to see seven of its blocks free of charge at Charleston in East Sussex this September, as part of the Queer Bloomsbury festival. The quilts were created in the late 1980s and early 90s and make up part of the UK chapter of the largest community art project in the world: a global commemoration of individuals lost to the AIDS crisis through hand-stitched fabric panels. A rousing act of protest, remembrance and love like no other.
Glen Luchford: Atlas at 10 Corso Como Gallery, Milan: September 25 – November 23, 2025
It may come as a surprise to learn that the fêted British fashion photographer Glen Luchford has never been the subject of a solo exhibition until now. Milan concept store and gallery 10 Corso Como is putting this wrong to right with a site-specific project, conceived by Luchford himself, that will guide visitors across more than 30 years’ worth of work, with a particular focus on the 90s, the decade he rose to fame. The show is timed to coincide with Milan Fashion Week and will include everything from large-format prints of Luchford’s gloriously cinematic campaign shots and fashion stories, through eye-catching collages and an installation of his atmospheric fashion films.
James Turrell: The Return at Pace, Seoul: Until September 27, 2025
If you happen to be in Seoul any time soon, be sure to catch the latest show from James Turrell, that pioneering member of the California Light and Space movement, who is showing five recent installations at Pace until late September. The exhibit is part of the gallery’s 65th anniversary celebrations – a yearlong series of global exhibitions with major artists long-connected to the gallery – and includes a new site-specific Wedgework (where light is used to create the illusion of a solid wall). Also on display are a number of photographs and works on paper revealing more about the processes behind Turrell’s installations, as well as the construction of his massive Roden Crater project, a much-anticipated land art piece in the Arizona desert.
Eleanor Antin: A Retrospective at Mudam, Luxembourg: September 26, 2025 – February 8, 2026
In Luxembourg, Mudam will soon host the very first European retrospective of the New York feminist artist Eleanor Antin – one of the key figures to have emerged from the conceptual art movements of the 70s. Antin’s multidisciplinary practice spans performance, photography, film, text, installation and drawing, frequently combining the personal and the historical to explore questions of identity and politics. For instance, she often adopts alter egos – like The King, The Ballerina, The Nurse – who reappear across different projects, “subverting the forces behind societal roles and outdated narratives”. Long overdue, the Mudam show will demonstrate the continued influence of Antin’s work, from the late 60s until today.
Stan Douglas at Victoria Miro, London: September 26 – November 1, 2025
At Victoria Miro, check out the European premiere of Birth of a Nation, a new multi-channel video installation by celebrated Canadian artist Stan Douglas, which will be screened alongside works from his recent photo series, The Enemy of All Mankind: Nine Scenes from John Gay’s Polly. Since the late 1980s, Douglas’ work has examined “complex intersections of narrative, fact and fiction while simultaneously scrutinising the media he employs”, drawing our attention to the ways in which technology has skewed our relationship to reality. And these latest offerings are no exception. Titled after DW Griffith’s technically groundbreaking but deeply racist film of the same name, Birth of a Nation confronts the white supremacist viewpoint of the 1915 original, reimagining one of its narrative strands from multiple perspectives across five screens.
Sasha Gordon: Haze at David Zwirner, New York: September 10–October 18, 2025
New York-based painter Sasha Gordon makes paintings that are at once hyper-realistic and strangely surreal: whether turning her protagonists (most often rendered in her own likeness) a fiery red, or presenting them in uncanny scenarios (chopping their toenails in a park, for instance, while a mushroom cloud looms menacingly in the distance). Later this month, Gordon will enjoy her first solo show with David Zwirner at the gallery’s 533 West 19th Street space, where she will debut a new cycle of paintings that “experiment with storytelling as they uncover the origin myth of her narrative worlds”.
Opening to coincide with Berlin Art Week, the Julia Stoschek Foundation will soon present a major solo exhibition by British artist Mark Leckey, who for nearly three decades has been “tracking how contemporary media shape our perception, memory, and desire” through video, sculpture and sound. Enter Thru Medieval Wounds will bring together more than 40 artworks, spanning early video works like Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999), Leckey’s seminal investigation into British rave culture, and the Turner-Prize-winning Cinema-in-the-Round (2006–08), through more recent pieces, offering one of the most comprehensive overviews of the artist’s work to date.
Virgil Abloh: The Codes at the Grand Palais, Paris: September 30 – October 10, 2025
An exhibition at Paris’ Grand Palais will uphold the memory of Virgil Abloh, almost four years after the designer’s passing, immersing viewers once again in his singular world. Opening during Paris Fashion Week and made up of some 20,000 archival pieces, including prototypes, sketches, objects, images and creations from the US designer’s personal collections, the show will trace almost two decades’ worth of creation. Its aim is to spotlight Abloh’s design principles, codes that crop up again and again across his multidisciplinary output – from his signature motifs (quotation marks, zip-ties, barricade tape et al) to his remarkable focus on storytelling, innovation and collaboration.
September is full of exciting live productions to look forward to, starting with Romans: A Novel, the anticipated new play from award-winning playwright Alice Birch, premiering at the Almeida from September 9–October 11. Described as a “monumental, kaleidoscopic portrait of masculinity from the nineteenth century to the present day”, it looks set to be a scorcher. At The Bush until November 1, don’t miss Not Your Superwoman by Emma Dennis-Edwards. Starring Golda Rosheuvel and Letitia Wright as a mother and daughter mourning the loss of their matriarch, it is a stirring meditation on grief and motherhood, legacy and resilience. Brendan Gleeson will take to the stage at The Harold Pinter Theatre in a new production of Conor McPherson’s breakout play The Weir, directed by McPherson himself for the very first time. A striking ode to the power of storytelling, it sees the everyday chitter-chatter of four locals in a remote Irish pub interrupted by the arrival of a woman named Valerie, whose deeply personal story leaves a profound mark.
Dance aficionados, book your tickets to see Flemish-Moroccan choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s visually enticing ode to his Flemish roots, Vlaemsch (Chez Moi), at Sadler’s Wells from September 18–20. Performed alongside members of Cherkaoui’s Antwerp-based dance company Eastman, the production takes its inspiration from the culturally rich world of 15th-century Flanders, as evoked so vividly in the works of the Flemish grand masters. A brand new staging of Tosca, Puccini’s tragic tale of passion, is coming to the Royal Opera House from September 11–October 7, directed by Oliver Mears. Set in war-torn Rome, it follows its titular heroine, the celebrated singer Floria Tosca, in her desperate attempts to save her republican lover, the painter Cavaradossi, from the city’s corrupt chief of police.
Last but not least, there’s In Dreams – David Lynch Revisited, a unique opportunity to experience the inimitable music that soundtracks the Lynchian universe, reimagined by composer and musical director David Coulter. Taking place at the Southbank Centre on September 21, and performed by an ensemble of musicians and singers including Anna Calvi, Mick Harvey and Conor O’Brien, prepare to be transported to the uncanny worlds of Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive and beyond.
September is full of great reasons to head to the cinema. First up: The Man In My Basement, the feature debut from Sudanese theatremaker Nadia Latif. Based on the horror novel of the same name by Walter Mosley, who co-wrote the screenplay alongside Latif, it follows an out-of-work African American man living in Sag Harbor whose money worries look set to be solved by an offer from a mysterious white businessman. All he has to do is let out his basement to this stranger, but of course, nothing is ever as simple as it seems. German filmmaker Jan-Ole Gerster’s sun-drenched psychological drama Islands follows an apathetic tennis coach at a luxury Canary Islands hotel, who finds himself entangled with a married couple holidaying at the resort – one of whom will soon go missing. Powerful and poignant, Deaf by Spanish writer-director Eva Libertad tells the story of Ángela, a deaf woman, and her hearing partner, Héctor, as they become parents for the first time. Discovering they will have to wait until their daughter is a few months old to find out whether she can hear, Ángela must come to terms with raising a child who may not share her experience of the world.
Directed by Chinese filmmaker Bizhan Tong, Tape is a decidedly stylish remake of Richard Linklater‘s psychological drama of the same title – this time set in modern-day Hong Kong – and is executive produced by Linklater himself. Taking place over the course of a single evening, it sees three high-school friends reunite 15 years after their graduation. Secrets and suppressed memories soon bubble to the surface, prompting a difficult confrontation with their past. The echoes of Linklater likewise reverberate in Girls & Boys, a stirring romantic comedy by Irish writer, director and editor Donncha Gilmore, with Before Sunrise energy. Its protagonists are two students at Trinity College Dublin: Charlie, a trans aspiring filmmaker, and Jace, a rugby-playing business major, whose paths cross one Halloween. Another feature-length debut from an acclaimed theatremaker, Brides, by Young Vic artistic director Nadia Fall, is a must-watch. In it, two British teenage girls with turbulent home lives devise a dangerous plan to travel to Syria in search of “freedom, friendship, and belonging”.
This month’s must-see documentaries, meanwhile, include The Librarians, Kim A Snyder’s compelling film centred on heroic librarians in Texas, Florida and beyond – America’s “unlikely defenders of democracy” as an unprecedented wave of book banning grips their states. Ellis Park, from filmmaker Justin Kurzel, follows Australian musician and Bad Seeds member Warren Ellis as he pays a visit to his childhood home in Ballarat, Victoria before heading to the Indonesian island of Sumatra for the opening of the film’s eponymous wildlife sanctuary, which he founded. Interweaving the musician’s personal journey of healing with the story of the sanctuary – where a dedicated team works tirelessly to rehabilitate trafficked animals – it makes for particularly poignant viewing. In From Ground Zero: Stories From Gaza, Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi calls on Palestinian filmmakers living in Gaza to document their own lives and stories, resulting in a tapestry of 22 shorts, spanning documentary, fiction, animation and experimental film, that offer a vital and contextualising look beyond the headlines.
September’s tempting new culinary experiences include Labombe by Trivet, arriving on September 16 at COMO Metropolitan London on Old Park Lane. Described as “the playful younger sibling” of Jonny Lake and Isa Bal’s two Michelin-starred Bermondsey restaurant, Trivet – where Labombe first originated as a weekly pop-up – the duo’s latest venture is a celebration of expertly curated wine and thoughtfully crafted food, paired to perfection. Dreamed up in collaboration with head chef Evan Moore (formerly of The Fat Duck), the menu will be made up of European-style snacks and small plates showcasing experimental flavours and combinations. Think: gurnard crudo with orange ponzu, anchovy garum and olive oil, and grilled monkfish with braised cocoa beans, vinegared chicken sauce and green peppercorns.
A chance to sample sumptuous Sri Lankan street food is coming our way, courtesy of Adoh!, opening in Soho on September 8. The brainchild of Eroshan and Aushi Meewella (of Kolamba), Adoh draws its inspiration from Sri Lanka’s colourful roadside eateries, its menu comprising of “comforting favourites, designed for quick, hearty eating”. Key offerings will include kothu – chopped roti, vegetables and eggs, tossed together on a grill and finished with curry sauce – which will be available in four mouthwatering iterations: crab, chicken, mutton and jackfruit, and vadai, savoury lentil donuts served with chutneys. Yum.
Landing at Somerset House this September, Aram is a new cafe, deli and restaurant co-founded by Imad Alarnab (of Imad’s Syrian Kitchen). There guests can take their pick from ridiculously tasty baked goods, salads, breakfasts and lunches from across the Eastern Mediterranean. Expect such delicacies as za’atar croissants, halva brownies, roasted aubergine salad and labneh with poached eggs, inspired by Syria, Turkey, Cyprus and Jordan. This is a celebration of flavour, culture and connection.
A new Thai restaurant has arrived in Soho, and its dishes are delicious. Platapian on Greek Street brings Thai culinary heritage and forgotten family recipes to the fore, delivering plates that reflect Thailand’s diverse regional influences – “from the bold, fiery flavours of the south to the delicate, aromatic dishes from the north”. Conceived for sharing Platapian’s menu centres around small bites (like kaffir lime and okra fritters) and signature mains (like tiger prawn with “pla” chilli sauce and lemongrass or beef short ribs in five-spice “paloh”), rounded off by pleasing puddings including pandan crème brûlée with coconut milk ice cream.
Starting this month and running through to the start of November, The Aubrey at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hyde Park is launching its first guest series, Youkoso, spotlighting exceptional women in cooking. Each chef will present a multi-course menu influenced by their personal history and cultural traditions, starting with The Rangoon Sisters, who will recreate the magic of their sell-out east London supper clubs on September 8 and 9. Diners can anticipate “spice, warmth and heart” as the duo reimagine their home-style Burmese cooking for The Aubrey’s izakaya setting.
Finally, for those seeking a seaside sojourn supplemented by truly tantalising fare, make your way to Hove, where Brazilian-Italian chef Rafael Cagali will open Marea later this month. The menu will be carefully concocted around seasonal produce, influenced by the surrounding East Sussex landscape, modern Italian cooking and South American cuisine. No specific dishes have been named as yet, but we know that they will range from hot and cold small plates through mains, sharing platters and desserts, all reflective of Cagali’s unique culinary background at such esteemed eateries as Quique Dacosta’s three Michelin-starred restaurant in Denia, Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck, and east London’s two-Michelin starred Da Terra. Bon appétit!
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From new retrospectives on Tilda Swinton, Virgil Abloh and Mark Leckey to anticipated theatre productions, here’s everything to bookmark for an excellent September
Tilda Swinton – Ongoing at Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam: September 28, 2025 – February 8, 2026
Amsterdam’s Eye Filmmuseum is about to open an entire exhibition dedicated to Tilda Swinton, and we can’t wait. A deeply personal show co-coordinated by Swinton herself, the exhibition will focus on the Scottish actor and fashion icon’s many extraordinary creative collaborations. It will feature new and existing work by eight of her artistic partners and close friends, namely Pedro Almodóvar, Luca Guadagnino, Joanna Hogg, Derek Jarman, Jim Jarmusch, Olivier Saillard, Tim Walker and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Expect a multimedia reconstruction of Swinton’s 1980s London apartment, an intimate new portrait by Guadagnino in the form of short film and a sculpture, and never-before-seen Super-8 footage shot by Jarman, capturing a young Swinton in full performance mode.
Close Enough at C/O Berlin: September 27, 2025 – January 28, 2026
Robert Capa, the co-founder of Magnum Photos agency, once said, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” He was commenting upon war photography, but his statement can be interpreted in a variety of ways – a subject set to be explored in C/O Berlin’s upcoming exhibition, Close Enough: Perspectives by Women Photographers of Magnum. As its title suggests, the exhibit will consist of works by 12 women photographers from the acclaimed agency – including Newsha Tavakolian, Hannah Price, Susan Meiselas, Cristina de Middel and Alessandra Sanguinetti – all united by a central theme: their investigation into “the complex mix of spatial, emotional, and social distance between the photographer and the subject.”
Girls at MoMu, Antwerp: September 27, 2025 – February 1, 2026
How has girlhood been represented? How is it remembered? And how does the idea of “the girl” continue to shape visual culture and fashion? These are the questions that Girls, the upcoming show at MoMu in Antwerp, will set out to answer. Featuring work by a diverse range of artists, fashion designers, filmmakers and photographers – from Meret Oppenheim and Alice Neel to Sofia Coppola, Simone Rocha, Micaiah Carter and Frida Orupabo – it will shine a light on “the emotional, psychological and political depth” that girlhood as a topic can elicit, one that shuns stereotypes, pushes boundaries and incites change.
Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion at Barbican, London: September 25, 2025 – January 25, 2026
Dirt and decay in fashion is nothing new, as fans of Vivienne Westwood, Martin Margiela, Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan – who is so wedded to an earthy aesthetic that he buried his graduate collection, digging up the garments just before presenting them – will know. But in recent years fashion has only got dirtier, with young designers like Paolo Carzana and Elena Velez championing deliberately tarnished and tattered looks, and Demna opting for a mud pit over a conventional runway for Balenciaga’s S/S23 show. Soon, the Barbican will showcase fashion’s muckiest moments – old and new – exploring the way in which designers have co-opted dirt and decay to rebel against conventional beauty standards and glossy digital-age perfection.
UK AIDS Memorial Quilt at Charleston, East Sussex: September 14–21, 2025
If you missed your chance to view the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt in full when it went on display at the Tate Modern in June, don’t miss the opportunity to see seven of its blocks free of charge at Charleston in East Sussex this September, as part of the Queer Bloomsbury festival. The quilts were created in the late 1980s and early 90s and make up part of the UK chapter of the largest community art project in the world: a global commemoration of individuals lost to the AIDS crisis through hand-stitched fabric panels. A rousing act of protest, remembrance and love like no other.
Glen Luchford: Atlas at 10 Corso Como Gallery, Milan: September 25 – November 23, 2025
It may come as a surprise to learn that the fêted British fashion photographer Glen Luchford has never been the subject of a solo exhibition until now. Milan concept store and gallery 10 Corso Como is putting this wrong to right with a site-specific project, conceived by Luchford himself, that will guide visitors across more than 30 years’ worth of work, with a particular focus on the 90s, the decade he rose to fame. The show is timed to coincide with Milan Fashion Week and will include everything from large-format prints of Luchford’s gloriously cinematic campaign shots and fashion stories, through eye-catching collages and an installation of his atmospheric fashion films.
James Turrell: The Return at Pace, Seoul: Until September 27, 2025
If you happen to be in Seoul any time soon, be sure to catch the latest show from James Turrell, that pioneering member of the California Light and Space movement, who is showing five recent installations at Pace until late September. The exhibit is part of the gallery’s 65th anniversary celebrations – a yearlong series of global exhibitions with major artists long-connected to the gallery – and includes a new site-specific Wedgework (where light is used to create the illusion of a solid wall). Also on display are a number of photographs and works on paper revealing more about the processes behind Turrell’s installations, as well as the construction of his massive Roden Crater project, a much-anticipated land art piece in the Arizona desert.
Eleanor Antin: A Retrospective at Mudam, Luxembourg: September 26, 2025 – February 8, 2026
In Luxembourg, Mudam will soon host the very first European retrospective of the New York feminist artist Eleanor Antin – one of the key figures to have emerged from the conceptual art movements of the 70s. Antin’s multidisciplinary practice spans performance, photography, film, text, installation and drawing, frequently combining the personal and the historical to explore questions of identity and politics. For instance, she often adopts alter egos – like The King, The Ballerina, The Nurse – who reappear across different projects, “subverting the forces behind societal roles and outdated narratives”. Long overdue, the Mudam show will demonstrate the continued influence of Antin’s work, from the late 60s until today.
Stan Douglas at Victoria Miro, London: September 26 – November 1, 2025
At Victoria Miro, check out the European premiere of Birth of a Nation, a new multi-channel video installation by celebrated Canadian artist Stan Douglas, which will be screened alongside works from his recent photo series, The Enemy of All Mankind: Nine Scenes from John Gay’s Polly. Since the late 1980s, Douglas’ work has examined “complex intersections of narrative, fact and fiction while simultaneously scrutinising the media he employs”, drawing our attention to the ways in which technology has skewed our relationship to reality. And these latest offerings are no exception. Titled after DW Griffith’s technically groundbreaking but deeply racist film of the same name, Birth of a Nation confronts the white supremacist viewpoint of the 1915 original, reimagining one of its narrative strands from multiple perspectives across five screens.
Sasha Gordon: Haze at David Zwirner, New York: September 10–October 18, 2025
New York-based painter Sasha Gordon makes paintings that are at once hyper-realistic and strangely surreal: whether turning her protagonists (most often rendered in her own likeness) a fiery red, or presenting them in uncanny scenarios (chopping their toenails in a park, for instance, while a mushroom cloud looms menacingly in the distance). Later this month, Gordon will enjoy her first solo show with David Zwirner at the gallery’s 533 West 19th Street space, where she will debut a new cycle of paintings that “experiment with storytelling as they uncover the origin myth of her narrative worlds”.
Opening to coincide with Berlin Art Week, the Julia Stoschek Foundation will soon present a major solo exhibition by British artist Mark Leckey, who for nearly three decades has been “tracking how contemporary media shape our perception, memory, and desire” through video, sculpture and sound. Enter Thru Medieval Wounds will bring together more than 40 artworks, spanning early video works like Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999), Leckey’s seminal investigation into British rave culture, and the Turner-Prize-winning Cinema-in-the-Round (2006–08), through more recent pieces, offering one of the most comprehensive overviews of the artist’s work to date.
Virgil Abloh: The Codes at the Grand Palais, Paris: September 30 – October 10, 2025
An exhibition at Paris’ Grand Palais will uphold the memory of Virgil Abloh, almost four years after the designer’s passing, immersing viewers once again in his singular world. Opening during Paris Fashion Week and made up of some 20,000 archival pieces, including prototypes, sketches, objects, images and creations from the US designer’s personal collections, the show will trace almost two decades’ worth of creation. Its aim is to spotlight Abloh’s design principles, codes that crop up again and again across his multidisciplinary output – from his signature motifs (quotation marks, zip-ties, barricade tape et al) to his remarkable focus on storytelling, innovation and collaboration.
September is full of exciting live productions to look forward to, starting with Romans: A Novel, the anticipated new play from award-winning playwright Alice Birch, premiering at the Almeida from September 9–October 11. Described as a “monumental, kaleidoscopic portrait of masculinity from the nineteenth century to the present day”, it looks set to be a scorcher. At The Bush until November 1, don’t miss Not Your Superwoman by Emma Dennis-Edwards. Starring Golda Rosheuvel and Letitia Wright as a mother and daughter mourning the loss of their matriarch, it is a stirring meditation on grief and motherhood, legacy and resilience. Brendan Gleeson will take to the stage at The Harold Pinter Theatre in a new production of Conor McPherson’s breakout play The Weir, directed by McPherson himself for the very first time. A striking ode to the power of storytelling, it sees the everyday chitter-chatter of four locals in a remote Irish pub interrupted by the arrival of a woman named Valerie, whose deeply personal story leaves a profound mark.
Dance aficionados, book your tickets to see Flemish-Moroccan choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s visually enticing ode to his Flemish roots, Vlaemsch (Chez Moi), at Sadler’s Wells from September 18–20. Performed alongside members of Cherkaoui’s Antwerp-based dance company Eastman, the production takes its inspiration from the culturally rich world of 15th-century Flanders, as evoked so vividly in the works of the Flemish grand masters. A brand new staging of Tosca, Puccini’s tragic tale of passion, is coming to the Royal Opera House from September 11–October 7, directed by Oliver Mears. Set in war-torn Rome, it follows its titular heroine, the celebrated singer Floria Tosca, in her desperate attempts to save her republican lover, the painter Cavaradossi, from the city’s corrupt chief of police.
Last but not least, there’s In Dreams – David Lynch Revisited, a unique opportunity to experience the inimitable music that soundtracks the Lynchian universe, reimagined by composer and musical director David Coulter. Taking place at the Southbank Centre on September 21, and performed by an ensemble of musicians and singers including Anna Calvi, Mick Harvey and Conor O’Brien, prepare to be transported to the uncanny worlds of Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive and beyond.
September is full of great reasons to head to the cinema. First up: The Man In My Basement, the feature debut from Sudanese theatremaker Nadia Latif. Based on the horror novel of the same name by Walter Mosley, who co-wrote the screenplay alongside Latif, it follows an out-of-work African American man living in Sag Harbor whose money worries look set to be solved by an offer from a mysterious white businessman. All he has to do is let out his basement to this stranger, but of course, nothing is ever as simple as it seems. German filmmaker Jan-Ole Gerster’s sun-drenched psychological drama Islands follows an apathetic tennis coach at a luxury Canary Islands hotel, who finds himself entangled with a married couple holidaying at the resort – one of whom will soon go missing. Powerful and poignant, Deaf by Spanish writer-director Eva Libertad tells the story of Ángela, a deaf woman, and her hearing partner, Héctor, as they become parents for the first time. Discovering they will have to wait until their daughter is a few months old to find out whether she can hear, Ángela must come to terms with raising a child who may not share her experience of the world.
Directed by Chinese filmmaker Bizhan Tong, Tape is a decidedly stylish remake of Richard Linklater‘s psychological drama of the same title – this time set in modern-day Hong Kong – and is executive produced by Linklater himself. Taking place over the course of a single evening, it sees three high-school friends reunite 15 years after their graduation. Secrets and suppressed memories soon bubble to the surface, prompting a difficult confrontation with their past. The echoes of Linklater likewise reverberate in Girls & Boys, a stirring romantic comedy by Irish writer, director and editor Donncha Gilmore, with Before Sunrise energy. Its protagonists are two students at Trinity College Dublin: Charlie, a trans aspiring filmmaker, and Jace, a rugby-playing business major, whose paths cross one Halloween. Another feature-length debut from an acclaimed theatremaker, Brides, by Young Vic artistic director Nadia Fall, is a must-watch. In it, two British teenage girls with turbulent home lives devise a dangerous plan to travel to Syria in search of “freedom, friendship, and belonging”.
This month’s must-see documentaries, meanwhile, include The Librarians, Kim A Snyder’s compelling film centred on heroic librarians in Texas, Florida and beyond – America’s “unlikely defenders of democracy” as an unprecedented wave of book banning grips their states. Ellis Park, from filmmaker Justin Kurzel, follows Australian musician and Bad Seeds member Warren Ellis as he pays a visit to his childhood home in Ballarat, Victoria before heading to the Indonesian island of Sumatra for the opening of the film’s eponymous wildlife sanctuary, which he founded. Interweaving the musician’s personal journey of healing with the story of the sanctuary – where a dedicated team works tirelessly to rehabilitate trafficked animals – it makes for particularly poignant viewing. In From Ground Zero: Stories From Gaza, Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi calls on Palestinian filmmakers living in Gaza to document their own lives and stories, resulting in a tapestry of 22 shorts, spanning documentary, fiction, animation and experimental film, that offer a vital and contextualising look beyond the headlines.
September’s tempting new culinary experiences include Labombe by Trivet, arriving on September 16 at COMO Metropolitan London on Old Park Lane. Described as “the playful younger sibling” of Jonny Lake and Isa Bal’s two Michelin-starred Bermondsey restaurant, Trivet – where Labombe first originated as a weekly pop-up – the duo’s latest venture is a celebration of expertly curated wine and thoughtfully crafted food, paired to perfection. Dreamed up in collaboration with head chef Evan Moore (formerly of The Fat Duck), the menu will be made up of European-style snacks and small plates showcasing experimental flavours and combinations. Think: gurnard crudo with orange ponzu, anchovy garum and olive oil, and grilled monkfish with braised cocoa beans, vinegared chicken sauce and green peppercorns.
A chance to sample sumptuous Sri Lankan street food is coming our way, courtesy of Adoh!, opening in Soho on September 8. The brainchild of Eroshan and Aushi Meewella (of Kolamba), Adoh draws its inspiration from Sri Lanka’s colourful roadside eateries, its menu comprising of “comforting favourites, designed for quick, hearty eating”. Key offerings will include kothu – chopped roti, vegetables and eggs, tossed together on a grill and finished with curry sauce – which will be available in four mouthwatering iterations: crab, chicken, mutton and jackfruit, and vadai, savoury lentil donuts served with chutneys. Yum.
Landing at Somerset House this September, Aram is a new cafe, deli and restaurant co-founded by Imad Alarnab (of Imad’s Syrian Kitchen). There guests can take their pick from ridiculously tasty baked goods, salads, breakfasts and lunches from across the Eastern Mediterranean. Expect such delicacies as za’atar croissants, halva brownies, roasted aubergine salad and labneh with poached eggs, inspired by Syria, Turkey, Cyprus and Jordan. This is a celebration of flavour, culture and connection.
A new Thai restaurant has arrived in Soho, and its dishes are delicious. Platapian on Greek Street brings Thai culinary heritage and forgotten family recipes to the fore, delivering plates that reflect Thailand’s diverse regional influences – “from the bold, fiery flavours of the south to the delicate, aromatic dishes from the north”. Conceived for sharing Platapian’s menu centres around small bites (like kaffir lime and okra fritters) and signature mains (like tiger prawn with “pla” chilli sauce and lemongrass or beef short ribs in five-spice “paloh”), rounded off by pleasing puddings including pandan crème brûlée with coconut milk ice cream.
Starting this month and running through to the start of November, The Aubrey at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hyde Park is launching its first guest series, Youkoso, spotlighting exceptional women in cooking. Each chef will present a multi-course menu influenced by their personal history and cultural traditions, starting with The Rangoon Sisters, who will recreate the magic of their sell-out east London supper clubs on September 8 and 9. Diners can anticipate “spice, warmth and heart” as the duo reimagine their home-style Burmese cooking for The Aubrey’s izakaya setting.
Finally, for those seeking a seaside sojourn supplemented by truly tantalising fare, make your way to Hove, where Brazilian-Italian chef Rafael Cagali will open Marea later this month. The menu will be carefully concocted around seasonal produce, influenced by the surrounding East Sussex landscape, modern Italian cooking and South American cuisine. No specific dishes have been named as yet, but we know that they will range from hot and cold small plates through mains, sharing platters and desserts, all reflective of Cagali’s unique culinary background at such esteemed eateries as Quique Dacosta’s three Michelin-starred restaurant in Denia, Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck, and east London’s two-Michelin starred Da Terra. Bon appétit!
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