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* British playwright Caryl Churchill has withdrawn a play from the Donmar Warehouse in protest over the theatre’s support from Barclays, accused of providinmg financial support to nine arms companies supplying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

Thursday 7 August

* Youssef Rakha on The Dissenters, the Egyptian author talks about his latest revelatory and revolutionary novel, 6.30pm and then available online for two weeks, £0-£.99. Info: FANE

Thursday 7 - Sunday 10 August

* Together With Refugees Welcome Weekend. Info: Together With Refugees

Monday 11 August

* Anti-fascism and Anti-racism in 1970's Britain and Beyond, interactive online workshop 12-1pm, online. Info: Wiener Holocaust Library

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

* Earth Photo 2025, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. until 20 August. Info: RGS

* 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

* 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

* 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

* Wellcome Photography Prize, top 25 entries from categories including health problems in South Africa and climate change, free, WednesdaysSaturdays, Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, NW1 1AT until 18 October. Info: Exhibition

* More Than Human, how design can help the planet thrive by shifting its focus beyond human needs, £14.38
students £5, Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street W8 6AG, until 5 October. Info; Design Museum

* Virtual Beauty, exploring the impact of digital culture and technologies on traditional definitions of beauty, pay what you can, Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA until 28 September. Info: Somerset House

* Imaging Peace, outdoor exhibition featuring global community peace photography projects, part of ‘Lost & Found: Stories of sanctuary and belonging’, a free programme of arts and ideas at King’s College, Strand,
WC2R 2LS. Info: Peace exhibition;

ARTS OPPORTUNITIES

* Black Cultural Archives is looking for 13 ,more members to develop skills, explore culture, and shape the future of the heritage sector. Information here for information and an application form. 

* If you are a first or second-generation migrant, an asylum seeker, refugee, international student or international worker who has lived or currently lives in the UK, you are eligible to enter the Then & Now’ writing competition focussing on your or your family’s migration story. Details here.

* 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.

* Theatro Technis and Hyphen Artist Collectives 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

* 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

* What Does That Nature Say To You, a Korean poet drops off his girlfriend at her house, intending to look around the front yard and then leave, but he runs into her father, and ends up spending the entire day with the family., ICA, The Mall until 7 August

* Under the Flags, the Sun, uses long-forgotten archive footage to examine Alfredo Stroessner’s dictatorship in Panama, Curzon Bloomsbury until 7 August

* Rising Up At Night, Kinshasa, D R Congo's capital city of 17 million people, is plunged into darkness and insecurity as its inhabitants struggle to access light, Curzon Bloomsbury + 9, 12 August

+ ‘Kinshasa does not fall sleep, it is in perpetual resilience’

* A State of Passion, powerful account of a British-Palestinian surgeon who has become a vital witness to the devastation wreaked by Israel’s bombing of Gaza, Curzon Bloomsbury until 13 August

Sunday 10 August

* Carandiru, Drauzio Varella, a doctor, is treating prisoners in an overcrowded prison in Brazil. While doing so, he learns about their stories, 4.30pm, Lexi, part of Brazilian Summer Nights season + 14 August

Tuesday 12 August

* London Boys, behind the loud and intimidating motorcycles of the "Bangladeshi Bad Boys" is a group of second-generation Bangladeshi men who find in their bikes a sense of identity and a way to overcome racism + + post-screening Q&A/music, 6.30pm, £13.75, Castle Cinema

Saturday 16 August

* 2046, Wong Kar-wai's visionary follow-up to In the Mood for Love. The screening explores how futuristic aesthetics and themes of displacement resonate with contemporary Asian diasporic experiences, 3.30pm, Garden cinema

PERFORMANCE

* The Estate, the opposition leader has been forced to resign in a scandal. Against the odds Angad Singh emerges as the favourite - if his sisters keep their mouths shut, in Shaan Sahota’s debut play, National Theatre, South Bank SE1 9PX until 23 August. Info: National

* The Camden Fringe, over 400 shows, the London alternative to the Edinburgh Fringe. Programme includes 10 August, Mustafa Algiyadi: Almost Legal Alien; 11-12 August, The White Lotus, reimagine Chinese theatre. Borough of Camden until  24 August. Info: https://camdenfringe.com

from Thursday 28 August

* The Trials, Southwark Playhouse Young Ensemble tackle a trial of the older generation for failing to deal with climate change, but are they delivering justice or just seeking revenge?, Southwark Playhouse, 77-85 Newington Causeway, SE1 6BD until 30 August. Info: Playhouse



TV and RADIO

Saturday 2 August

* Cairo Conspiracy, thriller about a power struggle over the election of a Grand Imam at Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, 9.30pm, BBC4

Sunday 3 August

* A Taste of Home, flavours  and snacks for divided families from China, India, The Philippines and Ireland, 7.15pm, Radio4

Monday 4 August

* Panorama: Why I Joined A Riot, a look back at Southport riots, 8pm, BBC1         

* The Nazi Cartel, Bolivia and cocaine in the 1980s, 9pm, Sky Documentaries

* En-Gulfed, series about the global impact of Gulf money, 11am, Radio4

Wednesday 6 August

* Tribe, the Adi people in the Himalayas,  9pm, BBC4

* Becoming Njambi, Kenya-born comedian Njambi McGrath traces the roots  of her upbringing and the British influences that shaped her life,  11.15pm, Radio4

Friday 8 August

* The Food Programme, Britain’s local Polish shops, 11am, Radio4

* Central Intelligence, drama series about the CIA, 2.15pm, Radio4

* Short Works: The Market Photographer, by Kamand Kojouri, 3.45pm, Radio4