Archduke play at the Royal Court: A fascinating comedy about radicalisation June 30, 2026 Archduke | Royal Court | ★★★★☆ I’m not sure what I expected from this play about the days preceding the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand – the event credited with starting the First World War – but it wasn’t a comedy of errors whose influences run the gamut from Withnail and I to Chris [...]
The Misanthrope at the National Theatre: Sandra Oh shines in a play that flatters to deceive June 30, 2026 The Misanthrope | National Theatre (Lyttelton) | ★★★☆☆ True to its name, this new version of The Misanthrope is a difficult play to love. Mercilessly updated from Moliere’s 17th-century comedy of manners by the mercurial Martin Crimp, it’s a jagged diatribe against… well everything. The literary world, the privileged, the young and the old, the [...]
Could The Billingsgate Roman Bathhouse win a Toast award? June 26, 2026 We’re celebrating all the places that make the Square Mile great with our Toast the City Awards. This week we sent David Harry – AKA The London Spy – to report on the amazing Billingsgate Roman Bathhouse lurking beneath an office block Underneath 101 Lower Thames Street, a nondescript 1960s office block, hides one of [...]
Pride musical at the National Theatre review: I’ve never seen so many people in tears June 26, 2026 Pride musical at the National Theatre review: ★★★★ Could there be a story more ready-made for a musical than the tale of the unlikely partnership between the gays and the Welsh miners? Based on the true, incredible account of the miner strikes of 1984 and 1985, and following the brilliant 2014 film of the same [...]
I recreated all my favourite TV tropes, from crawling through pipes to being two kids in a trenchcoat June 26, 2026 TV tropes told Amelia Tait that life would be spent crawling through ventilation shafts and avoiding quicksand. The reality was very different… until now When I was old enough to know better but young enough for it to still be an excuse, I used to try and run through walls like Wile E. Coyote. I [...]
KSI on buying a football club, the manosphere and quitting alcohol June 25, 2026 KSI is pumped. We’re midway through a photoshoot at Dagenham & Redbridge football club and he’s standing in the centre circle, fists balled, roaring in mock ecstasy. This slightly shabby stadium is an incongruous place to meet one of the UK’s most successful content creators; the walk from the station takes you through one of [...]
London Indian Film Festival Returns with Star-Studded 2026 Programme Led by Aamir Khan June 25, 2026 London, United Kingdom – July 2026 – The London Indian Film Festival (LIFF), Europe’s largest South Asian film festival, returns for its 17th edition this July with an expanded UK-wide programme led by Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan and a special Goodness Gracious Me reunion, alongside UK premieres and industry events across five cities. The London [...]
City festival with comedy and line dancing arrives in Square Mile June 24, 2026 Line dancing, comedy and a panel discussion entitled “Shit I’m in my 30’s: What’s the plan for retirement?” are some of the events taking place at the Leadenhall Building this summer, as the annual Leadenhall Live festival returns. Running 23 June – 16 July, the festival programmes more than 30 events over the course of [...]
Glengarry Glen Ross at the Old Vic fails to close June 22, 2026 Glengarry Glen Ross | Old Vic | ★★☆☆☆ David Mamet’s transformation from perhaps the most original and insightful American playwright of the late 20th century to a flag-waving, MAGA-supporting, anti-woke motormouth is… troubling. As a Mamet-head, this must be what it’s like for Trump supporters trying to enjoy 90 per cent of popular culture. It’s [...]
SET Ceramics nominated for Best Newcomer Toast award June 19, 2026 We have launched the Toast the City awards 2026 and throughout the year we’ll be speaking to some of the nominees – this week it’s the team at SET Ceramics. To nominate your favourite Square Mile spots for the 2026 awards, from bars and restaurants to galleries and green spaces, visit the Toast the City website [...]