Ghostbusters at the Imax, The Lambeth Country Show and the world’s first VR play: 11 things to do in London this weekend
1. Go to Barbican to see Ragnar Kjartansson
Art, Barbican Centre, 10.00-17.30, £12
A self-aware, light-hearted, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny show, and a rare chance to enjoy a master of performance art whose work has never before been collected in the UK.
2. And while you’re there, book tickets to see Needles and Opium
Theatre, Barbican Centre, Saturday 19.45, £30
This revival of a 1991 play by mercurial French Canadian theatre director Robert Lepage, staged in a giant revolving cube, is a hypnotic jazz-noir tribute to Miles Davis
3. Watch Ghostbusters
Imax Waterloo, 12.00, 15.00, 18.00, 21.00, £20
This gender-flipped remake of the 1984 classic has infuriated internet sexists everywhere, especially because it’s actually really great.
4. See Unreachable starring Matt Smith
Theatre, Royal Court, Saturday 14.30, 19.30, from £12
This examination of tortured artists and overblown filmmakers is sure to remind you of the more dramatic people on your Instagram feed.
5. Take in the Raqib Shaw show
White Cube Bermondsey, Saturday 10.00-18.00, Sunday 12pm-6pm, free
Raqib Shaw’s latest work riffs on the Old Masters, transforming familiar religious scenes into trippy, skeleton-filled tableaux that subvert the original context, taking inspiration from, among other things, his Peckham studio and his native Kashmir. Big, bold and irreverent, this ain’t one for the purists.
6. See the world’s first virtual realist playwright
RADA Studios, Saturday 18.00, 19.00, 20.00, 21.00, £15
This debut feature from Breaking Fourth combines elements of video game storytelling with both traditional and immersive theatre – it’s a thrilling collision of two mediums that seem destined to share a common future.
7. Watch Richard O’Brien’s follow-up to The Rocky Horror Picture Show
St James Theatre, Saturday, 17.00, 20.30, from £25
The Stripper, a who dunnit musical, gets a revival at the St James Theatre
8. Bother the owls at the Lambeth Country Show
Brockwell Park, Saturday and Sunday, 12.00-20.00, free entry
Drink suspiciously packaged cider before taking in a sheep shearing contest at this year’s Lambeth Country Show, which features not only the fine rural arts of jousting and vegetable sculpture, but hands-on experiences with real owls.
9. Eat the amazing new food offering at Oval Space Terrace
Oval Space, The Oval, Saturday and Sunday 12.00-23.00
Chef Oded Oren rustles up a host of excellent summer-time dishes, with a big emphasis on vegetarian food, as well as excellent grilled fish and lamb. Oren’s food is big on flavour but light enough to have a dance to Oval Space’s DJs as evening turns to night.
10. Buy some tat and a burger at Embankment Summer Market
Victoria Embankment Gardens, Saturday and Sunday, from 12.00, free
Delicious street food and stalls selling everything from homeware to jewellery will congregate near Embankment underground this weekend.
11. Experience the life of a medieval wood turner at Canada Community Fair
Guildhall Yard, Saturday, 12.00-16.00, free
Bet you don’t know how they turned wood in medieval times. Need a clue? They used a traditional pole lathe. To find out more and to visit recreations of Ancient Rome, Tudor England and the Great Fire of London, come on down to the hottest ticket in town: Canada Community Fair. Don’t miss the special guest appearance by Charlie Dimmock.