28 June, 2023
Tree house
Each summer, in the sylvan heart of Hyde Park, the Serpentine Gallery commissions a temporary pavilion from one of the world's coolest architects, with past participants including Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel and Peter Zumthor. This year's airy wood-framed structure has been designed by the French-Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh, inspired by the trees of Hyde Park and the ritual of eating together. Entitled 'À table', it includes a communal table around its perimeter, and offers Mediterranean-style dishes in its adjoining cafe.
Child’s play
After a multi-million-pound, seven-year-long refurbishment, the former Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green reopens on 1 July under its new name, Young V&A - just in time for the school holidays. Its huge and fascinating collection of toys, games and other objects designed for children dates from the 16th century to the present day, and in its bright, shiny new surroundings youngsters (and adults!) are encouraged to explore, play and get creative; it's the perfect place for a family outing.
Dress circle
La Cage aux Folles has been delighting audiences for decades with its delirious mix of camp and comedy, and the chaos that ensues when a young man brings his fiancée and her uptight parents to meet his father, who runs a gay nightclub with his cross-dressing partner. This revival of Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein's madcap musical runs from 29 July to 16 September at the open-air Regent's Park Theatre, which is surely one of London's most alluring venues.
Hero worship
Tucked away in a quiet corner near St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London, Postman's Park is easy to miss, but it contains one of London's most remarkable monuments. Created by the successful Victorian painter George Frederick Watts, the Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice commemorates around 50 ordinary people who saved their fellow citizens from accidents, often at a fatal cost to their own lives. Its dramatic stories are fascinating, moving and occasionally tragi-comic, and well worth seeking out.