Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
London bubbles with top-notch entertainment seven days a week: plays, movies, concerts,
exhibitions, walking tours, shopping, and children's activities.
For the best list of what's happening and a look at the latest London scene, check
www.timeout.com/london
. (Unfortunately, the once-dominant print version of
Time Out
London
, though free, is paltry and hard to find.) The free monthly
London Planner
covers
sights, events, and plays, though generally not as well as
Time Out
does.
Choose from classical, jazz, rock, and far-out music, Gilbert and Sullivan, tango les-
sons, comedy, Baha'i meetings, poetry readings, spectator sports, theater, and the cinema.
In Leicester Square, you might be able to catch a film that has yet to be released in the
States—if Colin Firth is attending an opening-night premiere in London, it will likely be
at one of the big movie houses here.
There are plenty of free performances, such as lunch concerts at St. Martin-in-the-
Fields (at Trafalgar Square) and summertime events at The Scoop amphitheater near City
Hall (see “Summer Evenings Along the South Bank,” later).
London's theater scene rivals Broadway's in quality and sometimes beats it in price.
Choose from 200 offerings—Shakespeare, musicals, comedies, thrillers, sex farces,
cutting-edge fringe, revivals starring movie celebs, and more. London does it all well.
Seating Terminology:
Just like at home, London's theaters sell seats in a range of
levels—but the Brits use different terms: stalls (ground floor), dress circle (first balcony),
upper circle (second balcony), balcony (sky-high third balcony), and slips (cheap seats on
the fringes). For floor plans of the various theaters, see
www.theatremonkey.com
.
Nearly all big-name shows are hosted in the commercial (nonsubsidized) theaters of the
West End, clustering around Soho (especially along Shaftesbury Avenue) between Pic-
