The cultural highlights of 2020...
Exhibitions
David Hockney: Drawing from Life National Portrait Gallery, London WC2
The first major exhibition of Hockney’s drawings for 20 years, this show will examine his draughtsmanship from the 1950s to the present, focusing on his self-portraits and his depictions of five people – including his mother and his muse, the designer Celia Birtwell, who often sat for him over the years. 27 February to 28 June, booking now.
Young Rembrandt
The Ashmolean, Oxford
Exploring the first ten years of the Dutch master’s career, this exhibition features Rembrandt’s earliest known works – the prints, paintings and drawings he made in his native Leiden in the 1620s, before he burst to stardom in Amsterdam. 27 February to 7 June, booking now.
Andy Warhol Tate Modern,
London SE1
Thirty years on from his death, Andy Warhol’s commentary on consumerism and celebrity culture remains as pertinent as ever. This major show will feature rarely seen paintings from the 1970s, as well as Warhol’s famous screen-prints, including his Campbell’s soup cans. Visitors will be able to interact with his Silver
Clouds helium balloons, and experience the Exploding
Plastic Inevitable, first staged with the Velvet Underground and Nico in 1966. 12 March to 6 September, booking now.
Artemisia The National Gallery, London WC2
Artemisia Gentileschi was the most celebrated female painter of the 17th century, a follower of Caravaggio, and the first woman to be admitted to the artists’ academy in Florence. Some 35 of her works from public and private collections around the world will be on show in the Sainsbury Wing, to give a selective overview of her career. 4 April to 26 July.
Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Known as the grandfather of stop-motion animation, Harryhausen was a special effects genius who inspired a generation of film-makers, from Tim Burton to George Lucas. On show will be his vast collection of models and sketches, as well as archive footage, for the largest exhibition of his work ever seen. 23 May to 25 October.
Don McCullin Tate Liverpool
This retrospective of work by the celebrated photographer, a hit at Tate Britain, will feature McCullin’s images of war and conflict; and his searing, and often moving, documentary photographs of working-class communities in Britain, in the 1960s and 1970s, with a new section devoted to Liverpool. 5 June to 27 September, booking now.
Sheila Hicks The Hepworth Wakefield Gallery, Yorkshire
The 85-year-old American textile artist began her career as a painter, and is now revered for the way she translates elements of abstraction and colour theory into thread. With more than 70 pieces, this exhibition promises to explore the many facets of her groundbreaking work.
24 June to 7 October.
Marina Abramovic Royal Academy of Arts, London W1
Marina Abramovic is coming to London for this new major show. It will include videos, photographs, new pieces and re-performances – and it’s likely to be a sensation. When she performed The Artist is
Present in New York in 2010, thousands queued for hours to sit opposite her, as she stared into their eyes. 26 September
to 8 December.
Theatre
The Welkin Lyttelton, National Theatre, London SE1
In 1759, as the country awaits Halley’s comet, a young woman in Suffolk is sentenced to hang for murder. When she claims to be pregnant, 12 matrons are summoned to decide if she’s telling the truth, or just trying to escape the noose. Maxine Peake will star in this hotly anticipated new play by Lucy Kirkwood.
15 January to 23 May.
Leopoldstadt Wyndham’s Theatre, London WC2
Tom Stoppard’s first play in five years, directed by Patrick Marber, is set in Vienna in 1900, three decades before the Third Reich. The city fizzed with intellectual life, and thousands of Jews, victims of pogroms in Russia, had found sanctuary in one of its slums – Leopoldstadt. For the 82-yearold playwright, whose grandparents were all killed in the Holocaust, the play is more personal than usual.
25 January to 13 June.
Endgame The Old Vic, London SE1
Daniel Radcliffe is returning to the London stage to star opposite Alan Cumming in Samuel Beckett’s one-act tragicomedy. It is in a
double bill with the rarely
staged Rough for Theatre II. 27 January to 28 March.
Welcome to Iran
Theatre Royal Stratford East, London E15
Based on real-life testimonials, Nadia Fall’s play is about a young Londoner who travels to Iran following the death of her father, in search of his past and her extended family.
18 April to 16 May.
A Little Night Music
Leeds Playhouse
This new production of Stephen Sondheim’s witty and romantic musical, about chance encounters and mismatched lovers, is being staged in collaboration with Opera North. 9 May to 6 June.
Sondheim and James Lapine’s well-loved musical was a huge hit on Broadway, and tickets for its London run are going fast. Set in Paris in 1884, it follows Georges Seurat (Jake Gyllenhaal), as he works on his pointillist masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. 11 June to 5 September.
Carousel/101 Dalmatians
Regent’s Park Theatre, London NW1
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s classic musical, and a new musical based on Dodie Smith’s beloved book – which was partly set in the park – are the highlights of the open-air theatre’s ever popular summer season. See openairtheatre.com for dates and information.
Wuthering Heights Lyttelton, National Theatre, London SE1
Emma Rice’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel is likely to be a hot ticket this autumn. A co-production with York Theatre Royal, it will open in London, before going on tour across the UK. Autumn 2020.
Music, Dance and Opera
The Red Shoes Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London EC1
This revival of Matthew Bourne’s sumptuous adaptation, based on the Powell and Pressburger film, is in London until 19 January, and then touring until June. For details, visit newadventures.net/the-red-shoes
Northern Ballet, 50th Anniversary
The company has a packed programme to mark its 50th anniversary in 2020. The year kicks off with a one-night extravaganza on 4 January at the Leeds Grand Theatre, where guest dancers from around the world will perform excerpts from the company’s repertoire. Visit northernballet. com/50years.
Beethoven 250 Venues across the country
The 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth falls in 2020, and it is being marked at venues across the country. The Barbican in London has an extensive programme of events, featuring the likes of Sir Simon Rattle, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Sir András Schiff. In Cardiff, the celebrations include a recreation in St David’s Hall (on 19 January) of Beethoven’s epic 1808 concert at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien.
Don Quixote Birmingham Royal Ballet, Birmingham Hippodrome
The Cuban superstar Carlos Acosta takes charge at Birmingham in 2020, and in June, he is staging his own version of Don Quixote, based on Marius Petipa’s choreography, with music by Ludwig Minkus. 19-27 June.
Swan Lake in the Round Royal Albert Hall, London SW7
Featuring no fewer than 60 swans, Derek Deane’s production for English National Ballet caused a sensation when it was first performed in 1997, and has been seen by half a million people since. 17-28 June.
The Life & Death of Alexander Litvinenko
Grange Park Opera, Surrey
Anthony Bolton’s new opera, about the polonium poisoning of the Putin critic in 2006, is having its world premier at Grange Park. With a libretto by Kit Hesketh-Harvey, and conducted by Stephen Barlow, it makes extensive use of historic film footage.
16-18 July.
The Rake’s Progress
Glyndebourne, East Sussex
John Cox’s 1975 production of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s
Progress is returning to Glyndebourne for the first time in a decade, with David Hockney’s much-loved sets.
13-30 August.
Film
No Time to Die
The much-anticipated 25th Bond outing – co-written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and the last featuring Daniel Craig as 007 – opens on 3 April.
Woman in the Window
Joe Wright directs this mysterythriller, about a psychologist who sees something she shouldn’t. It stars Amy Adams and Gary Oldman, and is scheduled for release in May.
Tenet
Christopher Nolan’s film, expected in July, is described as an “action epic” set in the world of international espionage. Filmed all over Europe, it has an all-star cast that includes Michael Caine and Kenneth Branagh.
Bill & Ted Face the Music
Nearly 30 years after they last appeared on screen, the hapless duo (Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter) are back – now middle-aged, but as immature as ever. Set for release on 21 August.
Last Night in Soho
Said to be inspired by Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, director Edgar Wright’s film is a psychological horror set in London. Set for release on 18 September.