The spectacular (and spectacularly successful) Andrew Lloyd Webber musical settles into Etihad Arena for two consecutive long weekends. Look for decent songs, great choreography and staging, and a well-paced plot (not always the case with musicals ...) Friday/Saturday prices start [ ... ]
The UAE National Orchestra's first family concert promises to take us "into a world where music becomes story, and imagination takes centre stage". It looks a well-constructed programme: Part 1: Introduction to Music Children are invited to explore what music is [ ... ]
First of two consecutive nights at the Radisson for the Laughter Factory's May tour – note the earlier-than-usual start: Rory O'Hanlon as Irish as his name suggest: described by Chortle as having “presence, poise and timing”, he's famous for his [ ... ]
Maktaba is 421's monthly gathering dedicated to collective reading, viewing, and discussion across disciplines. For this second iteration, multidisciplinary and performance artist Yoonsik Chico Park leads a dialogue around performance studies: together, participants will "examine, synthesise, and speculate the alternative [ ... ]
Set in 1950s Baghdad, this highly-rated film follows a schoolteacher who moves his family to a modest new neighbourhood after being forced to leave their former home. As tensions with a neighbour escalate from childhood disputes into open conflict, Said [ ... ]
"A playful, interactive experience where style meets reflection, connection, and a whole lot of fun ..." It all hangs on the Shift Happens cards, which encourage you to explore your wardrobe and fashion preferences with dares, truths, and prompts that [ ... ]
The Junction's comedy-plus-improv evening features two top Dubai standups, Viswajit Dilip and Luca Cupani; then there's live improv with Adi Thomas and his troupe. "Expect an evening of laughter, surprises, and pure comedic energy ..."
A group exhibition that reflects on continuity, resilience, and quiet optimism at a time when the world can feel uncertain. Says the gallery: "All at Once speaks to the coexistence of multiple realities – personal and shared, fleeting and enduring, [ ... ]
This first solo exhibition by the Emirati artist explores memory, loss, and the passing of time, inviting reflection on how personal and inherited experiences leave their mark on who we are. She uses photography as her primary means of documentation, [ ... ]
Art Dubai’s rescheduled 2026 incarnation has a basic shape as before – a fair with Contemporary, Modern and Digital gallery sections – but there are some significant changes. For a start, of course, there are many fewer commercial galleries involved: [ ... ]
Winner of the Grand Prix at the Festival de Cannes, followed by the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film and BAFTA recognition, this is something of a masterpiece from Trier: the Rotten Tomatoes summary is to the point – [ ... ]
A second night at the Radisson for the Laughter Factory's May tour: Rory O'Hanlon as Irish as his name suggest: described by Chortle as having “presence, poise and timing”, he's famous for his rapid-fire delivery and the sheer quantity of [ ... ]
The semi finals weekend of the festival of 10-minute plays, today being for the People's Choices. The best playlets will return to compete for the top prizes on the Gala Weekend, 23-24 May. Times, dates, prices: 3.00-5.00pm 16 May AED [ ... ]
The semi finals weekend of the festival of 10-minute plays, today being for the Judge's Choices. The best playlets will return to compete for the top prizes on the Gala Weekend, 23-24 May. Times, dates, prices: 3.00-5.00pm 17 May AED 150 [ ... ]
Otieno’s first solo presentation with Efie centres on her signature transformation of reclaimed and distressed materials. Working across wood, metal, and mixed media, her semi-abstract forms explore layered narratives of history, memory, human interaction, and environmental survival.
Safwan Dahoul’s most recent body of work continues his Dream series – an ongoing body of work investigating the dream state that he began back in the late 1980s, exploring "the physical and psychological effects of alienation, solitude, and longing [ ... ]
A summer-long group show for Luke Agada, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Ludovic Nkoth, and Naila Opiangah, curated by Brice Arsène Yonkeu – whose curatorial statement defines the show as "an encounter with works on paper and paintings that move between visibility and [ ... ]
More than 70 artworks for 43 artists, included those who responded to an open call – "a bold exploration of contemporary collage art" says Kutubna, promising "work with paint, paper, textiles, photography, digital collage, and found materials to build layered [ ... ]
Writer and poet Balqees Alhawamdeh invites participants to explore poetry in an approachable and creative way by crafting a short poem as a visual composition using colour, collage, and form. It starts with a line from a poem or a [ ... ]
An absolutely stunning low-budget (and largely handmade) antidote to Disneyfication – a wordless animated fable about a cat reluctantly making friends with a dog, a ring-tailed lemur, a capybara and a secretary bird in a post-apocalyptic world. There's a strong [ ... ]
Mo Gawdat – entrepreneur, author, podcaster, software engineer, and one-time Google X exec – talks with former Sky News presenter Sally Lockwood. Expect a conversation exploring creativity, technology, optimism, and what it means to stay human in an increasingly artificial [ ... ]
The penultimate weekend for the Junction's short play festival: if you've been attending all performances, you could have seen something like 70 original 10-minute plays by now ... The strongest return to the stage to compete for the top honours [ ... ]
The penultimate weekend for the Junction's short play festival: if you've been attending all performances, you could have seen something like 70 original 10-minute plays by now ... The strongest return to the stage to compete for the top honours [ ... ]
The final gig for the Laughter Factory's May tour: Rory O'Hanlon as Irish as his name suggest: described by Chortle as having “presence, poise and timing”, he's famous for his rapid-fire delivery and the sheer quantity of jokes in his [ ... ]
A regular Mad Cat Comedy night – "Dubai's wildest comedy show on Saturday" at "the first purpose built comedy room in the country". The cover charge of AED 99 includes two F&B coupons.
Set in a Venetian boarding school for orphaned girls at the end of the 18th century, Gloria! tells the story of a group of talented young musicians who are determined to make music. There's a mischievous musical anachronism at the [ ... ]
Dubai comedy heavyweight Miqdaad Dohadwala (main man at Mad Cat Comedy) explores stand-up as a serious creative craft, has some practical advice to would-be comics, and offers thoughts about why Dubai’s comedy scene is so strong right now. This chat [ ... ]
An evening of the best-known arias and orchestral moments from Bizet's evergreen opera: "the concert brings to life the spirit, passion, and dramatic intensity that have made one of the most beloved operas in the world ... Performed as a [ ... ]
This free programme screens as part of the European Film Festival, organised by the Delegation of the European Union to the UAE in partnership with the Cultural Foundation Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah Art. The films: Guardians of the [ ... ]
This French comedy-drama, written as well as directed by Lilti, tells the story of Benjamin, a PhD student in need of money and under parental pressure. He becomes a substitute teacher in a surburban middle school but without any experience [ ... ]
Misunderstood by the world, 14-year-old Elvis searches for his place within a broken family and in a school where he's bullied. He wants to become an inventor, swears by comics, chemistry and Hana, the most beautiful girl in the school. [ ... ]
A satirical comedy of the near future: unemployed Max (Blanche Gardin) struggles to earn a living by selling stolen robot parts on the black market. But her latest ‘acquisition’, T-0, is too old for the fence; her 10-year-old daughter Paula [ ... ]
The Dubai-born French-Indonesian singer-songwriter is fluent in several languages, writes much of her own material, has performed for heads of state and royalty, earned praise from Shania Twain at the Forbes 30/50 Summit in Abu Dhabi, and was spotted by [ ... ]
Mad Cat’s standup team at their regular stop at the Easy Tiger bar in Abu Dhabi's Al Ain Palace. The door price of AED 99 includes two drinks ...
A group show of works by emerging, mid-career and established artists priced at $3,000 and below, conceived as an accessible entry into collecting "whether you’re just starting or looking to expand your collection with thoughtful additions". The artists: Ahmad Kasha [ ... ]
The global plastic crisis is dismantled and reassembled in a well-researched, cinematic film that not only points to the problems, but also to possible solutions ... This German film shows as part of the European Film Festival, organised by the [ ... ]
The first Somali film to be featured at the Cannes Film Festival (in 2024), The Village Next to Paradise tells the story of Mamargrade who is struggling to raise his son Cigaal in their rural Somali village amidst conflict, natural [ ... ]
The Courtyard's popular evening of elimination improv. Ten actors converge for a night of scenes, songs and games based on audience suggestions. After each round you score the players on a scale of 1 to 5, and the one with [ ... ]
The annual Faculty exhibition of the Academy of Visual Arts at the University of the Arts, Sharjah. The curator is Tor Seidel, filmmaker and lecturer in photography and video at the Academy, and his statement includes this summary of the show: [ ... ]
"This is not a talk, and it is not spectacle for spectacle’s sake. It is an intervention (or perhaps, a contemplation) inviting audiences to negotiate artists and their practices more critically and dynamically, to engage with them, and to enter [ ... ]
The Spirit of the Beehive director’s first feature in 30 years used a film-within-a-film structure to ruminate on memory, ageing and cinema itself. A famous Spanish actor, Julio Arenas, disappears while filming; although his body is never found, the police [ ... ]
A young cook runs away from home to pursue her dream of becoming a chef at a prestigious restaurant in the city – but when she stumbles upon a cookbook from 1929, authored by the legendary chef Olga Franko, her [ ... ]
Lebanese-born NYC-based comic, a regular at Gotham Comedy Club and Union Hall shows in Brooklyn when she's not touring – which she does a lot. This is a new show, touring around Europe and North America as well as this [ ... ]
The second weekend for the spectacular (and spectacularly successful) Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Look for decent songs, great choreography and staging, and a well-paced plot (not always the case with musicals ...) Friday/Saturday prices start at AED 160, Sunday it's [ ... ]
An animated adventure based on the 1999 children's novel by Michael Morpurgo. On a worldwide sailing trip with his family, young Michael and his dog are swept overboard during a storm in the Pacific. They wash ashore on a desert [ ... ]
Cutting-edge AI-driven therapy has revolutionised treatment for depression; but Alesia's subconscious embarks on a virtual journey where reality and fantasy intertwine, forcing her to confront past demons to reclaim her mental health ... This Romanian film shows as part of [ ... ]
Lev is an insecure boy who leads a dull life with restrictive parents. But then his cool, rebellious grandma shows up to sweep him away on an exciting adventure to discover his own superpowers. The film combines a great family-friendly;y [ ... ]
This dramatic thriller explores the themes of self-sacrifice, love, and toxic relationships. After her boyfriend Vytas experiences a psychotic episode and disappears, Maria is determined to find him; chasing down every clue about his whereabouts, she embarks on a fast-paced [ ... ]
This sports movie, inspired by real events from the 2019 para-hockey world championships, follows three men at crossroads in their lives: an advertising agency owner trying to save his family, a retiring coach whose sport faces extinction, and a promising [ ... ]
A mystery drama inspired by one of Malta’s most compelling unsolved crimes, the 1984 disappearance of a Caravaggio from St John’s Cathedral in Valletta. Priest Orpheus is woken by the police with the news that a priceless Caravaggio has been [ ... ]
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