The second night (of three) for Culture Emulsion's production of this sharp and mordant comedy about the ties that unite (and sometimes suffocate). With cutting precision and biting humor, Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri's play shows us an ordinary family: terribly [... more]
Dubomedy’s main man brings his new standup show to Sharjah (which doesn't get too many hits on the comedy circuit). Expect a masterclass in delivering standup in a club environment. The show is hosted by Mina Liccione with support from [... more]
The last shows in this run of Culture Emulsion's sharp and mordant comedy about the ties that unite (and sometimes suffocate). With cutting precision and biting humor, Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri's play shows us an ordinary family: terribly funny [... more]
Curated by Shafeena Yusuff Ali of the Rizq Art Initiative, this exhibition brings together contemporary ceramics by eight women artists based in the UAE – Nujoom Alghanem, Mirna Bamieh, Moza Al Falasi, Malavika, Parneet Pahwa, Zahra Shafie, Laiba Sherin, and [... more]
The fourth edition of SACC returns to Aljada from 22-25 October with more than 150 activities – masterclasses, workshops, seminars, talks and “hands-on experiences”. There are separate programmes for Animation and Comics, which rather begs the question of why the [... more]
421's writing seminar, led by Sarah Afaneh and designed for writers at any stage of their practice, explores the relationship between looking and writing, considering how an encounter with an artwork can translate into emotion, memory, and poetic response. With [... more]
The Fridge Open Mic is back on 22 October – Little Legends (ages 7–14) 6.30 to 7.30pm, then regular Open Mic (ages 15+) from 7.30 to 10pm. One song per performer … No charges for anyone, not even the audience.
The UAE National Orchestra continues its active schedule with a good-looking programme of contrasting music from three great Romantic composers – lively melodies from Rossini in the overture to The Barber of Seville, technical virtuosity and expressive range in Mendelssohn's [... more]
Dubai's long-established bastion of Francophone theatre, Culture Emulsion, looks like it has picked another winner with this French comedy – the play by Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri was a great success in 1994, and it was made into an [... more]
Led by André Reyes, founder of the band that took rumba flamenca to audiences worldwide and sold more than 60 million albums, this incarnation of the Gipsy Kings is back in a new format: their first Symphonic project on a [... more]
Mad Cat Comedy's regular Thursday stop in Silicon Oasis promises "insane laughs every week". The door price of AED 99 includes one drink and popcorn.
SCHLiNGEL is an international film festival for children that has been running since 1996 in Chemnitz, Germany, showcasing the most exciting new productions for young people. The film for 23 Oct is a reprise: A Butterfly's Heart dir Inesa Kurklietytė [... more]
The Pepp's regular early-evening showcase of Dubai’s local comedy talent, always with four standups on stage.
Second performance of this Francophone comedy by Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri . Every Friday the Mesnards gather at the family café before going to dinner; but for this night the unspoken tensions and buried frustrations are revealed ... SOLD [... more]
"An evening of music, rhythm and discovery" – a live performance featuring the harp-like djembe and the kora drum, traditional instruments of West Africa. We haven't been told who will be playing, but the price does include a preliminary aperitif [... more]
Created by choreographer Alaa Krimed for his Sima Dance Company – the UAE's only (semi)permanent dance company? – this original production merges contemporary dance with tech and especially AI: "As the boundaries between humans and Artificial Intelligence continue to shift, [... more]
Mad Cat Comedy’s regular standup night at Xandros in Signature 1 Hotel, TECOM. The cover charge of AED 80 includes one drink.
From the awkward moments of everyday life to the unexpected twists that everyone can relate to, John Ague delivers an energetic performance packed with great storytelling and clever punchlines.
SCHLiNGEL is an international film festival for children that has been running since 1996 in Germany, showcasing the most exciting new productions for young people. This is the main event of SCHLiNGEL Abu Dhabi, a day of screenings each of [... more]
A group show for Lulua Alyahya, Rami Farook, Sohrab Hura, and Khaled Jarada that promises to take the viewer into “intimate, elusive worlds … Modest in scale, invite a form of looking that is closer and more inward, creating encounters [... more]
A solo exhibition by Malaysian artist and designer that reflects on the quiet, temporary musollas that pop up in the UAE’s warehouses, shopfronts, and back rooms, modest prayer spaces that are shaped by necessity rather than formal design. Through paintings, [... more]
Inspired by Baz Luhrmann’s film, the musical brings 1900s Montmartre to the stage, blending a tragic love story with a modern pop soundtrack and all the theatrical energy you could hope for ... The Culture Emulsion team promise "the glamour, [... more]
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.
A Comedy Kix n evening "packed with stand-up comedy, good vibes, and plenty of laughs" – there are six comics performing, including the Comedy Kix reliables Amr, Imah and Obaid. The AED 90 door price includes two drinks.
Comedy from two very sharp standups who work really well together. From first dates to ghosting, situationships to heartbreak stories, Noha Bashir and Denise Alexe address the struggles of dating life via sharp humour, relatable stories, and a brilliant chemistry [... more]
A group exhibition organised with Feminin Pluriel, featuring the work of a selection of contemporary female artists. Participating artists were given carte blanche to explore their own creative perspectives; the result is seen in photography, painting, sculpture, 3D and mixed [... more]
The final part of the original Star Wars trilogy, beautifully restored and featuring the whole gang plus some engaging newcomers – like Jabba the Hutt, who has Han Solo in his clutches. That's just the start of an epic conclusion [... more]
Maktaba is 421’s monthly gathering dedicated to collective reading, viewing, and discussion across disciplines. This session moves from thinking about performance to thinking through it – using the body, space, gesture, and relationality as sites for inquiry. Through a combination [... more]
The original wartime weepie, now beautifully restored to give maximum scope to the multi Oscar winner. Humphrey Bogart stars as Rick Blaine, the cynical American owner of a nightclub in Vichy-controlled Casablanca on the eve of war; his one-time love Ilsa Lund [... more]
The UAE National Orchestra continues its active schedule with the second performance of a good-looking programme of contrasting music from three great Romantic composers – lively melodies from Rossini in the overture to The Barber of Seville, technical virtuosity and [... more]
Discuss the top seven poems (from a list of 50) that have received the most votes by members. As with any such list, it's highly debatable – way too many US poets, way too few from MENASA (including the UAE, [... more]
The Pepp's regular early-evening showcase of Dubai’s local comedy talent, always with four standups on stage.
The Mad Cat team does the rather cool Moon Bar at the Sana Restaurant in Mina Al Salam – a great venue: quite intimate, few distractions. Featuring surprise drop-ins, fresh material, and “the kind of intimate room where sitting in the [... more]
Iris Murdoch's Booker winner The Sea, The Sea (1978) is arguably her best book, a novel of obsession, memory, and self-deception. An interesting and accessible choice from one of Dubai's most interesting book clubs ...
Second performance of Culture Emulsion's Francophone take on the Baz Luhrmann film, bringing 1900s Montmartre to the stage for a tragic love story with a modern pop soundtrack.
The Canadian comedian plays Abu Dhabi in the middle of his latest world tour. It's sure to be a good night; he manages to make these arena-scale gigs feel really quite intimate, thanks to a mix of sharp crowd work, [... more]
Surrounded by toys and objects from her childhood, Mallika Taneja uses a harmonium and a microphone to look for what she has lost – a singer and her songs. As she moves between this tale of searching, singing and grief, [... more]
Dubomedy’s main man brings his new show to one of his regular haunts. Expect something of a masterclass in delivering standup in a club environment. All seats must be pre-booked …
Prof. Leonardo Barilaro, Visiting Associate Professor of Space Technology and Sonic Arts and Lead for the Space Art Laboratory at NYUAD, examines how music and artistic practice can connect scientific research with human experience, from creative interventions in space missions [... more]
Spring 1945 on the German island of Amrum, a remote dot in the North Sea. The front is far away, and 12-year-old Nanning (newcomer Jasper Billerbeck) spends his days working the nearby farm and his nights fishing; despite the hardship, [... more]
Dom Art Projects' third non-selling exhibition explores the formal and perceptual aspects of light through a variety of approaches from the 22 participants, "from rationalist modernism and expressionism to ironic conceptualism" as Dom Arts puts it. The artists are Akram [... more]
Makarov's solo exhibition responds to the mediated nature of contemporary reality by reconstructing armed conflict environments from fragments of media imagery circulating in a post-analogue world. Working across figurative painting and digital media, Makarov explores the relationship between virtual and physical [... more]
421's season of talks and panel discussions developed in collaboration with afikra, Localized Futures, explores the future of key cultural and civic sectors through a regional lens – challenging the dominant global narrative by looking at the complexities, innovations, and [... more]
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 …
This special gig brings Concert Series alumni and fan favourites back to the stage for one-off collaborations and extended jams. The artists will be announced ahead of the night, and "you never know who might walk on next". Food for [... more]
ATypI is the Association Typographique International, the nonprofit global forum for type and typography. It was established in 1957 to unite European type manufacturers at a time of technological change and to promote typography education and awareness in general. Its [... more]
Christie’s first live auction of fine art in Abu Dhabi takes place on 1 November, preceded by two viewing days open to all. There will be more than 70 works from six decades of museum-quality art that traces the evolution [... more]
Celebrating the UAE Year of the Family 2026, the UAE National Orchestra brings audiences of all ages together for a joyful and interactive concert. Rhythm games, listening challenges and conversations with the narrator invite families and first-time concertgoers to become [... more]
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 [... more]
For more than five decades, the Syrian artist, poet, and critic Talal Moualla has approached the image not simply as representation, but (says the gallery) “as a form of thought ... Moving between painting, criticism, poetry and research, his practice [... more]
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