Swinging at the Cotton Club

This action-packed show celebrates the music and dance of The Cotton Club. Featuring spectacular dance from the Lindy Hop Dance Company and their featured tap dancer, alongside authentic music and vocals from the 10-piece orchestra, this is a truly unique evening of world-class entertainment.

Queen’s Theatre, Billet Lane, Hornchurch, RM11 1QT, Saturday, July 28, 7.30pm. Details: 01708 443333 queens-theatre.co.uk

Message in a Bottle – A Tribute to Sting and The Police

With six Grammys and two Brits, bands don’t come much bigger than this. With a distinctive sound and unforgettable songs, relive Sting and The Police with this unmissable pitch-perfect production.

Queen’s Theatre, Billet Lane, Hornchurch, RM11 1QT, Sunday, July 29, 7.30pm. Details: 01708 443333 queens-theatre.co.uk

Rangoon

Original high energy folk Americana with close harmonies, fiddle, guitars and drums.

The Coppermill Pub, 205 Coppermill Lane, Walthamstow, E17 7HF, Saturday, July 28, 8.30pm. Details: 020 8520 3709 coppermillpub.co.uk

The Gruffalo’s Child

The Gruffalo said that no Gruffalo should ever set foot in the deep dark wood… One wild and windy night the Gruffalo’s child ignores her father’s warning and tiptoes out into the snow. After all, the Big Bad Mouse doesn’t really exist - does he? Tall Stories returns, bringing Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's award-winning sequel to life in this magical, musical adaptation.

Chelmsford City Theatres, Fairfield Road, Chelmsford, CM1 1JG, Saturday, July 28, and Sunday, July 29, various times. Details: 01245 606505 chelmsford.gov.uk

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (PG)

Ten years after Mamma Mia! took the world by storm, it's time to return to the sun-drenched Greek island of Kalokairi in an all-new original musical based on the songs of ABBA. When Sophie suddenly finds herself pregnant, she journeys into her mother’s past to unearth the answers to some burning questions. Searching for inspiration, she retraces her mother’s steps in the hope of finding the courage to be the best mum she can be.

Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS, until Thursday, August 2, various times. Details: barbican.org.uk

The Spice Girls Exhibition

The Spice Girls exhibition will be a vibrant, colourful, feel good exhibition showcasing hundreds of the Spice Girls iconic stage costumes alongside thousands of items of memorabilia and merchandise. An exhibition suitable for all ages, it is sure to thrill fans of the 90's supergroup!

Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, N1 0QH, Saturday, July 28, to Monday, August 20. Details: businessdesigncentre.co.uk

Sea Creatures

A ground-breaking new exhibition allows visitors to explore the secrets of life beneath the ocean’s waves. Sea Creatures will see fifty ethically sourced, real-life specimens of creatures including a baleen whale, whale shark, great white shark, dolphin, seal, octopus, penguin and sting ray on display, allowing visitors to glimpse inside the majestic beasts, learning about the complex life systems within and why we need to protect ocean life. The painstakingly preserved displays use the plastination process, replacing fluids with resins and allowing us to view incredibly accurate ‘cross-sections’ of the creatures. Alongside the many full-body exhibits will be a host of smaller displays, including the lung and eyeball of a mink whale, a whale’s kidney, and the egg of a king penguin, a sea lion’s heart and shark’s teeth. The educational exhibition will also feature digital interactive experiences, allowing children to immerse themselves in an underwater world. Sea creatures will be brought to life by a range of virtual reality experiences and will allow visitors to explore the deepest regions of planet Earth’s oceans.

Royal Horticultural Halls, 80 Vincent Square, SW1P 2PE, Friday, July 27, to Thursday, August 30. Details: rhhonline.co.uk

The Music that Saved a Decade

While there have been various books and shows on specific aspects of the 1980s underground, this exhibition is perhaps the first attempt at a cross-decade overview. It steps back from single genres or individual venues to survey the bigger picture and what really went on. Dismissed as a grey decade where money replaced self-expression, once the surface of the 1980s is scratched, its underground is revealed to be fascinating – a subversive and genuinely fertile period of youth culture.

Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS, Wednesday, October 3. Details: barbican.org.uk

Picturing Forgotten London

London is a restless city, ever changing and evolving. Cranes and building sites crowd the landscape as new buildings rise. Yet traces of our forgotten past peep through on almost every street. This exhibition uncovers London’s lost buildings, places that were once the toast of the capital or an important part of everyday life, left behind by successive generations of Londoners. Drawings, engravings, photographs, maps and films sit alongside contemporary recollections and bring together a surprising record of the capital, from the 1500s to the twentieth century. Picturing Forgotten London will take you on a journey of discovery through the capital’s past. Meet at the shot tower next to Waterloo Bridge and travel across the river to The Devil’s Acre, a notorious neighbourhood next to the Palace of Westminster. In the East End visit the gothic magnificence of Columbia Market in Bethnal Green and encounter London’s first Chinatown in Limehouse. In the west shop at the Soho Bazaar and ride on the Great Wheel in Earl’s Court, before a night of entertainment at Wyld’s Monster Globe in Leicester Square.

London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, EC1R 0HB, until Wednesday, October 31. Details: 020 7332 3820 cityoflondon.gov.uk

Turning the Tide on Plastic

At the current rate, pieces of plastic will outnumber fish in the ocean by 2050. That is the legacy we are leaving our children and grandchildren. Plastic flows into our lives from every direction and most of it is not recycled. Instead it is incinerated or ends up in landfill, or enters the world's seas where it fragments into tiny pieces to become microplastics - the environmental scourge of our times. Many of us had assumed that governments, brands and waste authorities were dealing with plastic on our behalf. But the impact of shows such as Blue Planet along with national beach cleans and high-profile campaigns have resulted in a collective wake-up call. Journalist, broadcaster and eco lifestyle expert Lucy Siegle provides a powerful call-to-arms to end the plastic pandemic along with the tools we need to make decisive change. It is a clear-eyed, authoritative and accessible guide to help us to take decisive and effective personal action.

Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, WC1R 4RL, Sunday, July 29, 3pm. Details: eventbrite.co.uk

Bees

Come along to celebrate our favourite of all insects – the hardworking bee. WLD has teamed up with urban beekeepers Pearly Queen Honey for a unique drawing class designed to educate attendees all about bees and their conservation. Draw live honeybees that have built up their honeycomb into glass cloches so you can draw them in their natural environment. The team at Pearly Queen Honey will be describing how bees make honey and there will be local honeys for all to taste. 10% of each ticket will be donated to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

Ace Hotel, 100 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JQ, Sunday, July 29, 12.30pm and 2.30pm. Details: wildlifedrawing.co.uk

Streatlife

Streatlife is Alexandra Palace’s legendary free street food and craft beer festival. The festival features over 30 of London’s top street food vendors, craft beer bars, cocktails, Pimms and all sorts of tasty treats.

Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Palace Way, N22 7AY, Saturday, July 28, and Sunday, July 29. Details: 020 8365 2121 alexandrapalace.com

Heritage Park Walk

Join this volunteer-led park walk and find out about the descents of famous Victorian balloonist Professor Baldwin and Edwardian daredevil Dolly Shepherd, the story of Leo the Lion and many more curious facts around the history of Alexandra Park.

Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Palace Way, N22 7AY, Saturday, July 28, various times. Details: 020 8365 2121 alexandrapalace.com

Mindful Drinking Festival

Since the first Mindful Drinking Festival last summer, the mindful drinking scene has grown substantially and the demand for low- and no-alcohol drinks is ever increasing. With that in mind, this festival will showcase the best tasting adult-orientated drinks brands in the industry. Come along to try and buy your favourites, grab some awesome street food from the neighbouring market, play a fairground game or two, join a mid-morning rave, dip your toes into a mini beach, sign up for a workshop, have your “future you” fortune told, or head to the chill-out zone to enjoy outstanding live music and relax in the sunshine.

Spitalfields, Commercial Street, E1 6LY, Saturday, July 28, from 11am. Details: mindfuldrinkingfestival.com

Wine Car Boot

Wine Car Boot is London’s pop-up independent wine market. Each car boot or stall is an independent wine retailer – plus the occasional producer – with a selection of their wines for you to taste, buy, drink in or take out. Just like any other market it’s free to get in. Simply turn up and either buy bottles to take home or pick up a tasting pack (glass, tokens, water, bag) and get stuck in. Whether you want to taste, drink or shop there’s something for everyone, from fledging enthusiasts to seasoned tasters and solid session drinkers. Wine Car Boot is about getting to know the huge amount of authentic, affordable and delicious wines (and the people selling them) all across London. If you need a break from wine there’s beer, plus a bit of music and plenty of food from some of London’s best street food traders and chefs.

St James’s Market, Regent Street, SW1Y 4AH, Saturday, July 28, from 12pm. Details: winecarboot.com