11 Best Performing Arts in London, England

With the best repertory programming in London, these four cinemas run by the British Film Institute are in effect a national film center. More than 1,000 titles are screened each year, with art-house and foreign-language new releases, restored classics and silents, experimental and niche interest works, and short films favored over recent Hollywood blockbusters. The center also has a gallery, bookshop, events, and a "mediatheque" where visitors can watch film and television from the National Archive for free (closed Monday). The Riverfront Bar and Kitchen offers dining with views, while the BFI Bar is informal and buzzy and the BFI Café offers coffee and light snacks. This is one of the venues for the BFI London Film Festival, though throughout the year there are minifestivals, seminars, and guest speakers.

The wildly eclectic and very cool Meltdown generally takes place in June at the Southbank Centre. It's curated by a different big-name artist each year (past curators have included the likes of Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Elvis Costello, and Grace Jones), so you never have any idea what to expect until the program comes out.

When this complex designed by Sir Denys Lasdun opened in 1976, Londoners were slow to warm up to the low-rise brutalist block, with King Charles III once describing it as "a clever way of building a nuclear power station in the middle of London without anyone objecting." But whatever you think of the outside, the inside offers generally superb theatrical experiences at (relatively) friendly prices—several of which (like War Horse or One Man, Two Guvnors) have gone on to become long-running Broadway hits. Interspersed with the three theaters—the 1,150-seat Olivier, the 890-seat Lyttelton, and the 450-seat Dorfman—is a multilayered foyer with exhibitions, bars, restaurants, and free entertainment. Musicals, classics, and plays are performed by top-flight professionals, whom you can sometimes catch giving foyer talks as well. Seventy-five-minute backstage tours incorporating prop-making and scene-painting workshops as well as the architecture of the building are offered on weekdays at 5 pm and Saturdays at noon. Each weekend in August, the free outdoor River Stage Festival presents live music, dance, family workshops, and DJ sets in front of the theater. There are £10 Friday Rush tickets for some performances.

The general public has never really warmed to the Southbank Centre's hulking concrete buildings (beloved by architecture aficionados), products of the brutalist style popular when the center was built in the 1950s and '60s—but all the same, the masses flock to the concerts, recitals, festivals, and exhibitions held here, the largest arts center in Europe. The Royal Festival Hall is truly a People's Palace, with seats for 2,900 and a schedule that ranges from major symphony orchestras to pop stars. The smaller Queen Elizabeth Hall is more classically oriented. It contains the Purcell Room, which hosts lectures and chamber performances. For art, head to the Hayward Gallery, which hosts shows on top contemporary artists such as Antony Gormley and Cy Twombly. The center's riverside street level has a terrific assortment of restaurants and bars, though many are branches of upscale chains. Friday through Sunday, a street food market with food trucks serves cuisines from around the world.

In 2015, Matthew Warchus, the director behind Matilda the Musical, took over as artistic director of this grand venerable theater, where stage legends like Maggie Smith, Vivien Leigh, Peter O'Toole, Richard Burton, and Judi Dench once trod the boards. Today, you'll still find some of the best shows in town here—both new work and revivals of modern classics—some featuring contemporary stars like Andrew Scott and Claire Foy.

This arts center has a reputation for producing innovative new theater and dance works as well as hosting top alternative stand-up comics. It also hosts a number of community arts initiatives to develop local talent. Performances take place in quirky spaces all over this atmospheric former town hall. The bar, which serves snacks and shared plates, is open all day.

The British Film Institute's glazed, drum-shaped IMAX theater has the largest screen in the United Kingdom (approximately 75 feet wide and the height of five double-decker buses). It shows state-of-the-art 2-D and 3-D films.

This converted industrial space has become celebrated for its inspired reworkings of classic musicals, with several of its productions eventually transferring to the West End and even winning Tonys on Broadway. It's not unusual for shows to feature top British talent and stars-of-tomorrow, like Sharon Horgan and Tom Hollander, before they become famous. It also hosts comedy nights.

Dedicated to innovative work for young audiences, this modern theater hosts plays, musicals, and interactive theater for everyone from toddlers to preteens. Inclusivity is a major focus, with performances for those with visual and hearing and other impairments taking place regularly.

This eight-week extravaganza of fringe theater and stand-up comedy is a chance to see some of the United Kingdom's most innovative and engaging performers. The atmosphere in the eerie tunnels beneath Waterloo Station (where the festival takes place) is always buzzing.

Just down the road from its elder sibling The Old Vic, this offshoot hosts big names performing alongside emerging talent, often in daring innovative productions of both new and classic plays that appeal to a more diverse audience than is traditionally found on the London scene. Good food is served all day at the bustling bar.