Seven things to do in Hampstead and Highgate after May 17

Live gigs resume at the Primrose Hill venue from May 20 with two performances by multi-instrumentalist singing trio Lady Maisery celebrating 10 years and five albums of unique harmonies and intelligent arrangements of traditional and original songs. On May 27 it's the turn of legendary Queen of folk Peggy Seeger and son Calum MacColl. Their shows are live streamed for those who can't make it to Regent's Park Road. For those who can, masks, social distancing, temperature checks and a one way system are part of Covid-safe measures with any cancellations from either venue or ticketholder fully refunded.

https://www.efdss.org/whats-on

NW Live Arts at The Salvation Hall, Haverstock Hill, Hampstead

The group's first live concert of 2021 on May 21 sees Christina McMaster on piano, Toby Carr on lute and baroque guitar, Attab Haddad on oud and Antonio Romero on percussion performing alongside writers from Freedom from Torture's ‘Write to Life’ group. Exploring identity and our sense of place in the world, expect a blend of poetry and contemporary, classical and middle eastern music. Tickets £12.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/belonging-concert-tickets-150769099435?

The Freud Museum has gained an £80,000 grant from the Culture Recovery Fund. The Maresfield Gardens museum allows vistors get close to his famous couch. (Image: © Nigel Sutton email pictures@nigelsuttonphotography.com)

The Freud Museum, Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead

The former home of the father of psychoanalysis reopens on May 19 with a new exhibition 'Freud and Pandemic'. A hundred years ago, Freud lived through The Spanish Flu pandemic which killed his beloved daughter Sophie Halberstadt-Freud while she was pregnant with her third child. The exhibition explores how he responded to this time of disease and tragedy by writing Beyond The Pleasure Principle, and how modern psychoanalysis has responded to Covid a century later. Tickets to the house and exhibition must be booked in advance.

https://www.freud.org.uk/

Peter Pandemic the Panto, Canal Cafe Theatre, Little Venice.

The return of the venue's Christmas show by Ceris Hine and Brendan Matthew promises socially distanced fun with a distinctly 2021 twist on JM Barrie's classic fairytale. Running May 18-23, Wendy, John, Michael and Peter battle more than just Captain Hook. From unhinged fairies to Ethel the Mermaid, and Corona the Crocodile, it's Neverland with face masks and hand sanitiser. Oh yes it is.

https://canalcafetheatre.com/

Nickcolia King-N'da, Natalie Simpson and Toyin Omari-Kinch star in The Death of a Black Man at Hampstead Theatre (Image: Image © Shaun Webb Design)

The Death of A Black Man, Hampstead Theatre

The Eton Avenue venue reopens on May 28 with their 60th anniversary production of Alfred Fagon's play. Directed by Dawn Walton, it's a rare revival from the Black British canon that was first performed at Hampstead in 1975. It follows savvy wheeler dealer Shakie hoping to expand his successful Chelsea furniture business with best friend Stumpie and break into the music business.

https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/

Handmade in Highgate is a Designer/Maker's fair at the Highgate Lit and Sci in South Grove (Image: Courtesy Handmade in Highgate)

Handmade in Highgate, Highgate Lit and Sci, South Grove

The Highgate Gallery in South Grove hosts a twice postponed exhibition by local artist Tom Scase until May 20. New Horizons features strange landscapes where cloned sheep, menacing bees and warplanes are juxtaposed with abstract forms made from materials including paints, collage, ink, varnishes and tree bark and mud from Hampstead Heath.

https://hlsi.net/highgate-gallery/

We're Here to Help by Tom Scase (Image: Archant)

Then on May 21-23 the Lit and Sci hosts a socially distanced version of the popular Handmade in Highgate designer/maker fair. The free spring event features handmade textiles, glass, wood, jewellery and art. Award winning horticulturist Ray from Rotherview Nurseries will be outside with plants and shrubs. Inside, exhibitors include Sue Copeland's handmade quilts, throws and wall hangings, Bea Jareno's jewellery, By Cecil,'s cushions, scarves and blankets, furniture and accessories by Mountain and Molehill, and ceramics from Helen Rebecca.

https://hand-made-in-highgate.com/about/handmade-in-highgate-the-spring-fair-at-the-highgate-literary-and-scientific-institution/

Omved Gardens (Image: Archant)

OmVed Gardens Highgate, Growth.

Opening May 15 as part of The Chelsea Fringe, this joint exhibition by the event space and Highgate ceramics gallery Thrown is a group show bringing together ceramics wood and other mediums to focus on the unseen. From Adele Howitt's sculptural forms capturing the trail of opening buds, to The Clay Assemblage's Her Earth in Isolation series, the artworks are dotted around OmVed's glasshouse and gardens commenting on both the natural world growing around us and our emotional growth and inward journey. The exhibition is open for booked visits until June 13.

https://www.omvedgardens.com/events/growth-exhibition/