Chelsea Arts Festival: Day Three Review

Saturday marked the most action-packed day of Chelsea Arts Festival so far. The line-up included the likes of Twiggy, Sally Phillips, Ambika Mod, Zandra Rhodes and Jack Edwards (just to name a few), while events spanned ballet, cinema screenings and deep cultural discussions.

From a day of roaming performances, bandstand boogies and art workshops, Saturday 20 September culminated in a riotous evening of comedy. Read the C&TH editorial team’s recap of day three of Chelsea Arts Festival below.

Here’s What Happened At Chelsea Arts Festival 2025, Day Three: 20 September

Calculating the Arts Dividend: Why Culture Matters with Darren Henley, LionHeart & Samira Ahmed

It was an hour packed with thought-provoking opinions and diverse views at the Saatchi Gallery this morning for the conversation between Arts Council CEO Darren Henley and the visionary artist-poet-director LionHeart. Hosted by broadcaster Samira Ahmed, the purpose of the talk was to dissect whether investment in culture matters now more than ever, but the most illuminating discussion points centred around why we are still having to prove the value of culture, at all. Perhaps the perfect setting for such a topic at a brand new culture event like the Chelsea Arts Festival, Henley spoke convincingly of how culture is never an add-on, but a fundamental part of every society, and a vehicle to shift opinions and create unity in a difficult political landscape. Meanwhile, Lionheart spoke movingly on the burden this puts on the artist, saying: ‘When you accept the calling of being an artist, it’s a heavy burden to be responsible to yourself let alone your community… Having opinions, it can feel like you’re isolating people’s way of life, their philosophy. For me to be an artist, it’s not to pick a side, it’s to pick an aperture where people can see both sides.’ And hearing both Henley’s and Lionheart’s sides was illuminating indeed. By Rebecca Cox

Twiggy – Screening + Q&A at Everyman Chelsea

From the plush seating of the Everyman Chelsea, a full house gathered for a special screening of Twiggy, Sadie Frost’s celebratory documentary. Afterwards, film critic Corinne Antrobus led a lively Q&A with Frost and Twiggy herself, exploring the life of the world’s first supermodel. Born Lesley Hornby into a working-class family in Neasden, Twiggy’s rise was as surprising to her as it was to the fashion establishment. Models of the day were aristocratic, polished and groomed at finishing schools; Twiggy was a short, cockney girl, told she was too thin and too flat-chested with not enough bust. ‘I always thought I was funny looking. I didn’t look like the women in the magazines,’ she reflected – perhaps why she took her fame so calmly. Her career has been extraordinary. Credited with reviving Marks & Spencer’s fortunes in the 2000s, she was also the last person to sing live with Bing Crosby in his 1977 Merrie Olde Christmas special, filmed weeks before his death. Still relevant in her seventies, Twiggy remains the doe-eyed beauty who never lost sight of what mattered: love, family – and kindness. ‘I believe in kindness. If you give out kindness, it comes back to you.’ By Lucy Cleland

Family Friendly Ballet Performance With English National Ballet School: El Cid & Traditional Highlights

Sequined bows, floral dresses and princess costumes took over Cadogan Hall this morning as families gathered for a showcase from the English National Ballet School. Opening with a contemporary-inspired solo, the dancer clutched and flipped herself around the barre like a gymnast as she contorted herself into strange shapes in time to ‘Claire de Lune’. The edgier energy of this number continued later in the showcase with a daring routine to a pounding futuristic soundtrack. For those eager for a more classical style, the crowds were delighted by a romantic Swan Lake-inspired pas de deux, sparkling with all the lifts, arabesques and tutus their ballet-loving hearts could desire. But it was the second pas de deux – with the prince’s dramatic leaps and daring lifts – which left the audience truly spellbound. The showcase culminated in the powerful El Cid: a classical piece with a touch of Spanish flair. The dazzling ensemble number saw a dozen satin pink toes effortlessly pushing themselves up en pointe, jeté-ing in sync, and flicking their fans with all the skill of a flamenco master. By Isabel Dempsey

The London Theatre Review: Live At The Royal Court, With Ambika Mod & David Byrne

The One Day actress and artistic director of the Royal Court were guests on the first ever live recording of The London Theatre Review podcast, another Chelsea Arts Festival coup. Mod is starring in the West End’s Every Brilliant Thing – a challenging improv play that, she told the podcast’s three hosts, ‘is filling my cup and fixing my soul’. From November she’ll be at the Royal Court in Porn Play, in which she plays a young academic addicted to porn. ‘Soon as I read it, I was bowled over,’ Mod said at the Royal Court this afternoon. ’I’d rather die than ask this question,’ host Nancy Durrant responded, ‘but what research have you even doing?’ Cue huge laughs; you’ll have to tune in for Mod’s answer.

Byrne’s vision – for his theatre to be the engine room of new voices as well as where luminaries stage their most radical work – means the Court is sold out until next year. Frustrating for us punters, but every day the theatre releases ‘window seats’ where you can pay 10p to stand in the alcoves. ‘That’s the cheapest theatre ticket in London. Times are tough, but nothing beats seeing the big shocks live at the Royal Court.’ By Lucinda Baring

Black Earth Rising: Ekow Eshun Interviewed By Katy Wickremesinghe

Two creative forces met at Saatchi Gallery this afternoon: curator Ekow Eshun who, prompted by his friend, creative leader and interviewer Katy Wickremesinghe, delved into everything from identity, centring the diasporic experience and colonialism (and the impact of colonialism on our natural world as early as Christopher Columbus’s first journey to the Caribbean) to his adolescence, growing up as a Black Londoner to Ghanaian parents and the impact this had on his own pan-African political ideology. 

Ekow told the Saatchi Gallery audience his parents taught him ‘Africanness as an expansive pan African ideal’. ‘To be of African origin means you are connected to the world… There is connection, kinship, unity and belief with others in the world,’ Eshun said. Illustrated by live analysis of some of the work printed in Black Earth Rising – a companion to his climate focussed Baltimore exhibition with a broader scope unlimited by the white walls of an art gallery – we see how this has been a guiding force in the creative’s career. By Olivia Emily

How To Art: Finding Joy & Making Sense of It All, With Kate Bryan and David Shrigley

Art historian Kate Bryan and artist David Shrigley asked one of the biggest questions of the festival in their discussion at Cadogan Hall: ‘What is art?’ Speaking about her new book, How to Art, Kate discussed the accessibility barriers in the art world, saying: ‘I had to hurdle over all the elitism in art. There’s so much jargon, art is terribly expensive, one of the first things I had to do is to ask, “what is art?”.’ The talk contained practical advice on how to see incredible art for free just by better understanding how the world operates, including details about how to make the most of open artist’s studios, auction houses (where rare privately-owned artworks by massive names can be glimpsed for a brief window) and private galleries.

Bryan credited her conversations with Turner Prize nominee Shrigley as her inspiration for the book (which features his work throughout), who agrees that the art world does have perceived barriers to entry: ‘Art is often seen as being some sort of indicator of your sophistication or intellect.’ But it boils down to something quite simple, he says: ‘There are only two types of art, what you like and what you don’t.’ Though this is perhaps an easier viewpoint to come to terms with when you are one of the nation’s most popular artists. By Rebecca Cox 

Express Yourself: Fashion, Identity & Liberation With Zandra Rhodes & Daniel Lismore

Dame Zandra Rhodes and Daniel Lismore brightened up Chelsea’s dreary midday weather with a fascinating, sold-out discussion at Saatchi Gallery. Led by journalist Kate Hutchinson, the conversation saw an adoring (and very colourful) audience hanging onto Rhodes’ every word as she divulged stories from her flamboyant life – including the time Diana Ross threatened to hit her with a garage door – and shared her thoughts about today’s creative landscape. ‘People don’t bother enough about the arts anymore,’ she said. ‘It’s scary. Current fashion has no shock value – nothing makes me rush into a shop to buy it these days.’

Lismore, who is often described as the UK’s most eccentric dresser, agreed, adding he hasn’t bought anything here ‘in years’. Instead, he finds fashion inspiration in the most unlikely of places. ‘I walked out of my house once and there was a kitchen sink,’ Lismore told the crowd. ‘I cleaned it, put it on a chain and wore it as a necklace.’

Both celebrated designers are entirely unapologetic about who they are – as Rhodes said this afternoon, ‘the whole point of life is to do something and not be ashamed that it might be wrong’. The fashion legend turned 85 yesterday, so it might be wise to heed her advice. By Evie Calver

Quant – Screening At Everyman Chelsea

Chelsea’s fashion-forward bunch gathered this afternoon to get the inside scoop on Mary Quant. Following the fashion designer from her wild Welsh upbringing to her eventual domination of the fashion world, Sadie Frost’s stunning documentary Quant paints a picture of a quirky character, desperate to make a change – and determined to do it her own way. Bored with the archaic designs of the ’50s, she took matters into her own hands: hiking up skirts and giving women a newfound freedom. While the documentary couldn’t avoid the age-old debate as to whether Quant did or didn’t invent the mini skirt, no one could deny that it was she who made them mainstream.

Venturing into everything from make-up and underwear to homeware and wine, the documentary explores how licensing her brand secured Quant’s position as a global powerhouse. Including interviews with Kate Moss, Charlotte Tilbury, Zandra Rhodes and Vivienne Westwood, as well as Quant’s son Orlando, the audience was left with the empowering resonance of her best-known quote: ‘Be yourself, free yourself.’ By Isabel Dempsey

Perception, Consciousness & Illusion: Artist Panel At Saatchi Gallery

How can we be sure what is real versus an illusion? This question was at the centre of today’s star-studded panel at Saatchi, where Alison Jackson was joined by Ally Rosenberg, Chris Levine and Philip Colbert. Especially in today’s age of AI, the real-fake line feels perpetually blurred – but for Jackson, this isn’t anything new. Her famous, scandalous photos of celebrity lookalikes emphasise what she calls the ‘deceitful medium’ of photography. ‘It seduces us to think there’s something believable in what we’re looking at. But there’s very little truth in imagery.’

According to the panel, this idea is also true (or is it?) when it comes to speech. ‘We’re now in the post-truth age,’ said Rosenberg, ‘where Trump’s lies, for example, are not there to be believed. They are designed to make you believe nothing.’ So how are we supposed to be sure about anything, whether it’s art, speech, or even memory? Well, we aren’t. ‘Our ways of interacting with the world are based on our perception of what is real… And a lot of that is constructed for us.’ By Evie Calver

A Celebration Of British Film & Television With Sally Phillips, Sadie Frost, Twiggy, Bradley Banton & Dr. Nitin Sawhney CBE

The British TV and film panel at Cadogan Hall was billed as a conversation about the state of the industry, but it quickly proved to be as entertaining as it was insightful. Sadie Frost set the tone with a candid confession: she found Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy star Leo Woodall ‘extremely dishy’. The remark drew laughter, especially as Frost was quick to add she wasn’t a pervert – merely pointing out the irony of discussing the dangers of too much attention on appearance while simultaneously fuelling it. Sally Phillips, ever the comic foil, reminded Frost that during a project they once worked on, Frost’s mother arrived on set and proudly announced that she could ‘still lactate at will’. The audience roared.

But when the discussion turned to the future of British film, Phillips struck a more serious note. She warned of Brexit’s impact and lamented the creeping dominance of financial metrics. ‘We had a very clear sense that you might make a stunning piece of art that didn’t land immediately but was still worth making. Increasingly we are losing that here.’ What she hopes for is simpler, but harder: space for ‘the characters and the stories of our souls.’ By Lucy Cleland

Jack Edwards’ Inklings Book Club With Yasmin Zaher

The Jack Edwards effect took hold this evening at the Saatchi Gallery as audience members arrived in their droves clutching their copy of The Coin, the debut novel by Yasmin Zaher. This was the first live meeting of Inklings, the book club Edwards launched this summer – and while online media is his medium, the internet’s resident librarian was visibly moved by seeing the community he has built (3.7 million fans across his platforms) IRL.

For her part, Zaher was eloquent in her responses and held the room as she read her first chapter aloud. Her novel – winner of the 2025 Dylan Thomas Prize – follows a wealthy young Palestinian woman as she creates a new life in New York, deftly exploring themes of class, control, home, tradition and displacement. Chapters are short – some only a page – ‘reflecting our collective ADHD as readers’ the author says, and the effect is propulsive. ‘I wanted this book to be a bullet,’ Zaher said at the Saatchi: ‘short and deadly’. It packs a lot of punches, confirms Edwards, and goes to uncomfortable places. ‘I want the reader to think between the pages.’ This is a book that stays with you. By Lucinda Baring

Allie Esiri’s 365 Poems For Life With Susan Wokoma, David Morrissey, Kate O’Flynn & Rory Kinnear

This evening marked the final Chelsea Arts Festival event at the Royal Court Theatre, with the dimly lit, intimate venue making this poetry reading particularly magical. Based on Allie Esiri’s latest collection 365 Poems For Life, the performance took the audience on a 12-month journey in verse, from January (themed ‘beginnings’) through to December (‘celebration’). Four acclaimed British actors brought words by poets from William Wordsworth to Brian Bilston to life – and in turn, reminded everyone in the room that to hear poems aloud (performed by some of the best, no less) means to give them an entirely new depth of meaning. By Evie Calver

Chelsea Arts Festival Comedy Gala With Sindhu Vee, Daniel Foxx, Shazia Mirza, Michael Odewale & Lloyd Griffith 

Not once was Trump mentioned during the five-person comedy line-up at Cadogan Hall – proof, perhaps, that we don’t need to rely on America for laughs, as well as everything else. Instead, Sindhu Vee, Daniel Foxx, Shazia Mirza, Michael Odewale and Lloyd Griffith aimed their tasers firmly at the SW3 set. The affluent borough proved comedy catnip. Host Lloyd Griffith seemed genuinely startled when the audience turned ‘feral’ after he invited them to shout out their favourite cathedrals. ‘It’s like you’ve all had spice. What is it with posh people and cathedrals? You’d never get this cathedral violence in Cardiff,’ he quipped as cries of Ely, Nottingham and Chester rang out.

Shazia Mirza took aim at the dying breed of the ‘white man’: ‘They’re all fucked now – there’s nothing here for you anymore, no one gives a shit about you. You can’t even get on the BBC anymore – unless you’re a paedophile.’ Daniel Foxx read one of his wickedly sharp Bedtime Stories for Privileged Children, featuring Rupert, Olives and Parma Ham on a picnic, while comparing gay love for Le Creuset to straight men’s obsession with V4 engines. Thankfully, this posh crowd proved to be more than up for the lampooning. By Lucy Cleland

What’s Happening Today?

Sunday 21 September is the final day of Chelsea Arts Festival, and we’re going out with a bang. 

At 11am, the Cadogan Hall stage will be taken over by Jordan Stephens, Matt Haig and Annie Macmanus for a conversation delving into mental health, creativity and resilience (from £12.50pp, tickets here).

Then it’s over to beloved writers Elizabeth Day and Marian Keyes, who will be celebrating Day’s new novel One of Us on its publication day, with a hardback copy included with your ticket (from £34.99, tickets here).

The theme of literary women continues with Chelsea Arts Festival’s grand finale: A Celebration of Women’s Words, hosted by the Women’s Prize in partnership with The White Company. Speakers include Malala Yousafzai, Sheila Atim, Sheila Hancock, Lesley Sharp, Kate Mosse, Lenny Henry, June Sarpong and many more, with ticket sales raising money for the Women’s Prize Trust (from £15, tickets here).

Elsewhere, Chelsea Art Market will take over Duke of York Square (11am–4pm); more roaming entertainment will take to the streets;  Art Play’s painting sessions will continue; and the city’s next great batch of writers will be honing their skills at a writing masterclass hosted by Silk Road Slippers (sold out). 

For a full rundown of Chelsea Arts Festival 2025, visit our full day by day guide here.