6 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.

Opened in 1959 and now a Soho institution, this three-screen independent cinema runs a vibrant program of first-run arthouse and mainstream films, along with an engaging calendar of director talks, Q&As, film festival events, and other cinephile offerings. The first-floor mezzanine bar is great for a quiet drink, even when Soho's Shaftesbury Avenue is heaving with people. There are other equally historic and wonderful Curzon cinemas in Mayfair, Bloomsbury, and Victoria.

More than 200 feature films, many of them world or European premieres, plus shorts, talks, and workshops, grace the program of the BFI London Film Festival, which takes place over 12 days every October. There's a total of nine venues across town that are involved, but the heart of the action centers on the BFI Southbank, with the big movie theaters in Leicester Square being the focus for the galas and major releases. Booking ahead is advised.

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.

One of the oldest cinemas in the country, this refurbished Portobello Road art house screens mainstream and international movies. The emphasis is on comfort, with leather sofas, armchairs, side tables for your wine and appetizers, cashmere blankets, and even double beds in the front row.

This quirky two-screen repertory film theater just north of Leicester Square and on the edge of Chinatown offers you a chance to catch up with indie arthouse films, documentaries, and even classic blockbusters you may have missed. A second screen upstairs shows newer movies at more typical West End prices. With 300 velvet seats, this is where London's "Singalong Screenings" took off; come in character and sing along to the likes of The Sound of Music, Grease, Dirty Dancing, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and other cult classics.