EMBARGOED UNTIL 2PM THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2017 From the creators of Udderbelly Festival & London Wonderground... Hilton Presents UNDERBELLY FESTIVAL 28 April – 30 September 2017 • Underbelly merges the hugely successful Udderbelly Festival and London Wonderground into ONE festival running throughout the entire summer • Same festival location as Udderbelly and London Wonderground on Hungerford Car Park between Royal Festival Hall and Jubilee Gardens • Hilton Hotels & Resorts delighted to continue their relationship with Underbelly as headline sponsors of the festival • Headline shows include a thrilling new production from acclaimed circus troupe Casus, Quebec circus company Flip FabriQue’s Edinburgh Fringe hit Catch Me (Attrape Moi) & UK premiere from cult boylesque heroes Briefs • Comedy highlights include James Acaster, Al Murray, Sara Pascoe and Stephen K Amos with much more still to be announced Underbelly is thrilled to announce details of Underbelly Festival – a new multi-arts extravaganza on London’s South Bank running from 28 April – 30 September. Underbelly Festival will build on the success of Udderbelly Festival and London Wonderground – two of the capital’s biggest festivals of their kind over the past eight and five years respectively - taking place on the same site and continuing to present London’s largest programme of affordable comedy, circus, cabaret and children’s shows, in a city- centre festival environment with a great range of street food and one of the largest outdoor bars in London. Since 2009, just under a million people have bought tickets to shows at Udderbelly Festival and London Wonderground. Underbelly Festival will consolidate the company’s two established South Bank festivals into one enormous festival experience, which will become a London hub for the Underbelly brand as the company continues to expand its operations both as a producer of live events and festivals, and of shows and tours. Highlights of Underbelly Festival’s 2017 season include: • London premiere of Driftwood from acclaimed Australian circus company Casus (Knee Deep), described as “awe-inspiring” by The Guardian’s Lyn Gardner. • London premiere of Edinburgh Festival Fringe hit Catch Me (Attrape Moi) from Flip FabriQue, the impossibly athletic Quebecois troupe that “projects an irrepressible EMBARGOED UNTIL 2PM THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2017 spirit of fun” with “acts that don’t seem humanly possible” according to the New York Times. • UK premiere and longest ever London run from the original cocks of the walk, the cult boylesque cirque-cabaret act known as Briefs, who will unveil their first new show in four years following their internationally acclaimed Second Coming. Joining them will be a cavalcade of the very finest in stand-up, musical, alternative and sketch comedy, as well as cabaret, circus, puppetry, magic, and family entertainment with something to suit all ages, and shows on every day. Highlights on sale this week include James Acaster, Al Murray, Sara Pascoe, Festival of the Spoken Nerd, Ed Gamble, Angelos and Barry, Margaret Thatcher Queen of Gameshows, House of Burlesque and Stephen K Amos. (See full listings below). Underbelly Directors Ed Bartlam and Charlie Wood said: “We’re incredibly excited about Underbelly Festival, which is the natural progression for our hugely popular Udderbelly and London Wonderground festivals. “Consolidating these events into one Underbelly Festival will make for a more joined-up and better festival experience for customers. We also wanted to link our London festivals more closely to the Underbelly brand. As a company we’re growing rapidly, with a number of really exciting new projects in the pipeline, and Underbelly Festival is a huge part of this growth. “This year’s programme is one of our strongest yet on the Southbank and we’re delighted to continue our commitment to bring London’s largest programme of affordable live entertainment to the heart of the capital. “We are also delighted to continue our partnership with Hilton Hotels and Resorts as headline sponsors of Underbelly Festival. They are a great brand to work with and they share our vision for wanting to bring fantastic live entertainment to as many people as possible.” More shows for the inaugural Underbelly Festival will be announced in the coming weeks. * Festival subject to planning and licensing. For further information or media enquiries please contact Gregor Cubie: [email protected] // 0203 176 2700 LINKS & SOCIALS IMAGES: https://www.flickr.com/photos/137495091@N02/sets/72157679288977622 www.underbellyfestival.com facebook.com/underbellyfestival @underbellyfest instagram - underbellyfestival EMBARGOED UNTIL 2PM THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2017 About Underbelly Underbelly is a UK based live entertainment company. Their events and festivals division operates one of the largest operations at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, selling 234,000 tickets for over 140 shows over 25 days in 2016. This year marks the ninth year of Underbelly on the Southbank, with Udderbelly and London Wonderground festivals – already two of the biggest multi-arts offerings in London - joining forces for the first Underbelly Festival. Elsewhere Underbelly also produces Edinburgh’s Christmas, Christmas in Leicester Square, Udderbelly Festival in Hong Kong, West End Live in Trafalgar Square, Pride in London for Westminster City Council and the Society of London Theatre, and produced the 2015 Rugby World Cup Fanzone in Richmond. Through their Underbelly Productions arm they produce and promote live shows in London's West End, throughout the UK and on tour internationally. In 2016 Underbelly sold over 1.3 million tickets to their various events. www.underbelly.co.uk Listings Information Tickets on general sale at 10am on Friday 24th March: www.underbellyfestival.com 10 tickets for £10 available for most shows from on-sale until midnight on Sunday 26th March. 80% of festival tickets under £20 Headline Shows Driftwood by Casus 4th May – 4th June Tue-Fri 19:30, Sat 16:00 & 19:30, Sun 19:30 Tickets from £14 Catch Me 17th May - 9th July 2017 Tue-Fri 19:30, Sat 14:30 & 18:00, Sun 18:00 Tickets from £14 Briefs 14th July – 30th September 2017 Tue-Fri 19:45, Sat-Sun 19:30, late show alternating Saturdays 21:15 Tickets from £12.50 Also announced for selected dates Best of the Comedy Store EMBARGOED UNTIL 2PM THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2017 29th April – 15th July 2017, 21:30 £19.50 18+ Amazing Bubbleman 29 April & 30 April, 11:00 & 13:30 27 May to 4 June, 11:00 & 15:30 £10.00 Margaret Thatcher Queen of Gameshows 12th May – 2nd July 2017, 21:15 £15.50 12+ House of Burlesque: 2.0 13th May - 15th September 2017, 21:15 From £17.50 18+ Andy Zaltzman: Satirist For Hire 18th May & 20th June 2017, 21:15 £15.50 Parental guidance recommended Comedy Club 4 Kids 21st May – 15th July 2017, 15:30 £10 Recommended for 6 + Knightmare Live! 21st May – 11th June 2017, 19:45 £15.50 Suitable for all ages, however children must be accompanied by an adult Police Cops 23rd May 2017, 21:15 £12.50 Festival of the Spoken Nerd 24th & 31st May 2017, 21:30 £15.50 Angelos & Barry: The New Power Generation 26th May 2017, 21:15 £15.50 Contains some strong language Sara Pascoe: Animal EMBARGOED UNTIL 2PM THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2017 25th May, 21:15 £15.00 Ali Cook: Principles of Deception 27th May 2017, 19:45 £15.50 Morgan & West 29th May – 2nd June 2017, 15:00, 3rd - 4th June 13:15 £10 John Robins 30th May 2017, 21:15 £15.50 Joe Black: Meet Me At The Eldorado 31st May 2017, 21:30 £12.50 16 + Sean Kelly 3rd June 2017, 19:45 £17.50 Ed Gamble 7th June 2017, 21:15 £15.50 Parental guidance recommended Starman: The Musical of David Bowie 7th - 9th June, 21:30 £15.50 6 + Stephen K Amos 9th June 2017, 21:30 £19.50 Felicity Ward 10th June 2017, 19:45 £15.50 Slightly Fat Features in Variety Soup 11th June, 15:00 £15.50 Suitable for all ages James Acaster EMBARGOED UNTIL 2PM THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2017 12th June 2017, 19:30 £17.50 Aurora Galore: Glamorous Weirdo 14th June & 16th August 2017, 21:30 £12.50 18+ Jason Byrne 16th June 2017, 21:15 & 17th June 19:45 £19.50 Al Murray: Let’s Go Backwards Together 16th June 2017, 21:30 & 17th June 21:15 £25.50 This performance is two 45-minute halves with an interval The Brett Domino Trio: 60% Funk 21 June, 21:15 £12.50 Foil Arms and Hog: Doomdah 4th – 7th July, 21:15 £15.50 Jess Robinson 10th & 12th July 2017, 19:30 £15.50 Lolly Adefope 11th July 2017, 19:30 £12.50 The Extraordinary Cabaret of Dorian Gray 11th July 2017, 19:45 £15.50 12+ The Bugle: Live! 13th July 2017, 21:15 £15:50 Parental guidance recommended Peter and Bambi Heaven: The Magic Inside 18 & 19 July, 21:30 £15.50 Children are Stinky EMBARGOED UNTIL 2PM THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2017 23rd – 27th July 2017, 15:00 £10 3+ Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School 24th July, 21st August, 18th September 2017, 19:45 £15.50 18+ .