Southbank Centre Announces Underbelly Season

From 27 May to 19 July, this wonderful bovine structure will graze on the banks of the Thames as part of Southbank Centre’s summer season of events. Lying down in its own Pasture – in between the Royal Festival Hall and the London Eye – with hooves and udders pointing skywards, E4 Udderbelly will be the most distinctive new addition to the riverside skyline.

“The Udderbelly is surely a portal through which an entire generation can gain access to the arts – on its own terms.” Sunday Herald

Highlights of E4 Udderbelly’s wildly diverse programme, which has been developed to appeal to audiences of all ages, include Joan Rivers, Tom Tom Crew, David O’Doherty, Rhod Gi lbert , Cami lle, Jason Byrne, Cl ive James, Gina Yashere, Reg D Hunter, Jimeoin, Katy Brand, The Ter rible Infants, PoeJazzi and Beardyman.

Ed Bart lam and Char lie Wood, Di rectors of Underbel ly, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Southbank Centre to bring our wonderful cow to the centre of London. Our Udderbelly venue was designed to be an accessible space for all audiences. It’s extraordinary to look at and a fantastic venue in which to watch a show. We hope that our affordable season of live entertainment, in conjunction with Southbank Centre, will excite and entertain people of all ages and interests. And, we hope that the unique atmosphere of Udderbelly and its surrounding Pasture will add to an already thriving Southbank Centre site this summer.”

Ed Bartlam and Charlie Wood will serve as producers in residence for the duration of the season. Jane Beese, Senior Music Programmer (Contemporary) at Southbank Cent re, said: “Having seen Underbelly’s excellent and innovative programming at the Edinburgh Fringe, it’s a real pleasure to be able to bring the unique Udderbelly venue and its bespoke Southbank Centre programme to our site. We are especially proud that the temporary addition of another venue to the site gives us the opportunity to create, in conjunction with Underbelly, a training programme for young people in all aspects of venue management. We are looking forward to the arrival of the famed cow and its herd of followers.”

Summer at Southbank Centre:

E4 Udderbelly’s seven-week programme of over 40 events, launches an extensive season of major summer events at Southbank Centre, that ranges from Meltdown festival and The Hayward’s new exhibition Walking in My Mind in June, to the London Literature Festival in July and a special series of summer concerts in July and August. Southbank Centre’s ful l summer programme wil l be announced short ly.

From humble beginnings in 2000, with 1 venue in the centre of Edinburgh, Underbelly now operates 14 performances spaces, presents 130 shows a day and sells 175,000 tickets at the Edinburgh Fringe. In 2006, Underbelly launched its promotions and management division, focusing on artist representation for comedians and UK touring. In the same year, the touring theatre space Udderbelly was born. It has since completed three seasons in Edinburgh and two seasons at the Brighton Fringe Festival. This will be Udderbelly’s first visit to London.

E4 is a digital entertainment channel from Channel 4 devoted to young audiences. It has also been dedicated to unearthing new comic talent since its arrival in 2001. The channel has been a supporter of Udderbelly in Edinburgh for over 3 years and will now be joining the purple cow for its new outing at Southbank Centre in 2009. -- www.southbankcentre.co.uk