Underbelly Festival Opens this Friday

Underbelly Festival - the massive new festival of comedy, cabaret, circus and kids shows which combines Udderbelly Festival and LonDon Wonderground - opens on the South Bank this Friday, 28 April and hits the ground running with a fizzing first month of shows.

The first headline show is the London premiere of Driftwood from acclaimed Australian circus company Casus (Knee Deep), who have been described as "awe-inspiring" by The Guardian's Lyn Gardner, and opens on 4 May.

This will be followed by the London premiere of Edinburgh Festival Fringe hit Catch Me (Attrape Moi) from Flip FabriQue, the impossibly athletic Quebecois troupe that "projects an irrepressible spirit of fun" with "acts that don't seem humanly possible" according to the New York Times, which opens 17 May.

Comedy highlights include Ellie Taylor getting to grips with married life in Infidelliety (4 May), Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Richard Gadd's arresting and wildly inventive Monkey See Monkey Do (9 May), a Donald Trump to trump Alec Baldwin from Rory Bremner (10 May), razor-edged satire from Andy Zaltzman (18 May), and fantastical observations from Sara Pascoe as she delves into the issues raised in her hotly anticipated new book Animal (25 May).

For the adventurous-minded Underbelly Festival also features the best, brightest and most bonkers shows of every variety and genre, mingling the comedic and the culinary in George Egg: Anarchist Cook and the mirthful and the magical in Tony Roberts: Card Magic (both 11 May). There's also interactive madness form South Bank favourites Margaret Thatcher Queen of Gameshows (12-13 May) and Knightmare Live (21 & 28 May) and all-star burlesque-cabaret mash-up Le Bouge Néon (19 May).

Family shows this month include such institutions of Underbelly Festival's predecessors as The Amazing Bubbleman, Monski Mouse's Baby Disco Dancehall and Comedy Club 4 Kids along with children's versions of cult hits Comedy in the Dark (3, 8 & 22 May for grown-ups and 30 May for kids) and interactive comedy video game sensation The Dark Room (for grown-ups 5 May, for kids 14 May).

All of this amazing entertainment and much, much more takes place across two venues in some of Central London's best outdoor bars complete with a buzzing festival atmosphere.

You can find the full line-up, with shows on almost every day at www.underbellyfestival.com.

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