Southbank Centre Announces New Associate Companies And 2018/19 Performance, Dance And Comedy Programme

Today Southbank Centre announces its 2018/19 performance, dance and comedy programme, celebrating the reopening of its restored and redesigned cultural venues, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room, and welcoming new and returning companies to its stages.

The programmes focuses on genre-blending artforms and boundary pushing. Companies and artists featured in the year long offering include Forced Entertainment, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, Hotel Pro Forma, Isabelle Huppert, Isabella Rossellini, Holly Blakey & Mica Levi, Marc Maron, Malavika Sarukkai, Jean Abreu, Iliza Shlesinger, The Tiger Lillies, Wen Hui, Scottish Dance Theatre, Scottee, Dead Centre, Brief Factory's Hot Brown Honey, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Gravity & Other Myths, National Theater of Korea, Rosie Kay Dance Company & Adam Curtis, Windmill Theatre, State Theatre Company South Australia, Tez Ilyas and many more.

Two world-renowned companies, performance ensemble Forced Entertainment and contemporary dance company Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, are announced as Southbank Centre's new associate companies, working with the multi arts organisation to research, develop and premiere work. They will sit side by side with ZooNation Youth Company.

Marking their first project as Southbank Centre associate company, Forced Entertainment will create a new version of Artistic Director Tim Etchells' acclaimed That Night Follows Day, a funny and revealing piece interrogating the way the adult world shapes and defines that of young people, performed by a chorus of children aged between 8 and 14 (11 -15 December 2018, Purcell Room). The production marks Forced Entertainment's return to Southbank Centre after more than a decade, when in 2007 they performed their durational And On The Thousandth Night as part of SPILL Festival and seminal piece Bloody Mess' at Meltdown.

Shobana Jeyasingh Dance will participate in a weekend of free performances and activities (28 & 29 April 2018, QEH) celebrating the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room. Shobana Jeyasingh first performed at Southbank Centre in 1989 and has regularly premiered work at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, including Material Men and Strange Blooms, both Southbank Centre commissions. This summer, the company will also begin a research and development project in the Royal Festival Hall's Plant Room space, joined by BBC Young Dancer of the Year 2015 finalist Vidya Patel.

ZooNation Youth Company return to the Queen Elizabeth Hall to join the weekend celebrations with an open Hip Hop workshop followed by a freestyle jam (28 & 29 April 2018, QEH). The company will then once again present a collective of young companies in their summer showcase in July.

Today's announced programme also offers sensational Christmas 2018 shows for all the family, with the UK premiere of Rumpelstiltskin, a unique spin on the classical fairytale by award-winning Australian theatre companies Windmill Theatre Co and State Theatre Company South Australia (13 Dec 2018 - 6 Jan 2019, QEH) and the European premiere of Circus 1903, a turn of the century circus spectacular with sensational puppetry from the award-winning team behind War Horse (19 Dec 2018 - 5 Jan 2019, RFH).

Highlights of the 2018/19 programme:

• Renowned Italian actress and model Isabella Rossellini is joined on stage by her dog Pan in the UK premiere of her new one-woman show Link Link Circus. Delving into the newest scientific discoveries about animal minds and emotions, Rossellini transforms into Aristotle, René Descartes, a medieval theologian, Harvard Professor F.S. Skinner and Charles Darwin to explore, in her own unique way, what is the essence of human beings and what distinguishes humans from animals (23 - 24 October 2018, QEH).
• Forced Entertainment create a new version of Tim Etchells' funny and revealing performance That Night Follows Day, marking their first project as Southbank Centre associate company. Written for, and performed by, a new cast aged between 8 and 14, That Night Follows Day, playfully and poignantly examines the language adults use and the ways in which the adult world shapes and defines that of young people (11 - 15 December 2018, Purcell Room).
• Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe award-winning actress Isabelle Huppert brings to life Justine and Juliette, two emblematic figures from the work of Marquis de Sade, in the UK premiere of her one woman show 'Isabelle Huppert reads Sade' (9 June 2018, QEH).
• The award-winning puppeteers from War Horse present the European premiere of the spectacular Circus 1903. Fresh from the Paris Theatre in Las Vegas, this turn of the century circus includes stunningly created, larger-than-life puppet elephants alongside a huge cast of the most unique, amazing and dangerous circus acts (19 Dec 2018 - 5 Jan 2019 RFH).
• Internationally acclaimed performance artists Hotel Pro Forma unite with the Latvian Radio Choir in the UK premiere of the award-winning visual music performance NeoArctic, which explores the human effect on the planet and climate change (24 - 25 May 2018, QEH).
• Marking their first performance in the UK, National Changgeuk Company of Korea presents the European premiere of the internationally acclaimed telling of Euripides,Trojan Women, an epic contemporary opera fusing modern music and pansori, the 400-year old Korean genre of storytelling - part of LIFT 2018 (2- 3 June 2018, QEH).
• Acclaimed choreographer Holly Blakey and composer Mica Levi join forces in the world premiere of Cowpuncher, a dance and music performance that toys with the structure, sounds and vistas of the Western movie genre. Cowpuncher is a Southbank Centre commission and a collaboration between performance and dance and contemporary music. (13 April 2018, QEH).
• Australian circus company Gravity & Other Myths take a visceral ride to the edges of physical, cerebral and collective brawn in the UK premiere of Backbone (14 - 19 August 2018, RFH).
• Choreographer Rosie Kay and filmmaker Adam Curtis explore the rise of the Illuminati conspiracy in modern culture with the visually arresting dance work MK ULTRA, followed by a post show discussion (8 November 2018, QEH).
• Beijing-based choreographer Wen Hui returns to the UK for her first performance in ten years with the UK premiere of dance docu-drama Red - part of Dance Umbrella 2018 celebrating its 40th year (4 - 5 October 2018, Purcell Room).
• Olivier award-winning Belgian dancer and choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Indian Kuchipudi dancer Shantala Shivalingappa collaborate in Play, a cross cultural dance piece exploring games and the role of playing in life, dance and love (4 September 2018, QEH)
• Smart, brazen and straight-talking US comic Iliza Shlesinger returns to London for a laugh out loud performance in Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall (17 April 2018, QEH).
• Windmill Theatre Co and State Theatre Company South Australia present the UK premiere of their unique spin on the classical fairytale Rumpelstiltskin, full of theatrical spectacle, rocking music and supreme silliness (13 Dec 2018 - 6 Jan 2019, QEH).
• Musical trio The Tiger Lillies showcase the UK premiere of Edgar Allen Poe's Haunted Palace, a darkly comic musical extravaganza (28 - 30 August 2018, QEH).
• London premiere of Scottish Dance Theatre's intimate dance work Velvet Petal, with a rare live performance by musical artist Abul Mogard (31 August & 1 September 2018, Purcell Room).
• Multilingual and multidisciplinary performance group Needcompany explore the notion of identity in today's multicultural Europe, with the UK premiere of The Blind Poet (2 October 2018, QEH).
• The London premiere of Hamnet, a moving and technologically innovative solo show by Dead Centre centred around Shakespeare's only son (26 - 28 May 2018, Purcell Room).
• In a daring celebration of similarities and differences a stellar posse of phenomenal women push boundaries, defy genres and smash stereotypes in the London premiere of the award-winning Hot Brown Honey, presented by Briefs Factory (24 - 28 July 2018, QEH).
• Gob Squad present the London premiere of Creation (Pictures for Dorian), a new project inspired by Oscar Wilde's iconic character Dorian Gray, who remains eternally youthful at a terrible cost to his soul - part of LIFT 2018 (4 - 7 June 2018, Purcell Room).
• International contemporary dance theatre company Ultima Vez and Wim Vandekeybus journey into a futuristic reality where a devastating force is engaged in destroying all life on earth in the UK premiere of Mockumentary of a Contemporary Saviour (1 - 2 March 2019, QEH).
• American stand-up comedian and podcaster Marc Maron, best known for his hit podcast WTF with Marc Maron, returns to London bringing his raw, honest and thought-provoking comedy to Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall (16 April 2018, RFH).
• Indian classical dancer and choreographer Malavika Sarukkai presents the UK premiere of Thari - The Loom, an innovative dance production inspired by the sari (24 April 2018, QEH).

Rupert Thomson, Senior Programmer for Performance and Dance at Southbank Centre said, "For performance and dance at Southbank Centre, getting the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room back enables us to expand our programme further, offering even more for audiences and artists. It's fantastic to be able to reveal our first programme in the newly renovated venues. We'll be showcasing world class international and UK talent, from both established and breakthrough artists. And for Christmas, we can look forward to extraordinary and epic festive offerings from Australia and Las Vegas. We are also thrilled to be working with Forced Entertainment and Shobana Jeyasingh Dance as our new associate companies. Both are creators of innovative work, and we look forward to further developing our relationship with these remarkable artists, and providing a home for the development and presentation of their work."

PERFORMANCE, COMEDY AND CABARET

Forced Entertainment present a new version of That Night Follows Day, commissioned by Southbank Centre. The comical and poignant text, created by their Artistic Director Tim Etchells, is written for, and performed by, a cast aged between 8 and 14, as a chorus of children explore and interrogate the ways in which the adult world shapes and defines that of young people. Full of advice, facts, white lies and excuses children hear from adults, the funny and revealing performance looks at how people are all both made and constrained by language (11 - 15 December 2018, Purcell Room). Internationally acclaimed performance artists Hotel Pro Forma unite with the Latvian Radio Choir in the UK premiere of the award-winning visual music performance NeoArctic. An artistic collaboration between researchers, scientists, composers, musicians, writers, artists, designers, filmmakers and scientists, NeoArctic explores humans as a 'force of nature' and the changes humans make to the world they inhabit (24 - 25 May 2018, QEH). The notion of identity in today's multicultural Europe is explored with the UK premiere of The Blind Poet, a story built from the family trees of acclaimed international performance group Needcompany (2 October 2018, QEH).

Renowned Italian actress and model Isabella Rosselini presents the UK premiere of Link Link Circus, her one woman show delving into the newest scientific discoveries about animal minds and emotions. Rossellini transforms into Aristotle, René Descartes, a medieval theologian, Harvard Professor F.S. Skinner and Charles Darwin to explore, in her own unique way, what the essence of human beings is and what distinguishes humans from animals (23 - 24 October, QEH). Isabelle Huppert (winner of the 2017 Best Actress Golden Globe Award for Elle) brings to life Justine and Juliette - two sisters with opposite destinies from the work of Marquis de Sade in the UK premiere of her one woman show 'Isabelle Huppert reads Sade: Juliette and Justine, the Vice and the Virtue.' Huppert alternates between the two sisters, bringing the world of Sade's novels viscerally to the present in this solo performance performed in French with English surtitles (9 June 2018, QEH).

LIFT returns to Southbank Centre with two major performances as part of their 2018 programme. The National Changgeuk Company of Korea, a leading resident company of the National Theatre of Korea perform in the UK for the first time with Trojan Women. Directed by Singaporean director Ong Ken Sen, globally acclaimed for his work connecting Europe and Asia through intercultural theatre and composed by a producer at the forefront of the K-pop scene, Jung Jae-il, in collaboration with the renowned Pansori master Ahn Sook sun, Trojan Women brings together both ancient and modern art forms in this epic contemporary opera performed by a cast of 25 singers, actors and musicians (2 - 3 June 2018, QEH). Gob Squad joins three generations of performers to question perspectives on age and beauty in their signature anarchic style in the London premiere of Creation (Pictures for Dorian). Inspired by Oscar Wilde's character, Gob Squad peep behind the vanity-mirror and explore beauty, morality, ageing and power (4 - 7 June 2018, Purcell Room).

Cult musical trio The Tiger Lillies present the UK premiere of Edgar Allen Poe's Haunted Palace, a musical plunge into the dark and sinister world of the author's tales and life (28 - 30 August 2018, QEH). The makers of the Fringe First and OBIE award-winning LIPPY, Dead Centre explore Shakespeare's only son, who died when he was 11, in the London premiere of Hamnet (26 - 28 May 2018, Purcell Room). Composer and creator Helen Chadwick and Oliver-award winning choreographer Steven Hoggett explore the once-simple notion of truth in a messy modern age with the provoking performance Truth (20 - 21 September 2018, Purcell Room). Hot Brown Honey light up the stage with their dazzling beehive, in a London premiere, equal parts theatrical spectacular and social activism (24 - 28 July 2018, QEH). Elaine Mitchener explores the universality of death and rebirth through movement, vocal improvisation and film in Of Leonardo da Vinci (4 September 2018, Purcell Room). Artist and self proclaimed 'Fat Bloke' Scottee explores the trials and tribulations of being an overweight man in today's society in his 'sort of' dance show Fat Blokes (8 - 11 November 2018, Purcell Room).

American stand-up comedian and podcaster Marc Maron brings his raw, honest and thought-provoking comedy to Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall, returning to London for the first time since his critically acclaimed sell-out shows in 2015 (16 April 2018, RFH). Award-winning comedian Stewart Lee performs his most successful full-length show Content Provider for the very last time, with three performances in Royal Festival Hall marking his 50th Birthday (19 - 23 April 2018, QEH). Smart, brazen and straight-talking US comic Iliza Shlesinger returns to London for a special live performance (17 April 2018, QEH). Armed with his trademark cheek and uncompromising approach, Tez Ilyas presents his slick, smart and typically subversive new stand-up show Teztify (7 May 2018, Purcell Room). Star of Radio 4's Relativity, Richard Herring muses about his life and getting to half a century in Oh Frig: I'm 50!, the second instalment in Herring's once-a-decade series (4 May 2018, QEH). The team behind the smash hit podcast My Dad Wrote A Porno also return following their sell-out Royal Festival Hall performances (14 May 2018, RFH). Multi award-winning comedian Joseph Morpurgo will present the multimedia comedy Hammerhead for a special one off performance (5 July 2018, Purcell Room). Dave Gorman, known for Modern Life is Goodish and Are You Dave Gorman?, is back on the road with his brand new live show, With Great PowerPoint Comes Great ResponsibilityPoint (31 Oct & 26 Nov 2018, QEH).

The world of Lewis Carroll and an imaginary creature are brought to life in The Hunting of the Snark, a musical family adventure inspired by his classic poem (26 - 28 May 2018, QEH). Storytelling, puppetry and a magical original score combine in Branar Téatar do Pháistí's How to Catch a Star, a show about following your dreams based on the beloved book by award-winning Irish author Oliver Jeffers (23 - 27 August 2018, Purcell Room). Young inventor Monty creates a whole world of wacky inventions and incredible monsters in Monstersaurus, an energetic show for all the family from the creators of Aliens Love Underpants (7 - 12 August 2018, Purcell Room).

DANCE & CIRCUS

Following her sell out success Some Greater Class, Holly Blakey returns to Southbank Centre with composer Mica Levi (Under the Skin) in the premiere of dance and music performance Cowpuncher. Creating a scorched and sandy playground re-defined by dance and music in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Blakey and Levi, who met at Southbank Centre toy with the structure, sounds and vistas of the Western movie genre, where the desert becomes the dance floor. Cowpuncher has been commissioned by Southbank Centre's performance and dance and contemporary music departments (13 April 2018, QEH). Dance theatre company Ultima Vez and Wim Vandekeybus return to Southbank Centre with the UK premiere of Mockumentary of a Contemporary Saviour. A journey into the distant future on a voyage of revelations, this new piece by the inventive dance theatre follows a group of survivors where a turning point in the history of mankind has been reached and a devastating force is engaged in destroying all life on earth (1 -2 March 2019, QEH). BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing professional dancers Kevin and Karen Clifton present their new show, including a supporting cast of dancers and a live 12-piece show band (9 June 2018, RFH).

Photo Credit: Shane Reid/Carnival Studio

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