Southbank Centre

Southbank Centre – upcoming events

Ernesto Neto, and The New Décor
19th Jun – 5th Sep 2010 The Hayward Gallery is putting on a special exhibition of work by Ernesto Neto, who will transform the upper galleries and outdoor sculpture terraces with a number of new works. ‘The New Décor’ will survey some 30 contemporary artists whose work explores interior design as a means of engaging with contemporary culture.

“Blood And Gifts”, about Afghanistan
Buy tickets at Ticketmaster Buy cheap tickets7th Sep – 2nd Nov 2010 “Blood and Gifts” is an epic political thriller that sweeps between refugee camps and mountainous tribal regions to the corridors of power in Washington DC. As the Soviet army burns its way through Afghanistan towards the Pakistani border, CIA operative Jim Warnock is sent to try and halt its bloody progress.

Leslie Phillips, presenting “Battle of Britain”
11th Sep 2010 Veteran TV star Leslie Phillips presents a programme of wartime hits to commemorate the Battle of Britain at the Royal Festival Hall. There will also be readings from ‘High Flight’ and speeches from Winston Churchill and Shakespeare’s “Henry V”.

The Southbank Centre is London’s largest entertainment venue, comprising chiefly of the Hayward Gallery, Royal Festival Hall, Royal National Theatre and National Film Theatre.

Hayward Gallery

The Hayward Gallery is the worst of the Southbank Centre’s concrete catastrophes (one architect accused it of having a quite frightening ugliness), but don’t let the depressing shell keep you from the inside – where you’ll find major exhibitions by the world’s leading artists.

Royal Festival Hall

The Royal Festival Hall is the Southbank Centre’s main concert venue. Classical music recitals are always on the agenda, with regular performances by the Philharmonic and London Philharmonic. You can also find jazz, ballet and world music pieces.

National Theatre

The National Theatre was opened in 1976, and combines three different auditoria: the Cottesloe, the Lyttelton and Olivier.

BFI Southbank shows a broad range of British, international and foreign language films, and is the focus of the annual London Film Festival.

If you don’t like all the art-house movies, then you can always catch one of their frequent film premières – where, if you’re really lucky, you’ll also catch the director or movie-star introducing the piece with a short talk. Previous stars have included Clint Eastwood and Cate Blanchett.