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Performance Times Ticket Prices Where to Buy Tickets   Seating Plan Seat Opinions Getting Here

QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL

 

Events include:

Saturday 11th until Sunday 26th February 2012

IMAGINE CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL

Sponsored by the Book People  

 

FAVOURITE CHILDREN’S WRITERS, MUSIC, COMEDY AND…
DENNIS THE MENACE ON TRIAL (CHARGED WITH HAVING TOO MUCH FUN…) AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S BIGGEST AND BEST-EVER FESTIVAL EVENT!

When Dennis the Menace and his mates from Beanotown come to London to star in the world premiere of The Trial of Dennis the Menace, they will find Southbank Centre run by children and teeming with a host of dragons, ninja pirates and characters as wild and colourful as they are, many of them brought to life by the writers who created them. With more than 50 ticketed and free events over two weeks, including concerts, plays, comedy and appearances by many of the UK’s finest children’s authors, it will be the biggest Imagine festival yet. For six days, between 13th – 19th February, children take over the running of Imagine, from managing the cloakroom to selling programmes and making sure shows start on time. Festival themes include a celebration of Roald Dahl – perhaps the greatest of all children’s writers – and an exploration of children in care in literature and in real life in partnership with The Letterbox Club, who deliver books to children within the care system. Imagine takes over Southbank Centre, from the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance of The Jungle Book in the Royal Festival Hall and an audience with the legendary Jacqueline Wilson in the Queen Elizabeth Hall to intimate, one-on-one performances of The Incredible Book Eating Boy in Spirit Level or guided tours of Southbank Centre’s secret places in the company of a friendly monster called Beastie.  

Imagine Festival Highlights:

  • Readings and storytelling from new books by Jacqueline Wilson, Cathy Cassidy, Francesca Simon, Morris Gleitzman, Andy Stanton and Cressida Cowell
  • Cast of The Beano star in the world premiere of The Trial of Dennis The Menace
  • Pirates of the Caribbean star Mackenzie Crook reads and draws from his new book
  • Prestigious Red House Children’s Book Award held at Imagine for first time
  • Robert Winston demonstrates amazing facts and explosively fun activities from his new book Science Experiments
  • Special staged performance of Michael Morpurgo’s award-winning Private Peaceful
  • Chances to meet favourite authors and characters on the Imagine Extra Stage, including Ciaran Murtagh (Dinopants); Korky Paul (Winnie the Witch); Jamila Gavin (Tales from India); Tamara McFarlane (Amazing Esme); Steve Cole (Astrosaurs) Tony Ross and Jeanne Willis (Dr Xargle) the Mega Mash-up Boys and more. 
  • Comedy from Imagine favourites James Campbell and Jeremy Strong
  • Past children’s laureate Michael Rosen chairs the Roald Dahl Funny Prize Panel with this year’s winner Liz Pichon (The Brilliant World of Tom Gates) and previous winners Louise Rennison (Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging) and Philip Ardagh (Grubtown Tales)
  • Laura Dockrill celebrates the genius of Roald Dahl with Dockrill’s Dahl Delights
  • BBC Gastronaut Stefan Gates re-creates famous disgusting recipes from children’s books
  • Charles Hazlewood brings orchestral music to life with family performances of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Dvořák’s Symphony from the New World
  • Opera for babies, hip-hop for toddlers and family-friendly orchestral performances of The Jungle Book and Carnival of the Animals
  • Children can explore the Southbank Centre site with new friend Beastie  and with choreographer Lea Anderson on her Tall Tales Tour

Shan MacLennan, Creative Director of Learning and Participation at Southbank Centre said:
“Imagine isn’t run by children – not yet – but what would it look like if it was? As our biggest Imagine yet takes to the stage, we have invited children from different backgrounds to help us run things and think about how to create a festival that they themselves might conjure up. We love the idea of the greatest figures making work for children today being looked after by children. Though, we realise that if we truly want to create a festival that has the interests of children at its heart we adults must be prepared to relinquish some control. So, as the festival gets bigger, you might see its organisers becoming a little smaller.”

Jude Kelly, Artistic Director at Southbank Centre, said:
“Children’s authors populate our minds with fantastic worlds to escape into, characters that become friends and stories that we carry with us and draw upon for the rest of our lives. While Imagine has grown hugely to encompass music, comedy and theatre in recent years, books, storytelling and – perhaps, most excitingly of all – the chance to meet the writers themselves remains right at the heart of the festival. So, we are particularly thrilled to be able to honour them by welcoming the Redhouse Book Awards to Imagine for the first time – fittingly the only children’s book award voted for exclusively by children.”

Imagine Books and Storytelling

Children’s literature is right at the heart of Imagine, as signalled by the appearance of the prestigious Red House Children’s Book Awards, which are being held as part of the festival for the first time. Children are welcome to join a star-studded shortlist of authors at the exciting ceremony, hosted by comedian James Campbell, to find out who wins the only national book award voted for entirely by children.

There will be readings and appearances by favourite children’s authors throughout the festival including Jacqueline Wilson, who talks about her new book The Worst Thing About My Sister; Cressida Cowell, author of How to Train Your Dragon; Horrid Henry’s Francesca Simon reading from her new book Sleeping Amy; and Chris Bradford, author of the award-winning Young Samurai series, who launches his new book Ring of Wind at Imagine. Also appearing is Mackenzie Crook, star of The Office and Pirates of the Caribbean, who will read from his book The Windvale Sprites and draw illustrations live on stage.

The Imagine Extra Stage is free and takes place in The Clore Ballroom on both Saturdays of the Festival and offers more opportunities to meet favourite authors including Ciaran Murtugh, creator of the very silly and often stinky Stone Age series Dinopants; Korky Paul writer of the hugely popular Winnie The Witch books; Surya Trilogy author Jamila Gavin tells Tales from India; Tamara McFarlane, creator of the wildly imaginative Amazing Esme; Steve Cole, who had the genius idea of bringing astronauts and dinosaurs together in the thrilling Astrosaurs series; Tony Ross and Jeanne Willis’s hilarious observations on earthling’s behaviour as seen through the eyes of alien Dr Xargle and a glimpse into the minds of some of the creators of quite possibly the most bonkers books around with the Mega Mash-up Boys. The Imagine Craft Pavilion (11 – 19 February) in Spirit Level sees different children’s publishers introduce children to their favourite characters in creative ways.

Throughout the festival the Saison Poetry library will have a focus on the magic of Roald Dahl, who inspired and thrilled generations of readers and authors alike. Poet, illustrator and self-confessed Dahl fan Laura Dockrill explores Roald Dahl’s daring, gruesome and hilarious poetry in Dockrill’s Dahl’s Delights.

Imagine on Stage
Britain’s favourite comic, The Beano, is brought to life in the Queen Elizabeth Hall with the world premiere of The Trial of Dennis the MenaceThis is a new commission by Southbank Centre, in conjunction with publisher DC Thomson, written by award-winning poet Caroline Bird with music by composer Matt Rogers.  Audiences can witness the antics of Dennis and his mates as they work out who stole the mayor of Beanotown’s gold chain, and battle the grown-ups, who are declaring a war on fun.  Also making a special appearance at Imagine is a stage adaptation of Private Peaceful, Michael Morpurgo’s story of a young First World War Soldier awaiting firing squad, and Mandela Tales, telling stories from a number of regions and traditions across Africa.
Mulberry School for Girls give a free performance of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, first produced at the Unicorn Theatre as part of the Shakespeare Schools Festival, which is told with slapstick humour and accompanied with an 80s soundtrack. Children are able to experience a one-on-one performance of The Incredible Book Eating Boy, an exciting adaptation of Oliver Jeffers’ book about a boy with a voracious appetite for books that uses puppetry and projection, whilst aspiring chefs can watch as Stefan Gates, of BBC’s Gastronauts, recreates some of the most famous disgusting recipes from literature live on the stage of the Queen Elizabeth Hall. 

 

Imagine Comedy

Imagine comedy favourite James Campbell, returns to the festival with his much-loved stand up show, in which he makes fun of everything from couscous to Nintendo Wii.  Also appearing is Jeremy Strong who reads from the latest in his Cartoon Kid series and Mr Gum creator Andy Stanton. In celebration of all things funny, the Roald Dahl Funny Prize Panel sees recent winner Liz Pichon, joined by two previous winners, Louise Rennison, of Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging fame and Phillip Ardagh, who won the prize in 2009 with Grubtown Tales: Stinking Rich and Just Plain Stinky. They will all be kept in line by poet Michael Rosen, who founded the Roald Dahl Funny Prize in association with the reading charity Booktrust.

 

 

Imagine Music

Conductor, TV presenter and classical music advocate Charles Hazlewood will work with over 300 pupils from schools in Southwark in performances of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Dvořák’s New World Symphony with Southbank Centre Resident Orchestra the Philharmonia Orchestra. The London Philharmonic Orchestra provides the perfect family-friendly introduction to classical music in their FUNHarmonics Family Concert, where Miklós Rózsa’s score for Alexander Korda’s 1943 film of The Jungle Book is brought to life with singing, dancing and a generous dose of silliness.

Meanwhile in The Clore Ballroom children will have the chance to encounter a number of creatures through classical music, hip-hop and opera. The National Youth Orchestra gives free performances of Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, whilst Baby O, the opera for babies, invites the audience to meet animals in a magical secret garden. The hugely popular DJ and poet Charlie Dark returns to Imagine, taking little ones – two and under – an adventure deep beneath the sea to meet a beat-boxing blow fish and a mermaid who can’t swim in Dr Octopus and the Wheels of Steel.  

Exploring the Southbank Centre site:
Throughout the festival, children can leave their parents behind as they go off to explore the Southbank Centre site with a new special friend Beastie, creating their own stories along the way, or experience live performances in unexpected locations in the Tall Tale Tours from Southbank Centre’s Artist in Residence Lea Anderson.  Fans of Where’s Wally should keep an eye out for the infamous red and white jumper at this year’s Imagine, as Wally is hiding somewhere among all the fun. 

Anyone looking for new excuses for taking the day of school should be sure to see The Letter, an animation by David Shrigley that depicts an anonymous hand writing a letter of absence to Mrs Teacher.  The work is projected onto the exterior of the Royal Festival Hall from dusk each day, and coincides with the Hayward Gallery exhibition David Shrigley: Brain Activity, which offers children’s tours and a workshop that encourages children to respond creatively to the exhibition.

 

 

 

Top Performance Times Ticket Prices Where to Buy Tickets   Seating Plan Seat Opinions Getting Here

Performance Schedule:
The monkey advises checking performance times on your tickets and that performances are happening as scheduled, before travelling.

Varies by event, see www.rfh.org.uk for details.
 

Ticket Prices:
Varies by event, see www.rfh.org.uk for details.
 
Top Performance Times Ticket Prices Where to Buy Tickets   Seating Plan Seat Opinions Getting Here

Buying Tickets Online:

Other Box Office Information

Tickets offered differ between outlets. Outlets also may offer different seats via their phone and online systems. Offers may be available click here.
Venue Box Office:
www.rfh.org.uk. Their own site provide the service for this venue.
A brilliant box office system lets you select the actual seat you require AND see the view from it before you confirm! If only all systems were like that, thinks the monkey...before realising it would become redundant..

Booking fees per ticket for online bookings:
A £1.75 per booking, not per seat, fee is charged.

Other Online Choices (with S.T.A.R. genuine ticket agencies):

Independent S.T.A.R. ticket agencies may also offer an alternative choice of seats.
 

Box Office Information:
Tickets offered differ between outlets. Outlets also may offer different seats via their phone and online systems. Offers may be available click here.
Venue Box Office:
Telephone: 0844 847 9911
Operated by the venue itself.

Booking fees per ticket for telephone bookings:
By Telephone: A fee of £2.75 per booking is added to the total cost of tickets for telephone bookings. The Royal National Theatre next door charge less - the Royal Festival Hall must have their own postal zone to account for the difference.

For personal callers or by post: South Bank Centre Ticket Office, London, SE1 8XX
No booking fee for personal callers.

By post, an "Upper Limit" cheque should be mailed to the box office. They do not want credit card details sent to them.

 

Special Access Needs Customers:
Wheelchair users and other registered disabled theatregoers can book their seats on 0844 847 9911 and enquire about concessionary prices that may be available to them. The wheelchair users line connects directly to the venue box office in London. See Notes.

www.rfh.org.uk is the official theatre website.

 

 
 
Top Performance Times Ticket Prices Where to Buy Tickets   Seating Plan Seat Opinions Getting Here

Venue Seat Opinions:
Please remember that cheaper seats often do not offer the same view / location quality as top price ones, and that ticket prices are designed to reflect this difference.

NOTE: This advice is based on "First Impressions" and readers are asked to contribute their own opinions in order to build up a comprehensive picture - contact us. Extra detail will be added over the next few months after events have taken place and views assessed.

www.ehouse.co.uk/virtualtours/ has a "virtual tour" of the auditorium.
 

Seating Plan Diagram

Choir

Stalls Rear Stalls Notes
CHOIR 
These seats face the rest of the auditorium, behind the orchestra. They are sold only if choir or stage performers do not need the space.

Divided into centre and two side blocks, all seats offer excellent sound and a good view of the conductor, but the backs of the heads of his orchestra.

Sit here for a cheap and good value concert experience.

Legroom is good in all seats, especially row A.

 

STALLS
The Stalls is divided into a central and two side blocks by aisles.

The front section has a gentle rake and all seats offer a good view of the stage and good sound. Choose seats in the centre block, numbered 14 to 26, before the side blocks when all seats in a row are the same price this maximises value for money.

Wheelchair users get prime room at the front of the stalls. See notes.

 

REAR STALLS
The rear stalls section is steeply raked. Rows BB to DD offer the best value. The rear rows LL to QQ are some distance from the stage and are better value for orchestral concerts than ballet or other visual events. For the latter, pay the extra for the best view.

Legroom is good in all seats, best in rows A and AA.

 

Notes
Total 880 seats approx.

Air-conditioned auditorium.

Guide dogs welcome, hearing loop, all documents available in large print. Wheelchair access via stage door to decent seats in auditorium. Bring your violin and steal the show. Users get free car parking in centre car park. Unisex disabled toilet and two cubicles with handrails in the ladies too. Fuller details call the venue on 0844 875 0073 (select option 2) or Artsline 020 7388 2227, see www.artslineonline.com, email artsline@dircon.co.uk, or call the venue direct. A "venue access guide" from the team who created book "Theatremonkey, A Guide to London's West End," is available to download in PDF format by clicking here.

Café, Bars and toilets shared with the Purcell Room

 

Top Performance Times Ticket Prices Where to Buy Tickets   Seating Plan Seat Opinions Getting Here

Getting to this Theatre
Find this theatre on a Street Map
Nearest Underground Station Buses Car Park
Nearest Underground Station:
Waterloo - Bakerloo Line (brown), Jubilee Line (silver gray), Northern Line (black). Also a main line station.

Plan your tube journey to this station using the button below:

A PHOTOGRAPH ILLUSTRATED VERSION of this walking route is available by clicking here.

This station has multiple exits, not clearly marked, so be careful! The best route is as follows:

Follow the exit signs marked "South Bank" and / or "Shell Exit" and / or "York Road Exit" from the platform to the surface. All lead to the same place! Leave the station and you will be on York Road.

Turn to your left, and walk past the Lloyds / TSB Bank. Ahead to your left is a huge silver steel rectangle. No, the monkey does not know what it is either. To the left of it, and behind, is a pedestrian passageway called "Sutton Walk"; which goes under a bridge. Take it, at the end is a fountain ahead of you. 

You are now on "Concert Road Approach". Turn to your left. The Royal Festival Hall is ahead of you. Walk towards it. Go to the right hand side of it.

You are now in an area of grey concrete.

 The Festival Hall is to your left, a mass of balconies with open space below them to your right. On one of the balconies, words spell out the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room.

Look to the left below them. Amongst the pillars are a pair of grey doors. Cross the area to them and go in. Up the stairs is the foyer of the venue.

____________

If you have the misfortune to leave the station by the "Waterloo Road" exit, fear not. You can either walk through Waterloo Station to the York road exit, or take this alternative route - CONSIDER YOUR PERSONAL SAFETY if you do so.

On leaving the glass doors, turn left. Walk to the corner, and turn left into "Mepham Street". Walk all the way to the end of it, avoiding the temptation to go under any bridges.

At the end of the street is York Road. Cross it. Ahead of you, to the left, is "Sutton Walk", the pedestrian road under the bridge. Take it.

At the end is a fountain ahead of you. You are now on "Concert Road Approach". Turn to your left. The Royal Festival Hall is ahead of you. Walk towards it. Go to the right hand side of it.

You are now in an area of grey concrete. The Festival Hall is to your left, a mass of balconies with open space below them to your right. On one of the balconies, words spell out the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room.

Look to the left below them. Amongst the pillars are a pair of grey doors. Cross the area to them and go in. Up the stairs is the foyer of the venue.

_____________

Another visitor suggest this route: Take the tube to the Embankment station and walk across the Hungerford  footbridge to the south bank, then walk  past the Festival Hall complex. Take the next staircase leading up. The foyer entrance is at the top, to your right.

Noted are the "Gorgeous views both up and down river on a good day or evening.". The monkey endorses this comment, especially at twilight!

 

Buses:
1, 4, 68, X68, 168, 171, 176, 188, 501, 502, 513 to Waterloo Bridge.

Get off on the Bridge and look for the triangular neon sculpture on the roof of the Hayward Gallery, and the glass front of the Festival Hall. Take the stairs on this side of the bridge down to the first level, not the ground. A safe crossing of this bridge can be made by taking the stairs down to first level and walking under it on a walkway linking the staircases either side of the bridge.

On the correct side staircase, leave it, turn to your left and left again for the combined entrance of the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room just along the walkway.

 

Taxi:
A rank for Black taxis is at Waterloo Station - a fair distance from the venue. Best chance of hailing one in the street is on Waterloo Bridge.

 

 

Car Park:
Belvedere Road or The Hayward, both just next to the Festival Hall. Follow signs to the left as you leave the car park. Take the stairs to the left up to the first level, turn left at the top, you will be facing the side of the Festival Hall. Follow the walkway around the side of the building. The Hayward Gallery is ahead of you. If you see a railway bridge with pathways leading under it, wrong way.

Remember to get your ticket validated at the venue box office for a discounted parking rate in these car parks.

 

Top Performance Times Ticket Prices Where to Buy Tickets  Seating Plan Seat Opinions Getting Here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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