Underbelly Festival has announced additional programming for their Summer 2024 pop-up in Cavendish Square. Underbelly’s famous Spiegeltent will host circus, cabaret and comedy as well as children’s and family friendly entertainment offering festival fun in the heart of Central London.
The new additions to the line-up include a wealth of children’s and family entertainment. The family comic theatre and circus show Failfailfailfailwin (24 – 26 & 30 August, 1 September) is a show that puts a new spin on failure. Meet a cast of puppet friends including a crab and a Swedish Astronaut for an uplifting, nurturing and agelessly relevant adventure. Featuring such fails and possibly wins in the mediums of diabolo, juggling, hula-hoop, and an attempt to spin 8 real VERDAGEN Ikea plates.
Drag Queen Story Hour (20 – 26 August) from Aida H Dee The Storytime Drag Queen, is a magical hour of storytelling engaging children’s creativity and love for reading. Aida – a published children’s author and the first drag artist in the UK to read stories in a library – takes kids on a journey of positivity full of colourful characters, antics and inclusive stories.
The cycling Shakespearean collective who carry all of their set, props and costumes on the back of their bikes, The Handlebards (3 – 4 August) will bring their sense of adventure and love of Shakespeare to the Speigeltent with their version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
As seen on Comedy Central, Sky Atlantic, Channel 4 an BBC 1, Marcel Lucont: Les Enfants Terribles – A Gameshow for Awful Children (30 August) presents a wild family gameshow, in which kids get to be pests, politicians and pétomanes to be crowned the most awful child. Britain’s favourite French comedian channels his acerbic humour and quickfire wit into a series of tasks for the younger generation, which is every bit as entertaining for adults as it is for children.
Completing the family programming, a series of beatboxing entertainment for kids begins with Shlomo’s Beatbox Adventures for Kids (11 August) an interactive live music show for children and families of all ages. After performing with legends like Bjork, Ed Sheeran and Rudimental, the world record-breaking beatboxer SK Shlomo is back on the mission to empower the next generation of superstar beatboxers to find their true voice, no matter who they are.
Also bringing the beats The Beatbox Collective: What’s Your Sound? (7 – 8 September), the 2015 world beatbox champions who have collectively won nearly every beatbox competition on the planet, combine mind-blowing sounds, beats and vocals with physical theatrics performed by international touring beatboxers and world champions.
Finally, an all-new action-packed beatboxing and comedy hoopla The Mighty Kids Beatbox Comedy Show (17 August). Direct from the Edinburgh comedy festival and sell out shows at the Imagine Festival Southbank centre Jarred and Hobbit are back with an inclusive show for wallflowers and show-offs alike.
Offering world-class late-night entertainment, a cult hit at festivals worldwide Marcel Lucont’s Cabaret Fantastique (30 August) is Marcel Lucont’s feast of international cabaret, with no fixed abode. Each night is handpicked by Marcel, including the finest performers from the world of cabaret, comedy, circus, poetry, magic and music, all held together with dry wit and a dry white.
Just These Please (5 September) are back for one night only following sold-out runs at both the Soho Theatre and Edinburgh Festival Fringe as well as over 64 million views online. This fast-paced comedy show mixes revue style sketches with musical comedy.
Gig theatre show inspired by Greek mythology, The Gods, The Gods, The Gods (10 – 21 September) will be performed on three stages surrounding the crowd to create an uplifting communal experience inviting the audience to find their power. Performed as a 12-track album, the performance weaves together big beats, heavy basslines, soaring melodies and spoken word.
The full programme will kick off with Dizney in Drag: Once Upon a Parody from 4th July followed by Tweedy’s Massive Circus (18 – 27 July) YUCK Circus (28 Aug – 8 Sept) and other events announced earlier this month.
Underbelly Festival Programmer Jodie Adams said, “We’re delighted to be releasing more shows today to join our programme of exceptional circus, cabaret and comedy in Cavendish Square. The festival offers an affordable and eclectic range of shows for all ages, from inspiring and fun kids shows to sizzling late-night entertainment. Underbelly Festival is the go-to place this summer for an entertaining evening or hanging out in the sun, or to take the family for a fun day out. We can’t wait for audiences to sample some of the best international work on offer!”
Underbelly is a UK-based live entertainment company founded in 2000 by Ed Bartlam and Charlie Wood that specialises in producing and programming ground-breaking theatrical productions and the creation of city-centre cultural events and festivals across the UK, USA, Asia & beyond. Underbelly, alongside ATG Productions, is the lead and originating producer of the Olivier Award winning Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, now in its third year in the West End. Recent productions also include The McOnie Company’s Nutcracker at the Tuff Nutt Jazz Club at Southbank Centre, La Clique in Manchester & London, Cabaret Royale at the Gaillard Center in Charleston and the inaugural headline show at Underbelly Boulevard, Club Kabarett.
Underbelly Boulevard, their first permanent venue, opened in 2023 in the heart of Soho presenting and producing an outstanding variety of cabaret, comedy, circus, music and theatre. Live Events include West End Live presented by Westminster City Council and SOLT, Pride in London, Christmas in Leicester Square, Skate West End, Edinburgh’s Christmas, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and Underbelly Festival on London’s Southbank, at Earl’s Court and in Cavendish Square. In 2024, Underbelly will produce The McOnie Company’s The Artist, Tweedy’s Massive Circus beginning a UK-wide tour at The RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon and the 20th anniversary of La Clique in Edinburgh and London. One of the largest producers at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Underbelly is proud to have previously presented Fleabag in 2013, Six in 2018, Rob Madge’s My Son’s a Queer, (But What Can You Do?) in 2022 and Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder in 2023.
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