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The Royal Festival Hall is closed to the public on Tuesday 16 June. It will reopen for Harry Styles & Jules Buckley Orchestra ticket holders only at 5pm.

A blurry image of a group of dancers all wearing black

Performance & Dance

Autumn/Winter 2026/27

Spotlighting cutting-edge new work from around the world

Discover pioneering theatre, dance and circus from international and UK-based artists in our curated performance and dance programme.

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More info for Duckie: Why Do Benders Love Divas?
A high-contrast pink stencil illustration of a singer on a black background, performing with arms spread wide.
Performance & dance

Duckie: Why Do Benders Love Divas?

David Hoyle, David McAlmont and Rupert Smith chat about the fierce queer connection to women icons
The Clore Ballroom
Tickets Free
More info for THIS IS MY LIFE: Duckie Salutes Shirley Bassey
Silhouette of a singer with arms raised, composed of shimmering gold sequins against a solid black background.
Performance & dance

THIS IS MY LIFE: Duckie Salutes Shirley Bassey

Drag, singalongs, musical chairs, boogie bingo and boas await at this dance club and variety show
The Clore Ballroom
More info for Forced Entertainment: Cold Sweat
An actor with long dark hair sits in a red inflatable chair on a stage scattered with oversized playing cards, tinsel, and white cups.
Performance & dance

Forced Entertainment: Cold Sweat

Figures move to strange rhythms and try to articulate their desires in an absurd yet subversive work
Purcell Room
More info for Who Are We?
Performer wearing all black performing a flip through the air on a floury stage
Performance & dance

Who Are We?

Witness modern circus in a show combining humour and playful self-reflection with dance and theatre
Queen Elizabeth Hall
More info for Kim Noble: How to Write
a man in a black blazer looking directly at the camera while a chaotic cluster of books and a roll of masking tape are bound tightly to his head and stuffed into his mouth using beige tape.
Literature & poetry

Kim Noble: How to Write

A witty lecture about the comedic artist’s new book with writing advice from the greats and his mum
Purcell Room
More info for Fag Packet: DYKE Systems Ltd
A vibrant studio portrait captures a comedic duo dressed in exaggerated 1980s business attire, with one person talking into a pink brick cell phone
Performance & dance

Fag Packet: DYKE Systems Ltd

A comedy and physical theatre takedown of pyramid schemes, heteronormativity and corporate feminism.
Purcell Room
More info for Taylor Mac: A 24-Decade History of Popular Music
Taylor Mac in a headdress surrounded by balloons
Classical music

Taylor Mac: A 24-Decade History of Popular Music

Take a glitter-soaked journey through the soul of the US with the theatre-maker and the Philharmonia
Royal Festival Hall
Multi-buy
More info for Thick & Tight: Camp as Christmas
A collage of one performer in white makeup, green hair, and a floral dress and another performer in all black with one leg in the air
Performance & dance

Thick & Tight: Camp as Christmas

A sizzling revue-style cabaret for the bleak midwinter that’s all camp and a little bit Christmassy
Purcell Room
More info for MimeLondon: FOOD
Two performers dressed in black entangled together, with a performer watching on with a microwave balanced on his head.
Performance & dance

MimeLondon: FOOD

Enter an amusing and bizarre world of consumption in this spectacle from circus artist Michael Zandl
More info for Lyon Opera Ballet: Mycelium
A group of dancers in a triangle formation, wearing all black
Performance & dance

Lyon Opera Ballet: Mycelium

A double bill pulsating with energy from choreographers Christos Papadopoulos and Jan Martens
Queen Elizabeth Hall
More info for IT’S GOT LEGS!!!!!!!
Two bearded performers in red sequined outfits and makeup pose expressively against a solid black background.
Performance & dance

IT’S GOT LEGS!!!!!!!

Embrace the chaotic beauty of identity in a visceral, vampy cabaret by Samir Kennedy and Sean Murray
Purcell Room
More info for NOW NOT NOW
Two performers wearing blue suits and floor length green ties, cutting a very long cucumber with slices floating in the air.
Performance & dance

NOW NOT NOW

A mind-bending performance about how time flows, with two performers and their uncanny video doubles
Queen Elizabeth Hall
More info for MimeLondon: INHALE DELIRIUM EXHALE
Performance & dance

MimeLondon: INHALE DELIRIUM EXHALE

Surrender to the tide in a visually breathtaking performance inspired by the movement of waves
Queen Elizabeth Hall

While you're with us

Jeppe Hein: Appearing Rooms
People enjoying the Jeppe Hein Fountain at the Southbank Centre

Jeppe Hein: Appearing Rooms

A summer favourite returns to our site with water fountains to splash around and cool down in.

Shopping
Wooden displays in the Southbank centre shop, featuring books, plushies, and colourful merchandise

Shopping

A vibrant range of inspiring books, homeware, prints, accessories and more.

Klaus Weber: Thinking Fountains
Two statues; a green human body with water spouting from its neck and another of human legs with water pouring down from above displayed outdoors

Thinking
Fountains

Water cascades and spouts over Klaus Weber’s bronze figures.

Modified Social Benches
Two children eating ice cream on a red cirrcular bench

Modified Social Benches

Benches that challenge the space and distance we place between one another.

William Pye's Zemran
A photograph showing Riverside Terrace at Southbank Centre, with the metal sculpture Zemran in the foreground, next to Queen Elizabeth Hall

William Pye's Zemran

Pye’s beautiful stainless steel sculpture sits overlooking the Thames.

Natura Nostra Forest
Bright sunlight bursts through green leaves with a lens flare, set against a blue sky and a textured concrete building.

Natura Nostra Forest

Our growing pocket forest creating a natural oasis.