Deathfest Southbank

With a Festival Day Pass for Saturday 28 January or Sunday 29 January, muse upon mortality, tackle the taboo and join us for a weekend of discussion, workshops and talks.

Ask questions, share your stories or simply be enlightened about the end.

Including:

–  Assisted dying: The Human Rights Debate with Jon Snow

– The Long Goodbye – Meghan O’Rourke recounts her personal experience of grief from her memoir

–   A Scattering – Christopher Reid reads from his Costa Book Award-winning collection of poems

–  27: the age the rockstar died by Paul Morley

– Death Bites – Hear all about death including cryonics, the art of obituary writing, what happens to your data after you die, and body politics                             

–  Of Mutability – Jo Shapcott reads from her Costa Book Award-winning book

–  Writer Ian Clayton tells his heart-rending experience of bereavement and the new paths that can arise from loss

– Panels consider a range of subjects including organ donation, suicide and survival

–   Death Bites – Hear all about death including the rise of women funeral directors, memorial tattooing, celebrity death, and the lives of gangs and inner-city young people and their relationship to death

In addition to a packed daytime programme covered by the Festival Day Pass you can also enjoy evening concerts and performances which are ticketed separately.

GOODBYE MR MUFFIN

Friday 27 – Sunday 29 January

An uplifting children’s story about the last days in the life of much-loved guinea pig Mr Muffin, told through puppetry, animation and music.                    

MUSIC TO DIE FOR BBC CONCERT ORCHESTRA

Friday 27 January

A heavenly mix of devilishly popular classics from composers obsessed by death, including Saint-Saëns and Mahler, and excerpts from requiems by Verdi, Fauré and Mozart.

THE SANDI TOKSVIG MEMORIAL LECTURE

Saturday 28 January

Die Laughing: Bringing life back to the subject of death, Sandi Toksvig seeks out a mix of merriment and the macabre in morbidity.                          

AN INSTINCT FOR KINDNESS

Friday 27 – Sunday 29 January

Chris Larner explores the contentious issue of assisted dying through his candid, poignant and sometimes comic tale of visiting Switzerland’s Dignitas clinic with his chronically ill ex-wife.

SONG OF SUMMER: FREDERICK DELIUS

Sunday 29 January

A screening of the late Ken Russell’s classic film followed by a discussion with Julian Lloyd Webber, Delius expert Lyndon Jenkins, Barry Humphries and David Mellor (chair).                         

MARKUS BIRDMAN A STROKE OF LUCK

Sunday 29 January

Life begins at 40. Then you have a stroke. Oh goodie. Stand-up comedian Markus Birdman’s show is about life, love, death and laughing in the face of it all.                               

FREE EVENTS, INSTALLATIONS, HEART TO HEARTS AND SLICES OF CAKE

Come along to a variety of free events to get you thinking about death. See a vibrant collection of bespoke coffins, discover uncanny death-themed games, request made-to-order poetry and hear stimulating discussions at the Death Café and Paul Gambaccini’s Desert Island Death Discs. Join us to consider death through a wealth of thought-provoking, informative and amusing activities and displays.

southbankcentre.co.uk/death           Ticket Office: 0844 847 9910

Southbank Centre is a charity registered in England and Wales No.298909.

Registered office: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.