Underbelly Festival Southbank Preps for Opening with April Highlights, Including Nina Conti and CIRCUS ABYSSINIA

Now preparing for a 10th year on the Southbank and having smashed through the million-tickets-sold barrier last year, Underbelly Festival Southbank will open in just two weeks with a dazzling array of circus, comedy, cabaret, family entertainment, food and drink.

Tickets and full lineup for this year's festival, running April 6 - September 30, are available at www.underbellyfestival.com/. Check out some of the highlights below!

Headline show Circus Abyssinia sees internationally acclaimed Ethiopian acrobatic duo Bibi and Bichu (soon to be seen in Disney's live action Dumbo) team up with the inimitable youthful exuberance of the Konjowoch Troupe for a dazzling display of world class circus that celebrates their African roots.

Underbelly Festival this year also boasts its most exciting comedy line-up to date, and the cavalcade of celebrated comedy names hitting the Southbank includes the iron lady of equal rights, Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho, superstar ventriloquist Nina Conti, National Treasure in-waiting Katy Brand with a feast of literary hilarity (feat. celebrity guests) in Book Club, and fantastically innovative sketch duo Max & Ivan magnificently multi-rolling to tell the tale of how they met.

Other highlights during the first month of the festival include Aliens Love Underpants - a madcap theatrical adaptation of the classic children's tale for all the family. John Robertson's cult interactive text-based video game - laced with his brilliantly sardonic stand-up - The Dark Room, and Kevin Quantum - the magician-hypnotist pushing the boundaries between performer and audience, and of reality itself.

This year, London's original, biggest and best pop-up arts festival will be marking a decade of excellence by welcoming four headlining circus shows from four different continents to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the artform, mere yards from where Philip Astley first took to the Ring in Waterloo in 1768.

After Circus Abyssinia comes sodden slapstick circus SOAP from Germany, before Latin circus-concert sizzler Circolombia brings a taste of South America, and the legendary Circa premiere their latest masterpiece from Down Under, Peepshow.

All this incredible live entertainment comes at affordable prices - with most tickets under £20 AND 20% off when you book three shows or more - and is set within some of the capital's best outdoor bars, with a fantastic range of street food and drink available, all of which make Underbelly Festival Southbank the ultimate London day (or night) out.

Photo credit: David Jensen