Imagine Children's Festival, South Bank, London

Thursday 11 February – Monday 1 March
MICHAEL ROSEN’S A-Z OF POETRY Thursday 11 February, Purcell Room, 11.30am; Tickets £8 (adults) £4 (children), school discounts available Launching Imagine with some of the brightest names in children’s writing, Michael Rosen, Francesca Beard and John Hegley read their poetry to mark the publication of the A-Z of Poetry anthology edited by Michael Rosen. The audience will get the chance to meet the writers after the show.

JAMES CAMPBELL’S COMEDY & SONGS FOR KIDSSaturday 13 & Monday 15 February, Purcell Room, 2.30pm, Tickets £8 (adults) £4 (children)James Campbell, an Imagine festival favourite, returns with a brilliant new show that combines the best of his stand-up comedy with a series of fantastically funny new songs for kids. James’ jokes make fun of everything from couscous to credit cards, creating a unique comedy environment for children and their parents. Suitable for ages six and over.

TOMORROW’S WARRIORS, JAZZPLORATION Saturday 13 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, from 1pm – 6pm, Admission Free Tomorrow’s Warriors is proud to present an exciting afternoon of performances and participatory workshops that will combine jazz, traditional story-telling and performance poetry. The day’s events will be led by band leaders Gary Crosby OBE and New Orleans trumpet player, Abram Wilson. Jazzploration features: Mango Spice 1pm – 2pm A musical journey to the Caribbean for all the family, learning some of the most popular folksongs and ring games from the region. Swing and Sing 2pm – 3pmAn open vocal improvisation workshop using rhythm and words to conjure up a world of scat and swing. If Music be the Food of Love… 3pm – 4pm One of the UK’s youngest jazz bands, the Teenie Warriors, debut new material and perform with young budding poets using the theme of love as their inspiration.Slam Jam/Jazzoetry 4pm – 5pm A performance poetry workshop in which young members of the audience will have the opportunity to perform their poems supported by Tomorrow’s Warriors Youth Jazz Orchestra.Mass Jazz Jam 5pm – 6pmOpen to all ages and abilities, Tomorrow’s Warriors invites aspiring musicians to bring their instruments and participate in an open jam session, culminating in a mass jazz jam finale. Those who wish to participate in Mango Spice and Poetry Jazz Jam need to sign up by coming to the registration desk on The Clore Ballroom 1 hour before each workshop as numbers are limited.

THE BIG BASH WITH COLIN CURRIEMonday 15 February, Purcell Room, 11.30am, Tickets £8 (adults) £4 (children)Percussion maestro Colin Currie has created an amazing musical world especially for Imagine, featuring marimba, xylophones, coconuts and drums. Including the music of Steve Reich, one of the world’s greatest living composers, this show is a sonic sensation which is thrilling and fun for both children and adults. Suitable for ages seven and over.

BOOKWORM BABIES Monday 15 – Wednesday 17 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 10.30am, Admission freeImagine Children’s Festival encourages very young children to get into poetry. Tiny poets and baby bards are invited to come into The Clore Ballroom to explore stories and poems. Suitable for ages 6 months – two years.

THE 9 ½ COMMANDMENTS OF AISLE16 Monday 15 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 4pm, Admission Free Award-winning live poetry collective Aisle16 present their first show for younger audiences. The 9½ Commandments of Aisle16 uses the group's trademark mix of comedy, poetry and diagrams to present a step-by-step guide to writing and enjoying poetry. Featuring a poetic analysis of bullies, a look at God’s rejected prototypes for fish, and A Portrait of the Yeti as a Young Man. Commissioned by the British Council, the show debuted in Athens in January 2009. Its UK debut features brand new collaborations with illustrators such as Laura Dockrill and Mercy. Aisle16 features Luke Wright, Ross Sutherland, Joel Stickley and Chris Hicks. Suitable for ages eight and over.

THE SCRIBE WHO WOULDN’T SCRIBBLETuesday 16 February, Purcell Room, 2.30pm, Tickets £8 (adults) £4 (children)This show journeys into the wonderful world of words with puppets, music and adventure. When the townsfolk of Kfar Milim open their new synagogue, they want their legendary scribe, Rav Katav, to write their new Torah scroll. But an incident in his past led Rav Katav to swear he’d never write again. Can the townsfolk persuade him to forget about it and pick up a quill once more? Only the letters can help them now. Suitable for ages five and over. In association with Jammy Doughnut Productions.

ILLUSTRATE A BACKDROP FOR GLUEMOUTHTuesday 16 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 12noon – 2pm Admission FreeIn the lead up to Laura Dockrill’s performance of Gluemouth in the Purcell Room on 17 February, children are invited to come to The Clore Ballroom and help Laura draw the backdrop for her show and make the set. Suitable for ages five and over.

LAURA DOCKRILL: GLUEMOUTHWednesday 17 February, Purcell Room, 2.30pm, Tickets £8 (adults) £4 (children)Laura Dockrill and her mini Word Orchestra bring a poetry show like no other, including poems and stories of lions that watch TV, little boys that think they are vampires and dark tales from the forest. All performed by an outstanding group of fun, energetic performers in front of a set made by the audience. WARNING: This show contains contents for CHILDREN only and is not suitable for boring, grumpy or unimaginative adults. Suitable for ages seven and over.

POETRY HOPSCOTCH Wednesday 17 – Thursday 18 February, Southbank Centre Square, 12noon & 3pm, Admission freeWord Migrants (Dzifa Benson and Naomi Woddis) invite audiences to play Poetry Hopscotch, a magical game where children of all ages can write short poems in coloured chalk on a giant hopscotch and then exclaim these on the special Poetry Hopscotch megaphone. The 12noon session is suitable for children aged five to seven and their families, the 3pm session is suitable for children aged eight to 12 and their families.

JASON BRADBURY: DOT ROBOTThursday 18 February, Purcell Room, 11.30am, Tickets £8 (adults) £4 (children)Jason Bradbury, presenter of Channel 5’s The Gadget Show and author of the amazing Dot Robot techno-thrillers presents his Dot Robot Roadshow and reads from Atomic Swarm featuring Jackson Farley, the 12 year-old digital genius who has a case to crack when a mysterious explosion blows up a nuclear reactor. Suitable for ages ten and over.

BRIGITTE APHRODITE THE URBAN FAIRY Thursday 18 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 12noon, Admission freeMusical comedy poet Brigitte Aphrodite performs a rainbow of magical songs and fairytale comic-poems of urban life with guitar glitter and pasta shapes stuck on. Brigitte ignites a firework of imagination and the glitter and memories will stay with the audience for days. Suitable for ages five to eight.

PAUL KIEVE’S MAGICAL SHOWFriday 19 February, Purcell Room, 11.30am, Tickets £8 (adults) £4 (children)Paul Kieve is a magician and author who makes magic happen on the Harry Potter films. In this magical show he tells the history of magicians and performs magic tricks, together with other magicians and illusionists who join him on stage. Audiences can learn all about magic and meet Paul after the show. Suitable for ages eight and over.

IMAGINE A STORY FAMILY WORKSHOP Friday 19 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 11.30am – 3pm Admission freeVisual artist Laura X Carle leads a family workshop exploring storytelling, adding the audience’ stories to a giant book. Suitable for ages five and over. This event is BSL interpreted.

BEATBOX CONCERTO FOR KIDS FEATURING SHLOMO Saturday 20 February, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 11am, Tickets £9Southbank Centre Artist in Residence and beatboxer Shlomo creates a special show for Imagine with composer Anna Meredith and poet Caroline Bird, featuring the new work Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra – an exciting mix of beatboxing and contemporary classical music. This family-friendly show offers a fun introduction to the magic of music and collaboration and some members of the audience will get the chance to try beatboxing with Shlomo. Suitable for ages six and over.

JULIAN HEPPLE’S STORY TIME Saturday 20 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 3pm, Admission free Story Time is magical party and a narrated adventure, featuring a surround sound symphony orchestra, ballet, a big band, animation and loads more. Award-winning composer Julian Hepple, reworks the tale of Goldilocks, Cinderella and many other stories. With a cast of 45 and music ranging from Elgar to electro, Story Time is like no other family show. Suitable for all the family. This event is BSL interpreted.

KATHAK STANZASSunday 21 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 11am & 3pm Admission free Southbank Centre Artist in Residence, Gauri Sharma Tripathi celebrates the voice-in-dance, with this imaginative workshop that combines words and traditional South Asian kathak dance. Audiences are asked to bring their voice, feet and a little imagination.Suitable for all the family.

THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER Saturday 27, Sunday 28 February & Monday 1 March, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 2.30pm (Saturday and Sunday), 11am and 1.15pm (Monday); Tickets £ £8 (adults) £4 (children), Schools discount for Monday performances: £2.50 per pupil‘There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy…’ Storms and icebergs. Sea shanties and dead mariners. An albatross shot down. Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s fantastical story of a man’s voyage through nature and his own mind comes to life in a striking new production with original music by Southbank Centre Artists in Residence Bellowhead and a community choir of children, teenagers and adults. Developed from the 2009 outdoor co-production by Southbank Centre and the Young Vic based on an original idea by Shân Maclennan and Keith Shadwick. Most suitable for ages 8 and over.

THE BIBLIOMANCER’S DREAM Saturday 6 February – Tuesday 2 March, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 10am – 11pm, The Foyer at Queen Elizabeth Hall, one hour before and after each Imagine performance, Admission free The Bibliomancer’s Dream returns to Imagine. Bibliomancy is an ancient ritual that involves the random selection of a book and then a line or verse within that book to learn a truth, or inspire the imagination of the holder. Visitors to the magical library can delve into hundreds of books that reveal the answer to their secret question as if by magic. Suitable for ages five and over.

POETRY LIBRARY Saison Poetry Library, Level 5, Royal Festival Hall, Admission free In the Poetry Library visitors can find riddles, stories, nonsense, picture books, pop-ups, recordings and also pick up a poetry trail that will help them to discover poetry all around them – at Southbank Centre and beyond. There is also a nursery rhyme reading area for children and parents with books, audio tapes and games as well as an exhibition of nursery rhyme posters and postcards. Visitors can create their own nursery rhyme postcard to upload to the GPS website.

GLOBAL POETRY SYSTEM PRESENTS POETRY JUKEBOXTo celebrate Imagine Children’s Festival, Southbank Centre invites parents and children to map their favourite poem from childhood – the poem they learned at school, a nursery rhyme their granny taught them or a favourite playground chant – on Global Poetry System (GPS). GPS is a user-generated world map of poetry. Poems uploaded by 31 January 2010 could be featured in a specially commissioned piece for the Imagine festival. Or there is a GPS station set up in the Poetry Library during the festival where visitors can record and upload their poems. Put your poetry on the map at www.southbankcentre.co.uk/gps