Forced Entertainment: Signal to Noise
Witness the battle to break out of repeating cycles in the UK premiere of Forced Entertainment's playful and unsettling, comical and deadly serious performance.
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An upbeat spectacle which is slowly breaking apart, Signal to Noise presents a churn of fragmented speech, from altercations to unexpected weather reports.
AI voices are enlisted to perform the text, their unreal chatter mixing interior monologues, unfinished jokes and off-topic interviews. It all sounds right – more or less human, more or less real. What could go wrong?
The six performers lip-sync all the voices, bringing life to these disembodied speakers. In the process they summon a strange and compelling world where the question of what’s human and what’s not, what’s real life and what’s just pretending is never far away.
Etchells' musical score mixes everything from filmic atmospheres to noise, xylophones to slowed classical strings, beats, trumpets, grunge guitars, and birdsong, but – as ever with the company – the performers are the heart of the work, animating it with the energy and inventiveness that Forced Entertainment have made their calling card.
Created as the group celebrates its 40th birthday, the show is a powerful mix of performance magic and deconstruction which opens a space for the audience to reflect on the strangeness of interactions.
Signal to Noise is a Forced Entertainment production.
Co-produced by HAU, Hebbel Am Ufer, Berlin; Holland Festival, Amsterdam; Kunstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt; PACT Zollverein, Essen; and Theatre Garonne, Toulouse.
Credits
Conceived and devised by the company
Tim Etchells director
Devised and performed by Robin Arthur, Seke Chimutengwende, Richard Lowdon, Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden and Terry O’Connor
Tyrone Huggins dramaturgy
Nigel Edwards lighting design
Jim Harrison production management
Signal to Noise is part of Forced Entertainment at 40, a special London-wide programme in partnership with the Southbank Centre, Battersea Arts Centre and The Place to celebrate 40 years of tearing up the rulebook.
Need to know
For ages 16+
Signal to Noise is part of the programme Forced Entertainment at 40. Other shows in the programme taking place at the Southbank Centre include 12am: Awake and Looking Down and Tim Etchells & Tony Buck: Go On Like This.
Dates & times
Thur 10 Oct, 7.30pm
Fri 11 Oct, 7.30pm
Price
- Standard entryFrom £20*
- Concessions25%**
* Excludes £3.50 booking fee.
Book as early as you can to ensure the best choice of tickets. Ticket prices may be adjusted without notice to reflect demand.
** Limited availability. Read about concessions.
Tickets can only be sold through the Southbank Centre and our authorised agents, and can't be resold. You can return your tickets to the Southbank Centre for a credit voucher up to 48 hours before the event. Tickets resold on any third-party platforms will become invalid.
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Members get the first chance to book our entire programme of events, including go-down-in-history gigs, concerts with world-class orchestras, and talks from cultural icons and political giants.
Venue
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Our number one priority is the health and wellbeing of our visitors and staff.
The Queen Elizabeth Hall is open 90 minutes before events
Our address is: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. The nearest tube and train stations within 5-7 minutes walk are Waterloo (Northern, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Waterloo & City lines) and Embankment (District & Circle lines). There are also lots of bus routes with stops 2-5 minutes from our venues. For more information on getting here by road, rail or river.
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If you don't receive your e-ticket
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More information
Find out all you need to know about tickets, including concessions, group bookings, returns, credit vouchers and more, via the link below.
Get an overview of the seating layout of Queen Elizabeth Hall by downloading our seating plan.
Toilets
An accessible toilet is located in the foyer.
A Changing Places toilet is located on Level 1 Royal Festival Hall next to the JCB Glass Lift, for the exclusive use of disabled people who need personal assistance to use the toilet.
The facility includes a height-adjustable bench, tracking hoist system, a centrally-placed toilet, a height-adjustable basin and a shower. Please visit the Welcome Desk on Level 2, Royal Festival Hall, where a member of staff can provide you with the key. You can also use the phone next to the Changing Places toilet to speak to a member of staff. The facility is open daily 10am – 11pm.
Cloakroom
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For step-free access from the Queen Elizabeth Hall Slip Road off Belvedere Road to the Queen Elizabeth Hall auditorium seating (excluding rows A to C) and wheelchair spaces in the Rear Stalls, plus Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer and the Purcell Room, please use the Queen Elizabeth Hall main entrance.
To reach this entrance, enter the Royal Festival Hall via the Southbank Centre Square Doors. Take the JCB Glass Lift to Level 2 and exit to the Riverside Terrace. Turn right to find the Queen Elizabeth Hall main entrance.
You can also use the external lift near the Artists' Entrance on Southbank Centre Square to reach Mandela Walk, Level 2.
For access to the Queen Elizabeth Hall auditorium seating rows A to C and wheelchair spaces in the Front Stalls, please enter via the Artists' Entrance in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Slip Road (Level 1).
Talk to a member of staff at the auditorium entrance if you have a disability that means you can’t queue, or you need extra time to take your seat. They can arrange priority entry for you as soon as the doors open.
Please bear with us while we update our access map to reflect the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall’s Level 2 foyer spaces. The step-free routes remain the same.
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