Out-Spoken: January
Poets Amy Acre, William Letford and Nick Laird join guest host Toby Campion for this evening’s show, with music from Amethyst and Yaw Evans.
Out-Spoken is the Southbank Centre’s resident poetry and live music night, bringing the hottest UK and international poets to perform alongside world-class musicians every month.
Nick Laird was born in County Tyrone in 1975. Awards for his writing include the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Somerset Maugham Award, a Guggenheim fellowship and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Feel Free was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and the Derek Walcott Award. He is the Seamus Heaney Professor of Poetry at Queen’s University, Belfast. His most recent collection is Up Late (2023).
William Letford has three collections of poetry published by Carcanet Press. His work has been adapted into film, projected onto buildings, carved into monuments, adapted for the stage, cast out over the radio, and performed by orchestras. He has helped restore a medieval village in the mountains of northern Italy, fished with his bare hands in Indonesia, and been invited to perform in Iraq, South Korea, Lebanon, Australia, India and many other countries.
Amy Acre is a poet and editor, born in London and living in Nottingham. Her debut collection, Mothersong, is published by Bloomsbury, and was a Financial Times Book of 2023. She runs award-winning indie publisher Bad Betty Press.
Toby Campion is an award-winning poet, playwright and facilitator. A former UK Poetry Slam Champion and World Poetry Slam finalist, his poetry won the Aurora Prize for Poetry 2019 and was Highly Commended in the Forward Poetry Prizes 2018. Campion is the Director of UniSlam and the founder of the National Youth Poetry Showcase.
Yaw Evans is a composer, electronic musician, and DJ hailing from south London. With an avant-garde twist on UKG, breaks and ambient music, Evans’ sonic journey is an immersive exploration of his native city’s culture. Fuelling his creative fire, he crafted a bespoke modular synthesiser, enabling him to craft genre-blurring tunes. Evans has graced prestigious stages, from national galleries to international festivals, performing alongside artists such as James Blake, Mala, Joe Armon-Jones and Sully.
Amethyst, Jacob and Nathan are a soul- and jazz-infused trio with a new school twist. Having met only last year, Amethyst and Jacob have been working and writing together ever since. Tonight is their first performance as a trio, and set to be the first of many for this exciting new group.
Need to know
For ages 18+
This event is British Sign Language (BSL) interpreted.
To book tickets for BSL interpretation, email [email protected] or call us on 020 3879 9555.
You can join our free Access Scheme through your online Southbank Centre account or via email.
Find out more about our Access Scheme
All our Access & facilities information
Haze is used during this performance.
Dates & times
Price
- Standard entryFrom £12*
- 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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Venue
Purcell Room
Our number one priority is the health and wellbeing of our visitors and staff.
Open 90 minutes before an event until the end of the event. Closed at all other times.
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.
Pre-booking online is recommended. Check our website on the day for returns. There’s no need to print your e-ticket – just show your phone to our Visitor Assistants on entry.
Some free events don't require a ticket. Found an event labelled FREE on our website with no way to book? Simply turn up on the day.
If you don't receive your e-ticket
Your e-ticket will be sent to you seven days before the event date from [email protected]. If you don't receive your e-ticket, and it's not in your junk or spam folder, please get in touch.
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 the Purcell Room 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
The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room cloakroom is closed. You won’t be able to bring any bags over 40 x 25 x 25cm into the venues, so please leave large bags at home.
We're cash-free
Please note that we're unable to accept cash payments across our site.
Purcell Room is located in Queen Elizabeth Hall. For step-free access please use Royal Festival Hall JCB glass lift to Level 2 and enter via Riverside Terrace.
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.