VAULT, found in the arches below Waterloo Rail Station, is uniquely placed in London to house an arts and comedy festival on the scale of VAULT Festival 2016 as it has seven custom–built theatre spaces and a new pop-up restaurant plus its bars in which to house more than 150 events.
The Festival, which runs from 27 January to 6 March, has a wide–ranging programme of live performances with workshops and discussions and, for the night owls, dancing into the early hours.
The theatre programme features performers and companies from the UK and from abroad, presenting both finished and in-progress work.
Amongst the highlights of the Festival are physical theatre performer Trygve Wakenshaw in Squidboy, Cian Binchy's exploration of an autistic mind The Misfit Analysis and the absurdist The Various Lives of Infinite Nullity from Clout Theatre.
Cabaret performances include the comedy We Can Make You Happy from House of Blakewell, rubbish-based variety show JunKk Live, cheeky cabaret Stamp from Spun Glass Theatre and Mary Beth Morossa's gothic tale Greywing House which uses storytelling and poetry.
Lovers of musicals may wish to head for Songs for the End of the World in which musician/theatre maker Dom Coyote gigs with musicians and with artists from Kneehigh and Little Bulb Theatre to create an event that is billed as part-gig, part-play, part-apocalypse.
Alternatively, there is Afrobeats musical Oliva Tweest and work-in-progress piece A Bucket of Blood, a dark comic jazz musical inspired by the 1950s film of the same name.
The Mini VAULT programme is for families and younger audiences. An irreverent musical comedy take on classic fairytale The Princess & The Pea is for those aged eight or more whilst Lithuanian dance company Puzzle has a show devised for under-threes.
Full details of the Festival programme can be found at www.VAULTFestival.com. Tickets are on sale for all events.