REPLY TO PO BOX 49

Stories of love, loss and longing throughout the ages, come alive in a vibrant playground of live performance.

Set in a former 18th Century nursing home turned Battersea Mess and Music Hall, REPLY TO PO Box 49 is an experiential adventure, made by a team of over 50 creatives blending the work of writers, directors, producers, designers, filmmakers, actors and singers.

With more people than ever looking for love online, this show explores how advertising for love has developed since the first lonely heart advert was placed in the Matrimonial Gazette in the 1700s. From a defiant soul in 1787 seeking a man who “must never drink above two bottles of claret, or one of port, at a sitting” to a contemporary love seeker who “WLTW man with GSOH”. Have the reasons people advertise changed much 300 + years on?

You are invited to discover stories hidden in the depths of this expansive space; from three 19th Century sisters desperate to find a man for financial security, to a 1980’s dating agency promising to find you never ending love.

Michelle McMahon, Sabrina Dridje and Leanne Davis CONCEPT

Leanne Davis, Ros Adler, Liz Hobbs, Laura Kenwright, Sam Bevitt WRITING

Olly Hawes, Elgiva Field (workshops) and Michelle McMahon (audience experience) DIRECTION

Ed Borgnis LIGHTING & SOUND

Joanna Shaw Stephanie Denington SET & SCENE DESIGN

Adam Dale PHOTOGRAPHY