Preview: Letters to Windsor House, Wardrobe Theatre

Letters to Windsor House is the latest show from multi-award-winning duo Sh!t Theatre. Mixing comedy, theatre, song, performance art and investigative journalism (oh, and dancing postboxes), the Fringe First-winning show takes a typically idiosyncratic look at the housing crisis in the capital and beyond.

Sitting in their rented council flat in Windsor House, east London, staring at a growing pile of unopened letters to previous tenants, Sh!t Theatre’s Louise Mothersole and Rebecca Biscuit became curious about the history of the flat and its previous occupants. A loophole in the Postal Services Act says you can open other people’s mail under certain circumstances. The duo’s detective work revealed a legacy of dodgy landlords, a frightening case study of how compound interest on minor unpaid charges can become thousands of pounds of debt – and a revelation about their own tenancy status that ultimately affected their friendship.

How did the extraordinary detective trail come about? “We can’t give too much away, but it started with us (possibly a bit illegally) opening up the abandoned mail of previous tenants to our flat,” Louise and Rebecca explain. “We began piecing their lives together – stalking, you might say. Through opening these letters we also discovered that our landlord is dodgy as hell. We can tell you about a couple of the tenants who didn’t make it in to the show. One guy was in ‘Nam. Another girl is quite a famous actor – she was in Philomena (she’s not Judi Dench).”

The show sounds great fun – but also fuelled by anger at the injustice of it all. “Like most of our work, it does indeed come from a place of anger. However, humour and the absurd are excellent ways of making that anger palatable.”

Did they have any pause for thought over the ethics of opening other people’s email? “We did. We waited a good couple of years before opening the ever-increasing pile of mail. We changed the names and hid the identities of all people mentioned in the show. As for opening the mail in the first place, we checked in with a lawyer friend who says the wording of the Postal Services Act is vague enough that we’re probably OK…”

We all hear about how vast tracts of London are becoming a playground for the super-rich, and how normal earners are being priced out of many suburbs. Is this all making it a less pleasant place to live? “We are aware that we are arguably part of the problem. We are the broke artists who move to the cheap areas of London: richer people follow us and gentrify the area. We move on because gentrification has made the place too expensive. And repeat.”

“There needs to be some sort of government intervention or regulations to keep areas economically diverse. For years there have been council estates in even the richest parts of London (e.g. Chelsea) but, thanks to the right-to-buy scheme, and the lack of new council estates, everywhere is becoming privately owned and unaffordable for many. However, we still love London. Currently we are full of a fighting drive to stay in London, not be driven out by prices in the city that’s been our home for over a decade.

“And there isn’t enough room in Bristol for ALL of us to move in – don’t pretend you aren’t aware that all Londoners’ fantasy is to move to Bristol!”

Letters to Windsor House is at the Wardrobe Theatre from March 21-25. For more info, visit thewardrobetheatre.com/livetheatre/letters-windsor-house