Thomas Lenden

GPO Box No. 211 is a quiet, dream-like journey that invites visual reflection on mental liberty, isolation, and communication through the language of object theatre. It is an attempt to sustain a friendship across physical barriers and great distances—even when connection feels fragile or uncertain.

“My friend Siu Ming* and I have been exchanging letters for the past three years while he has been incarcerated.

“Through our correspondence, we share fragments of everyday life, dreams, and limitations. As certain topics are closely monitored, our writing gradually shifts—becoming coded, poetic, and attentive to what can be said between the lines.

“While I write these letters from a place with freedom of expression, I still encounter the invisible boundaries of my own thoughts. What does mental freedom truly mean?
At present, we have exchanged fourteen letters.”

“Beside its poetry, we esteem the ways in which the work transports our gazes and unpretentiously searches for a theatrical language that can speak for itself when words are not allowed, bodies are controlled and oppressed.”
— ZKB Acknowledgement Prize Jury Statement for GPO Box No. 211

*name anonymized

Company: Theatre du Poulet
Co-creator, Director & Light Designer: Carmen Lee
Co-creator, Performer, Mask Designer & Paper Creature Programmer: Chun Shing Au
Dramaturgy Advice: Rebekka Bangerter
Artistic Advice: Sodja Zupanc Lotker
Choreography Advice: Jana Jacuka
Sound Designer: Moa Holgersson
Composer: Marko Ivic

Special thanks to: Fish, Pearlmi, Keith Ng, Miguel Angel Melgares, Marjorie Boston, DAS Theatre, Zürcher Theater Spektakel, André Veltkamp Award